Q&A: Gary Player dishes on fitness, philanthropy and the golf ball rollback

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Gary Player must run on Energizer batteries because he still has plenty of hop in his step at age 90.

He’s still doing hundreds of sit-ups, pushing 300 pounds with his legs and breaking par let alone his age when he tees it up. Jetting here and there, he says he’s never in the same place for more than a week.

Golfweek caught up with Player at the Valero Texas Open and the PGA Championship for two sit-down interviews during which Player either had a story or a hot take he couldn’t wait to tell. It made me think that he would be unmatched as a college graduation speaker. Or perhaps it’s time for him to give his TedTalk.

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The obesity epidemic, the golf ball rollback, apartheid, saying no to bacon, turning down big bucks from LIV, the death of the par 5, his girlfriend and John Daly were just some of the topics he touched on. Class is now in session.

On rolling back the ball

The par-4, 15th at Aronimink, it was 550 yards on Saturday. Nicklaus played it with a driver and a 3-wood (in 1962). Jack was as long as anyone today other than maybe DeChambeau. And they’re reaching it with a 5-iron. Where are we going with this ball? I’m very perturbed.

There’s no such thing as a par 5 in the world. They’re hitting 8-irons. They’re driving at least one par 4. It’s a par 67. It’s a problem because we haven’t scratched the surface. I was at the White House the other day and I met (pitcher) Noah (Syndergaard), 6 foot 8, and those guys are coming. I said years back you’d have guys hitting it 400 yards. You’re talking trash, Gary. I said you’d see a guy of 50 win a major, you’re talking trash. Now, they’re saying again I’m talking trash. We’ve never had a big man playing golf. When I say cut the ball back 60 yards, they say that’s ridiculous. It’s three clubs. Instead of an 8-iron to the green they hit a 5-iron. Still not a par 5. They’ve got to cut it back 100 yards.

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The incentive to succeed is so great that you are getting people from China to India to Africa and around the world, realizing what they can achieve. I mean, the money is beyond one’s comprehension. And so these guys are all in the gym, building a body. The tour will average 400 yards in X amount of years. I don’t know how long. Now what’s going happen? This is the tragedy of golf. So where are we going? If there’s anything that frustrates me in golf, it’s this: We’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars on changing all the golf courses everywhere in the world. I just went back all the way to South Africa for five days to change a golf course and it’s so wrong; we should be putting that amount of money into the betterment of golf.

So why not just for the pros — the amateurs are the heart of the game, not the pros, leave the game as it is — cut the ball back 60 yards on pro golf, and it’s all set. So simple as that. But it’s such a litigious society. Can that be done? Does the USGA, does the R&A, do the PGA, do they want to have lawsuits that last a year and wasting their money on all that? No. It’s very sad.

On PGA Tour and LIV going forward

The players that went to LIV, they made their bed, they chose the big money and they got big money. Now, the other guys have come along and supported the PGA Tour. Are you going to bring these guys back and kick these guys in the ass? What sort of loyalty is that? I think they should come back and I hope they do but they have to earn it. Here’s the question: how do they earn it? That’s not for me to decide. Do they go back to qualifying school? Does a guy who’s won two majors, does he get preference? They’ve got to come up with some conclusion. I do know they can’t just walk back in.

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They offered me a lot of money. Jack turned down a lot of money. I heard Tiger did too but I know Jack did because he’s my best friend. I was president of the PGA in South Africa and I’ve been a member for 73 years. The PGA was an integral part of my life. It’s what enabled me to get started. It’s easy to say, there’s money and forget that, but you can’t . They gave me the opportunity.

Golfweek: How much were you offered?

GP: No. All I will say is it was a lot of money.

On the accomplishments he still hopes to reach

I’ve done everything golf-wise. Now my focus is on my philanthropic work, to raise money for underprivileged people. I know what it is to struggle and to have adversity. The greatest gift ever bestowed upon me was adversity. That’s what made me a world champion.

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I think the youth of America is soft. Anything I can do about fitness and nutrition; my message is that your body is a temple. And when I come to the greatest country that God ever made, it’s an obese nation. Today, we’re coming here, and we walk by the pool. I see all these kids. Everybody’s fat. Most people haven’t seen their balls in five years. Their stomach is out here, you know what I mean?

It’s so frustrating, and parents don’t care about teaching their children that. The schools have taken exercise out of the schools. It should be the number one thing, because what’s the most important thing in your life? Your health! It is easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than to get people to worry about their body.

I haven’t had a piece of bacon in 28 years. I haven’t had an ice cream in 28 years. That’s my choice because I work on my body, I want to live to be 100 because I love life, I love my work, and I’ve got a girlfriend at 90. How about that? Now, that’s encouraging. She plays golf. She goes to the gym, she travels, she likes opera, she likes reading — everything I like, she likes — and she’s rich. It’s pretty nice. So I said the other day, I don’t need your money; you don’t need mine. I said, but when you die, leave me some!

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On fitness and golf

When I joined the tour in 1953, the only exercise that any pro did was lifting an olive from one martini to another. There were no weights. And here I am and I want to beat Nicklaus to win the Grand Slam, and I’m squatting with 325 pounds on the Saturday night before the final round, and a famous golf architect goes by, and he says, Gary Player will never win a tournament past 35.

I think I’ve had the longest longevity of any golfer that ever lived. I think there was 45 years between my first win and my last win. I’m still shooting par at 90. But the thing is that doing the weights changed the game, and now everybody’s doing it. Let me tell you how thrilled I was to see Tiger come along and do weights, particularly when I was ridiculed across the spectrum, and then Rory comes along and dead lifts 400 pounds.

On receiving his greatest honor on day of U.S. Capital attack

No, the day I received the Congressional Medal of Honor (Jan. 6, 2021), I wasn’t aware of what was going on. I saw President Trump, he had on a big flak jacket, and he said, whatever happens, this must be peaceful. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, none at all. That was the greatest honor for me that I’ve ever received in my life. You want to know? Because I lived in apartheid and I know what I did. When I was a young man I was scared to say something. You’d get 90 days in jail. People have no idea what it was like. I devoted a large part of my life to it and to be recognized that I did something like that and they appreciated it.

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You know, they wanted to kill me every day for two years. I lost the PGA. They threw ice in my eyes, telephone books at my back, threw balls between my legs. It was hard to play when they’re demonstrating against you. It’s tough. A lot of people don’t know what my life has been about. They have no idea.

On what he’d do as John Daly’s life coach

Now you’re talking about the impossible dream. He’s the opposite of me. People often said, if you were bigger, you would have won more tournaments. Well, you can’t win more than the most in the world but the thing is, I wouldn’t have. I would have won less if I was big. Because the fact that I was small made me more determined, made me work harder. You follow?

But he was almost as talented as Tiger Woods was and he let it go. Not only was he the longest hitter but he had a magic touch. I don’t want to criticize the man. He has a big heart. He came to South Africa and he was hitting the ball 400 yards. It’s sad that a man of that ability didn’t let it come to the forefront. But we could stand here and list off people who did the same thing.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Gary Player Q&A: On fitness, philanthropy and the golf ball rollback