It’s not every day you get to interview a golfing legend – and someone who’s a longevity legend too. Gary Player is widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time. Indeed, The World Golf Hall of Fame cites him as one of only five golfers to achieve a Career Grand Slam by winning all four majors, and Player is the only golfer on that list to have won a Grand Slam on the Senior Tour too.
He’s won 165 professional tournaments on six continents over seven decades, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Services to Golf, from the PGA Tour, in 2012.
If his playing career were not enough, Player took his passion for golf into the office and onto the drawing board. He has designed more than 135 golf courses on five continents, and is still collaborating, with projects in the pipeline.
Gary Player is a natural biohacker
Gary Player is considered an exemplary ambassador for South Africa, representing his country of birth not just as a sportsman, a businessman and philanthropist, but also as a champion of humanity. He was the first international person to receive the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, on 7 January 2021. The Freedom Award honors individuals who’ve made significant contributions to civil rights.
The day I met Gary Player in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa the “Black Knight”, as he’s fondly referred to in golfing circles because of his trademark black attire, welcomed me into his cozy family home next to a golf course he’d personally designed. Overlooking the Plettenberg Bay lagoon, there are dogs, grandchildren, and even his son, Mark Player, who’d recently flown in from the US, roaming about.
I noted that he likes to wear black even off the course. When I complimented him on his stylish jacket, he beamed at me and told me it was one of his favorites, that he’d bought it in India, where the handmade tailoring is superb.
Always on the move
Player had just returned from hosting a corporate golf day with a 150 players, out of town, and was fresh off the plane and a transfer service. Not a hair was out of place. And at 88, he still has a full head of natural salt-and-pepper hair. He told me that he still loves working and traveling. I was astounded to learn that he has racked up around 15 million air miles in his long career, and still counting.
Over a cup of Rooibos tea and honey, Player let me in on some of his secrets to looking and feeling so youthful and positive.
Gary Player’s secrets to longevity
Have a zest for life and love
Everything in life takes effort. Player believes it’s about choosing what kind of life you want to live, and doing what it takes to get it. He has consistently worked towards this all his life.
He believes you can make the best of adversity, using it as a springboard to achieve better outcomes – just as he did when he was a young boy, setting his sights on changing his life, and building success and wealth.
Adversity has made me. When I was growing up, we were dirt-poor. My first job was 30 pounds a month for three years. I suffered like a junkyard dog. I lay in bed every night crying, wishing that I was dead. I had no mom, my father was down the gold mine, my brother was at war and my sister was at boarding school. Adversity was the greatest gift I ever had. It made me have the best life I could ever have. I am grateful today for what I have.
“Will and determination are a choice. Find a passion, doing what makes you happy and brings you joy. Keeping busy with things and having that interest will give you a natural zest for life.”
Be in service to the community
He has continuously used his position of influence in a positive way, to improve the lives of others, focusing strongly on education for the underprivileged. Through the Gary and Vivienne Player Foundation, millions of rands, and even dollars, have been raised to aid vulnerable children. The Blair Atholl School was established to provide education to over 500 underprivileged students.
He attributes much of this to his wife and the mother of his six children (he has 22 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren). They’d been together since they were 14 years old. Vivienne sadly passed away in 2021, from pancreatic cancer. He feels her loss dearly. Player told me there isn’t a day that passes that he doesn’t think about her.
“Vivienne was the rock in my life.” He plans to keep true to her last wishes, and strengthen the Gary and Vivienne Player Foundation.
A young Gary Player with his wife Vivienne and family: Photo from Instagram @Gary.Player
It takes effort to keep focused and positive, especially with life’s setbacks and the death of a life partner.
“Anything in life takes effort. But that’s what has motivated me all my life,” he says.
Have a purpose
Player believes the difference between living and existing is having a purpose.
He’s a brilliant example of taking the success of a purpose – to become the world’s best golf player – and sharing it with millions of others, building other successes along the way. The community work, his other businesses… it’s all part of the Player purpose.
He wants to live long, for love.
Love what you do
We know that his love of golf earned him the title The Greatest Living Golfer, but did you know that, from a youthful age, he has always loved horses? His stud farm in South Africa is famed for breeding top-performing thoroughbred racehorses, and producing many winners. He once told The Racing Post: “I don’t know what I love more: horses or golf.”
When I asked him when he last rode a horse, he grinned and showed me his wrist. There was a definite scar – proof of his last ride. But, he says, perhaps his days on the back of a horse are numbered.
Horses have minds of their own – they’re flight-or-fright animals. And, at any age, an injury can be difficult. He’s mindful that a bad fall could set him back, even for such a fit person. And because he loves being active and working, for him the risk may be outweighing the reward. But even if he’s not riding, his relationship with horses will continue.
Focus on family
Player says Vivienne played a pivotal role as the family matriarch, and their shared values kept their relationship strong.
“My wife fully supported my career and raised our six children almost single-handedly, while I was touring the world playing golf. It was love at first sight for me, and I asked her to marry me when I was 14 years old. Vivienne was a devoted wife, a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and a wonderful human being, who cared so deeply for others and lived her life in service to others.”
Player tries to spend more time these days with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Relationships, even those that are challenging, and especially family ones, are important for longevity.
Eat for longevity
One of the most interesting insights is Player’s view of eating. His personal and long-time habits are very much in line with the latest in longevity science. I was curious how he found out so early on in his life about eating well.
He says it’s always been his way of life, and that perhaps it was because he had a humble, and even deprived, childhood that he learned to live without eating much.
He believes that, despite his success, fame and money, to live a long and prosperous life, you need to be cognizant of what you eat and how much you eat. You have to under-eat, he says.
“When I was a young man, I thought going to the gym would keep me healthy. However, I believe it’s 80%, or maybe even 90%, what you eat, and only 20% exercise.”
Put your knife and fork to sleep
We’ve been taught by society to over-eat. It’s not necessary to eat three meals a day if you’re eating the right things. And don’t eat at night! Only eat when the sun is up.
“You must put your knife and fork to sleep. You don’t need three meals a day.”
Intermittent fasting is key for him. Player says it’s not new. Ancient civilizations with longevity have known this for centuries. He’s a natural faster and has been doing this for decades.
But hasn’t eating healthily and with restraint sometimes been a challenge, given that he attends so many events, dinners, parties and engagements? Surely it’s difficult to be so disciplined, given his social and business position? In this short video snippet, Gary Player shares some of his Lessons in Longevity.
He says it’s a habit. At big dinner events, he orders healthy food, eats a little of what is presented, so as not to be disrespectful. He never feels obliged to finish what’s on his plate. He eats enough and only the good stuff, and then covers the rest of the plate with a serviette. He even jokes that he wears boots so he can tip his wine into them, so he doesn’t have to consume too much alcohol.
Player believes we need to get back to the day when we ate to live, and not live to eat.
He admits that he loves fruit and eats a lot of it every day. He even recommended to me a particular type of mango he finds most delicious. Most of his food is plant-based, and he considers himself a mindful eater of clean food. He avoids food with preservatives, and loves honey, a natural sweetener with many health benefits.
Exercise
At the age of 89, Player still moves a lot. He has been going to gym since he was eight years old. He knew he wanted to be an athlete, but his brother said he was too small and too weak. He decided to prove him wrong.
Over the years, he earned himself the nickname Mr Fitness, and has always been loyal to, and passionate about, a regular workout. You’ll still find him at the gym every day, wherever he is in the world. It’s a daily discipline. The locals in Plettenberg Bay have become used to the silver-haired icon pushing heavier weights than many others around him.
When he’s not out and about on the golf course or at the gym, he loves walking and playing with his dogs, or his grandchildren. Until recently, horseriding has also been a regular activity.
Some of Player’s other daily habits include
Meditating
Yes, Gary Player meditates every day. This includes working with his breath. “How many people breathe deeply? Well, every night before I go to bed, I take a breath in and a very deep breath out. Your body needs breath. It’s also great for your brain. They don’t take a lot of effort and they’re free.”
Listening to music
He loves country music and opera. He even sang me a tune, to prove he knows the words to some of his favourite songs. “Country music has a message; there are so many great songs. I put them on before I go to sleep.”
Taking cold baths or showers
Player laughed when I said taking an ice bath was the current rage. He told me he learned to take cold baths, swims and showers when he was in his 20s. A Japanese friend told him he should start taking them if he wants to live long. He even has a cold plunge pool at his house in Plettenberg Bay.
Spending time in nature
Apart from his walks on golf courses, being with horses, and other habits around his daily life, he makes a point of getting into nature. He likes forest bathing. “Yesterday I was walking in Cape Town and there was this old, rugged tree that was bent over. I touched that tree and said thank you.”
Getting a good night’s sleep
He believes this is critical to performance, purpose and positivity. Gary Player says he has always been able to sleep, at least nine hours a night, which is pretty impressive – and most likely due to his active lifestyle and good eating habits.
Praying
“Why do I pray? Well, I have clean white sheets, a bed, food of some kind, and I have a shower and a bath. We take everything for granted. I see the ocean outside and I say thank you every day.”
Gisèle Wertheim Aymés, Founder of the World of Longevity speaking to Gary Player
Tests and tricks to living a long and healthy life
Get a good doctor who knows about nutrition and the gut, he advises. Get regular tests done, so you can be proactive, not reactive. Cut your sugar, and ensure you get enough vitamin D.
“Don’t go to an unhealthy doctor, especially one who is overweight or smokes,” he adds.
“I test my vitals every six months. I get a full set of blood tests, and I keep my teeth super-clean, including daily flossing.”
You should also be checking for skin cancer and melanomas. Gary Player admits he wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t been checked and had some melanomas removed. He’s had a number of people he loves get sick, and even die, from cancer. He’s not going to wait until there’s a scare.
Get into the garden
Player grows his own vegetables, because the quality of food today isn’t good, he says. And he drinks a mixture of raw green juice every day.
He doesn’t conform to wearing a fitness device or monitor, and is even skeptical about the chemicals in daily personal products such as antiperspirants. He keeps his personal-care clean, without the added toxins.
Of course, he’s not perfect, but everything he does is in moderation, and considered with purpose.
I wondered if he had any weird or wonderful treatments to help him along. Nothing we hadn’t discussed, he says, but he’s aware that medical professionals are now on the brink of cell transplantation as the next step in medicine. And people will soon be living to 140.
What’s his magic bullet?
I asked Player what his magic bullet is. He grinned. “We have a secret green juice recipe we use at home. It’s full of vital nutrients. You must have the dark-green leaves daily, onion and beetroot.”
Garlic is also a staple, and he adds honey to everything, advising me that it’s a natural antibiotic.
Gary Player is adamant that longevity isn’t just for the wealthy. “You don’t need lots of money to live a life of longevity and health. There are simple daily habits I have shared with you that anyone can adopt.”
He also thinks we should be teaching younger people how to live better. “We should be teaching healthy habits in schools already.”
He chooses to live
At the end of our interview, I told him I wanted to make a date with him for when he turns 100. He laughed at me and agreed. “Most people aren’t living to my age, but if they do, they’re not living, they’re just existing.”
You can be sure that Gary Player is making the most of every minute he has, and continues to inspire everyone who meets him to be happier and healthier.
References
This article first appeared in Longevity’s print annual Living Beyond 100 edition 2024-25. If you would like to buy a copy, click here:
https://www.zinio.com/za/publications/longevity-magazine/5133
Main Photo from Gary Player’s Instagram page @gary.player
Gary shared his inspired ideas with us on video. You can watch more on our YouTube Channel. Click here
