The Legend that is Gary Player

In my first official post on Whiffling Straits, in the context of making some 2010 predictions, I pointed readers to Gary Player's website; specifically, the page dedicated to his 1970 musical release, "Gary Player Sings." This was a bit of a cop-out. The item I originally wrote for him went something like this:

Gary Player, the Jack LaLanne of professional golf, will celebrate his 75th birthday on November 1 by pulling a dump truck full of self-esteem across the Nelson Mandela Bridge – with his teeth.

The link on "self-esteem" goes to the biography page on his official website, which begins: "Gary Player is a legend in his own time." The rest of the site is sprinkled liberally with similar bombast about his status as a near-mythical figure. But I changed the entry because I didn't want to misrepresent how I feel about the man who claims to have hit more golf balls than anyone in history.
     I find Player absolutely fascinating. He has an inspiring backstory, having grown up dirt poor in South Africa, where his father was a miner. His mother died when he was 8. He's gotten where he is today by working harder than anybody in the history of the game (even Hogan, by my estimation), both on and off the course. The winner of nine (yes, nine!) major championships, he was an amazing player, even as he labored in the shadow of Palmer and Nicklaus. Because of the "golden era" in which he played, I think he sometimes doesn't get enough credit today for what he accomplished on the course. Who knows how many majors he would have won had he peaked in, say, the 1980s?

Player also seems to be a fine man, well-respected in the game, and extremely respectful of the game in return. In 2006 he received the PGA Tour's Payne Stewart Award. After he played his final Masters in 2009, it was very moving to see other South African golfers waiting to pay their respects as he came off the 18th green for the last time. He greeted each one warmly and sincerely, as though each small, private encounter meant the world to him -- as no doubt it did. (Photo: Michael O'Brien, Golf Magazine/Golf.com)
     He's relentlessly optimistic, a whirlwind of positive energy that never seems to wane. I love a story Dr. Bob Rotella tells about him in his book, "Golf is Not a Game of Perfect," to illustrate the value of positive thinking. As recounted by a fellow competitor he was rooming with at the time, the story goes that Player would return to the room one week just raving about how much he loves putting on fast greens. Then, the very next week, he would come home raving about how much he loves putting on that week's relatively slow greens. The point was, Player didn't really love both fast and slow greens, but convincing himself that he did helped his confidence tremendously. It's an attitude worth emulating, in many aspects of life.

     Yet, for all the positive, Player has this side that makes him seem, at times, like a shameless self-promoter. He has a habit of saying things that strike you as boastful or exaggerated. He can come across as a cheesy self-help guru when he does things like offer the world his "Ten Commandments" for success in life. In fairness, I think they offer sound advice. But wouldn't something like "Ten Tips" have been adequate? Did he have to elevate them to Biblical status? (They're not even written as commandments; they're really more like proverbs, bits of wisdom he's accumulated over the years, e.g., "A promise made is a debt incurred.")

     Jack Nicklaus, a good friend of Player's, even wrote about this character trait in his autobiography, My Story: 

Gary's one peccadillo was then and is still today a certain boyish theatrical quality, a sort of hyper enthusiasm, that can lead him to get carried away and exaggerate things a little bit. I guess it's a means of pumping himself up, of building his confidence. Whatever the sources, I can recall endless instances, but will recount just one for the amusement of our mutual friends.

In 1967 I ran into Gary before the U.S. Open at Baltusrol and we decided to play a practice round together, and all the way around he rattled on about these fantastic new exercises he was doing. "Jack, you wouldn't believe it, they're just fabulous. I never--really, I mean never--miss doing them every morning, and they're just sensational. Jack you just won't believe what they're going to do for my golf ..." And so on, and on.

Well, after the round I was thinking of leaving, but Gary talked me into staying over and invited me to share his hotel room, and the first thing he did when we got up there is show me all his new exercise equipment, the weights and the stretchers and the this and the that, and it was all very impressive. Then came morning, and we got up and went down and ate some breakfast, and then went back up to the room and talked for a while, then decided to head out to the golf course. I waited until we were almost there before saying, as innocently as I could, "Gary, I saw you eat six pancakes for breakfast this morning, but I didn't see you lift any weights or anything like that. When exactly did yo do all those exercises you were telling me about?" Well, he gave me a look as though one of the weights had just fallen on his head. "Oh, golly!" he said. "Oh, golly! I forgot. Would you believe it. I forgot." And, I mean, the darn exercises he never, ever missed doing every morning had never even entered his head! I love you, Gary, and I know you have exercised a ton, but if you'd exercised half as much as you've talked about exercising, you'd never have had any time left to win all of those golf championships that have made you so famous.

Oh, golly! How can you not love that story? The bottom line is that I love Gary Player, and I find this aspect of his persona amusing, not offensive. I agree with Nicklaus that it's really just a byproduct of his terrific optimism and zest for life.
     And you know what? I have little doubt that if he set his mind to it, he really could pull a dump truck across a bridge with his teeth! He's a tough old coot. So tough, in fact, we should start a movement, something akin to the Chuck Norris facts. Maybe we could start with ...

Fact: When Gary Player takes a divot, new diamonds crystalize deep inside the earth.

As they say, it ain't braggin' if you can do it. And Gary Player's been doing it like no one else in pro golf for 55 years. Play on, Player!