Though I had heard of the famous husband and wife raters for GOLF magazine for over a decade, I never had the pleasure of meeting them until recently. As anyone who has will tell you, it is an experience that you won’t forget!
Constantly in motion, Norman and Samm Klaparda are a force unto themselves. The new Fazio opens up in Arkansas to rave reviews, boom, off they go, keen to see what the fuss is about. Their intellectual curiosity, matched equally by a get-up-and-go mentality, is nearly unequalled. The only other person close to them in that regard (at least, that I know of) is their good friend Bob McCoy.
Some raters talk about course ratings in hushed tones, as if the subject matter was grave and of some national importance. Not Norman. Ask him any question on any course and his hands start moving as he gesticulates his (often passionate) point of view. It is great to see two people have such fun when discussing course ratings. The warm glow that they emit on the subject matter reminds me of Joe Passov’s (in fact, Joe mentioned Norman in his own August Feature Interview as having played 72.5% of the courses on the GOLF magazine ballot which is an astonishingly high %). For a golf course to be rated highly by either of them, it needs to resonate with them on some sort of personal level. They are much more likely to embrace a Swinley Forest than a big and burly course whose main calling card is that it can hold the pros at bay.
Many of the photos in the recently updated Riviera profile turned out so well because of Norman’s fearless cart driving as we zoomed from hole to hole, often zig-zagging across the course in an effort to capture the light at just the right moment at various holes. Literally, someone in every group was yelling out the name Norm – I felt like I was in some west coast version of Cheers!
Later, I could’ve stayed in his library all night perusing various books that he has collected around the world but it was time to get to LAX for a red-eye. At 8pm, they indicated Highway 10 would be an easy drive, yet it was nearly as harrowing as riding in a cart with Norm!
Both Norm and Samm are over sixty-five years old with Norm having played around 1200 courses and Samm over 850 courses
. Yet, their wanderlust hasn’t diminished one iota and they are off again to Asia in a few months. Just to see the twinkle in their eyes as they discuss various trips – past and future – tells you what rich, full lives they have led. Golf and the friends they have meet around the world have meant a great deal to them. In turn, they have been very kind ambassadors to the sport. Everyone wins and as do we by their agreeing to do this month’s Feature Interview.
Hope you enjoy this well traveled couple’s unique insights!
Cheers,