At a World Golf Village preconstruction press conference for the King and the Bear golf course, Arnold Palmer answered a question about how he and Jack Nicklaus could collaborate on golf course design.
"I don't see any problem, because as golfers, Jack and I are very much alike," said Palmer.
The hushed writers -- and Nicklaus -- looked shocked. Nicklaus managed a tentative small nod of agreement.
"We both have two arms and two legs," continued Palmer, as everyone laughed.
Starting with that, and big personal reputations in common, how did they collaborate on designing a course? How did they reach decisions?
"Actually it wasn't a problem," said Ed Seay, head of Arnold Palmer Design. "In different circumstances, where you had different opinions working together, you might have a hard time getting things done.
"But Jack and Arnold are friends. They knew that the power of the collaboration between the two was important. There's only one such course in the world, and there's probably not going to be another. They did it for the (PGA) Tour and for golf.
"Arnold was very concerned with the look of the golf course as it fit into that natural environment. And I don't think Jack was any different. Arnold just happened to say that first in the press conference.
"Everything that was on paper, we sent to each other and the plans went back and forth until we were in agreement.
"We routed the course, but we both wound up with the layout because we were making adjustments in the field as we went along.
"There were issues that wound up being Arnold's; there were issues that wound up by being Jack's. They were settled by saying 'that's fine, there are lots of ways to hit a 5-iron. There are lots of ways to approach the green or skin a cat.
"That's the way we work in our own company. We have nine architects in Palmer design, and when I see their work on paper and then in the field, there may be some things that I wouldn't have done that way, nor would Arnold. But if there's nothing wrong with it, and it looks pretty good, and it's different than what we've seen before, we leave it alone. A lot of people can't identify who designed courses we do, and we like that.
"The contour of the King and the Bear greens probably had the most discussion. On three cases of green contour, there was considerable discussion, and both camps wound up satisfied.
"Jack had some great ideas for tee locations. He initiated moving some a few yards to one side or the other, and it made a lot of difference. He is very detailed. When he makes a decision, he has given it a lot of thought.
"There wasn't an objection of 'I will not go along with that' out of either one of them anytime in the project. I thought that was pretty cool."
Construction of the course was supervised by Wayne Sloan, the project manager, but both the Palmer and Nicklaus companies had architects on site regularly.
Bruce Borland was the Nicklaus companies lead architect until he was killed last year in the same plane crash disaster that also claimed the life of Payne Stewart and four others. He was replaced by Jim Lipe. Harrison Minchew and Greg Stang were the Palmer company's on-site Palmer architects.
"We're working beside Nicklaus on two other projects," said Seay. "But in each of them, Nicklaus is doing 18, and we're doing 18. It's not a collaboration on one course, but there's collaboration on making them fit side by side. One is in Costa Rica, and one in Cape Charles, Va. We also have side by side courses in Guam."
