Tee For 'tude

After cashing in on GoDaddy, brash billionaire Bob Parsons has focused his energy on two passions— custom motorcycles and extreme golf. Along the way, he’s changing how we ride and drive.

- Monte Burke

Bob Parsons ambles up to the first tee of the 18hole course at his lavish, multimillion-dollar Arizona golf club, Scottsdale National. The stocky 66-year-old is wearing a pea-green shirt, untucked, with “U.S. Marine Corps” over the left breast. In his left ear is a large black earring that’s etched with the letters “PXG,” the acronym for his golf equipment brand, Parsons Xtreme Golf. He tees up his ball and turns to his playing partner for the day, Ryann O’Toole, a 30-year-old LPGA pro who is sponsored by PXG.

“Ryann, sweetheart,” he says in a gruff voice that booms across the desert. “I hope you brought your wallet.” And with that, his curt but effective swing sends the ball straight down the fairway.

Parsons, the founder of the Internet domain-name registrar GoDaddy, did not reach his station in life by being subtle. He is, after all, the man who put GoDaddy on the map in the mid-2000s with racy Super Bowl ads, featuring Playboy model Candice Michelle and Nascar driver Danica Patrick. (When he first met Michelle years ago, Parsons asked, “Are they real?” Michelle, without missing a beat, answered, “Yes. Real expensive.”)

Parsons has been called zany, outlandish and a renegade—none of which he disputes. But he is much more than that. Scratch below the surface and you’ll find a self-made billionaire who is also outrageous in his generosity.

Except on the golf course.

Parsons and O’Toole are playing “Sweat” today, a skins-like game that he cocreated. With $400 on the line, O’Toole has given Parsons, a 10-handicapper, 14 strokes—something he takes full advantage of on the front nine, building a solid lead. Hustling, as it turns out, is something Parsons has been doing from a young age.