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Gary Player
World Golf Hall of Famer
Gary Player is the most successful international golfer of all time, earning 163 career wins around the globe over the last 50 years.
“The Black Knight” was one of the original inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. The honor was well deserved — Player’s 163 victories include nine major championships. He was the third player ever to win a career Grand Slam, having done so by age 29. Later in his career he won an additional nine majors on the Champions Tour.
Today, Player is well known as Mr. Fitness (he casually mentioned that he did 1,200 sit-ups the day before GCM interviewed him), an international golf course architect (his 300th course design will be completed this year) and recently as a forward-thinking environmentalist (he attended the 2009 GIS as a supporter of Advanced Sensor Technology’s UgMo underground sensors as a way of conserving water).
Player’s brother, Ian Player, Ph.D., is a world-renowned conservationist, so the topic of water conservation is one that Gary Player takes very seriously. “This UgMo can play a vital role (in water conservation),” Player says. “We don’t accept every endorsement, I can assure you — but anything to do with saving water… because it’s not you and I we need to think about. We’ve got to think about our children and our grandchildren.”
For a complete transcript of GCM’s one-on-one interview with Player regarding water conservation, visit the GCM blog and click on “March 2009.”
— Seth Jones, senior associate editor
"I think (superintendents) do a fantastic job. I’m such a fan of these guys. Every tournament I ever won, I never forgot to say thank you to the greens superintendent. I got on the phone and phoned them, I wrote many of them letters — which I’m sure many of them would verify — because they are really doing some kind of job. I love to sit down with greens superintendents and discuss things; how to make their jobs easier. I love to get a greens superintendent involved in a project early. Try to help him, work with him, make his life a pleasure. As it is, his life is tough. Every time there’s anything wrong, they’ll crap on him, it’s his fault — never a member’s fault, see? Members complain like crazy. I know, I was a club pro. Now, what is going to happen is a massive change in the world with golf courses and golf design. We already are changing our idea of golf design. We’re going to have to help (superintendents). Golf designers are the ones who are backward. We’re the ones designing the courses that are using all the water. We’ve got to change. We have to make their jobs easier, by the way we design golf courses. That’s going to change drastically." |