Palmer Coolum: From PGA Championship host to animatronic Jurassic Park
Golf Culture

Palmer Coolum: From PGA Championship host to animatronic Jurassic Park

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Eccentric mining magnate and billionaire Clive Palmer turned some heads at the 2012 PGA Championship with the primal screams of a 26-foot-tall animatronic dinosaur -- named "Jeff" -- he had placed on his Coolum Palmer Resort in Australia.

Palmer angered sponsors and the PGA of Australasia when he announced that the dinosaur, situated very close to the ninth fairway of the resort's course, was just the first of a planned 160 such dinosaurs that would make up a real-life Jurassic Park at the resort. The PGA Championship moved from the Coolum resort after 11 years there.

A year later, that Jurassic Park is now open. Palmer was there in person to flip the switch on the dinosaurs, which range in size from 8 to 72 feet in length and can be as tall as 40 feet. Quite egotistically, the park is called Palmersaurus. That's not a real dinosaur. All of your favorites are there, including Triceratops, Velociraptor and Brachiosaurus. The Pterodactylus fly. Really.

t-rex-coolum

The dinosaurs make noise, hide for unsuspecting customers in the brush and, overall, scare the bejesus out of people.

For golfers, the good news is the former home to the Aussie PGA Championship is still there and open to the public to play for just 99 AUS with a cart included, presumably to personally experience the T-rex chase scene in the original "Jurassic Park." The dinosaurs are within earshot and eyesight of several holes on the course.

Meanwhile, you can play your child's birthday party or cocktail hour (not for children) for the Palmersaurus park.

And what's this guy do for an encore? Build Titanic II, of course. Which he's really doing.

About the author

Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is a scratch golfer...sometimes.

Ballengee can be reached by email at ryan[at]thegolfnewsnet.com

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