Philip Reid takes on the Great White Shark in his natural environment, the dunes of Doonbeg in west Clare

The man in the black cap approached his ball, which had just found the front edge of the seventh green, some 30 yards from the flag, and grinned as a shout came in his direction.

"Bet you won't get down in two putts," came a voice from the edge.

"You're on," replied the Great White Shark, who surveyed the nuances of a green nestled in a coliseum of dunes. Greg Norman's putter gave the ball such a thump that it rolled and rolled up the slope, then swerved viciously to the right, hesitated and dropped into one of those pot bunkers similar to the ones that the old Scottish course designers like to inflict as penance on golfers.

One of golf's greats had putted off the green, like a mere mortal or, even more to the point, like a media hacker. The grin, however, remained in place and, after splashing out to three feet, the Aussie holed the putt. "I won the bet," he called over. "I only took two putts."

Welcome to Doonbeg, Co Clare, the newest great links to dot the Irish landscape. Welcome to a place that has bedazzled Norman, somewhere that he has come to covet. Welcome to a unique links. Welcome to the course that Greg designed, a special place.

As a player with some 80 wins worldwide, and two majors to his name, it would be hard to believe that Norman could be any happier in his golfing life. Yet, his creation in west Clare has provided a feeling of real fulfilment.

Yesterday, a day before he officially opens the links in an exhibition match with Padraig Harrington, Norman was inflicted with the task of accompanying journalists from different parts of the globe over his new design . . . and he couldn't have been happier.

In fact, after completing that chore of playing 18 holes with journalists - and he didn't even make it seem like an affliction - Norman couldn't resist the temptation to go back and play some extra holes.

Norman has fallen in love with the place. The first time he saw it, he recalled later, he was speechless. "I didn't know such a property existed any more," he remarked.

Since that initial introduction, Norman was drawn back again and again to the towering dunes. In all, he visited the site 22 times during its creation into a links course which, appropriately enough, is situated midway between Ballybunion and Lahinch on the western seaboard.

This is the 27th course that Norman has designed in various parts of the world. His signature is on courses in Europe, Australia, Asia and the United States, but, without any hesitation, he claims that Doonbeg is "number one" in his mind as his greatest creation.

The rough is rough, and literally swallows up a golf ball should it miss the fairway. Over the past year, however, Norman's team has been concerned with the playability of the course. An indication of the challenge presented by the course's exposed location overlooking Doughmore Bay is that on one site visit, Norman proposed a location for a green where a four-foot high fence existed. On his next visit, the fence was covered with sand.

"We had a nightmare time keeping the green the way it should have been, so we moved the green forward and that's the only major change we had to do since Christmas," said Norman.

"This is one of the hardest golf courses that I have had to do," he insisted. "I was mentally challenged with my guys to keep it where we saw it. An example is on the 13th. We had four green sites on that one hole and we eventually had to make a decision, and say, 'okay, we are going to put it here'. I could have built that golf hole various different ways with the same tee and the same fairways, but I just had to commit myself."

The amount of attention and time that Norman gave to designing Doonbeg was not replicated on other courses he designed. "If I did that on every site, my wife would divorce me," he said.

"I knew from the very first time I came here, I said to my guys, 'we have got to build this golf course by hand'. Every time we came back here, we saw something new. We saw the different weather conditions. I have seen it dead calm, I have seen the wind driving in from the other directions. The amount of time I spent here helped me position some of the bunkers that we have off the tee."

Norman's challenge was to create a course that looked as if it had been around for over a hundred years.

"This is Irish golf, it is the epitome of Irish sand dunes. I wanted to keep that in the most natural possible way. The other thing I wanted was that the greens should never be more than nine on the Stimpmetre, and that's why there is only three-and-a-half greens we had to manufacture. The other 14-and-a-half greens are the way they were."

Today Norman will officially open the course in a match with Harrington. His choice of Harrington as his matchplay opponent is not only appropriate but timely given the Irishman's close call in Sunday's final round of the European Open.

As someone who has experienced near misses in big tournaments during his own career, Norman said he believed Harrington won't suffer from the setback.

"I am a big fan of Padraig. I have seen his game change and develop over the past couple of years. He is probably comparable to Vijay Singh in his work ethic and practising. His conditioning - I have noticed he is hitting the ball longer, so it is all starting to work his way.

"What happened on Sunday should be gone by tomorrow. You're always going to have a little residual effect. I have always been a believer that you wake up the next morning, analyse what went wrong or what went right. You either take it on board and then either drop it or use it, and that is how you become a really resilient person.

"If you learn how to use the screw-ups, then you become a better person the next time. And I am sure he is a smart enough guy to do that."