My Gary Player Story

At 77, Gary Player recently posed for ESPN's 2013 The Body Issue (video above). After a remarkable accomplishment like this (I will not be asked by ESPN to pose in the 2023 issue), my encounter with Mr. Player seems a little insignificant, but it meant a lot to me.

I attended a practice round of the Milwaukee Open Invitational, evidently held at the North Hills Country Club in Menomonee Fall, WI*. This particular event was noteworthy because (1) Arnold Palmer elected to skip the event to prepare for the British Open (which he won, was well covered by the media, ensured that future US professional golfers would attend and started Palmer's rise to superstardom) and (2)  the Jack Niklaus father-son duo played in the tournament for the first time. And, of the big three professional golfers at the time, Gary Player was also in the field.

Tournaments in the 1960's were run differently than they are in 2013. One difference was that ropes were not put up for the practice rounds and you could walk in the fairways behind the players. We were following Gary Player on a short, downhill par 4 hole** and, off a downhill lie, Mr. Player hit a low wedge shot into the green that hit hard, took one bounce and stopped near the hole.

I was 15 years old at the time, had never seen a shot like that (my fluff wedge shots went high in the air and not very far) and blurted out "How did you do that?" Mr. Player turned around and gave me an intense stare (I was sure that I was in deep trouble) and said "Son, let me show you that shot again." He proceeded to hit three more low wedge shots, talking rapidly all the time, each shot landing within three feet of the other shots, turned to me again and said "Got it?" to which I said "Yes sir, Mr. Player" and kept my mouth shut for the rest of the round.

For two weeks after this lesson, I was able to hit the low wedge shot (to the amazement of my playing partners) but eventually lost it (at the time, I was not one to write things down). I have never been able to hit that same shot again. If I ever again get a chance to ask Mr. Player how to hit the low wedge shot, I will make sure to write it down as a blog posting (you can see Mr. Player hit what I think is one of these low wedge shots here).

* My recollection was that the original course the tournament was played on had been sold and turned into a subdivision. I can't verify this recollection and it actually does not matter to the story.

** Looking at the current Golf Course Tour for North Hills, none of the holes fits this description, seeming to support my prior note. I also followed Jack Niklaus in the tournament (I saw him hit a 1 iron as a second shot on a Par 5 hole but was not close enough to gasp in amazement at the height of the ball flight he was able to get out of such a straight-faced club) and I know that Palmer was not there, so it must have been 1961.