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There are only 15 players in the history of golf that have won six or more major championships. What are these people have that was different from other people. It's a thing called it. I played with many people when I was young, they were much better than me. But when it came down the line of major championships or big tournaments, or beat them, why?
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When I started weight training in 1953, even on a farm and Jack Nicklaus said, You can't do weight training, it'll ruin your golf. But I'm the only man that's won the grand slam on the regular Turner senior to have won more tournaments than any man that's alive today have won more national championships than on apama, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory put together but my legacy is changing the lives of people due to the fact that I experienced what it is like to have nothing.
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Gary, what were some of the biggest early influences or moments from your childhood that would help us to understand a young Gary Player pre golf? Well, first
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of all, I had a very, very difficult childhood because my mother died when I was nine, my father worked at a gold mine 1000 feet underground. My brother went to war with the British and the last World War at the age of 17. He left high school can you imagine my sister was at boarding school, but I went to a very English school, which saved my life really, or played a vital role. You dressed we had the crown on our cap and our jacket, you had to dress with a tie every day stand up and the teacher came in the classroom. You said a prayer.
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And they had libraries debating holes, gymnasiums, the best track, rugby fields, cricket fields, people spoke four languages, incredible school, cool kid with the seventh, which are visited just the other day, which was really remarkable. So did my father, in spite of the fact he's working on a goldmine, he gets to play golf for 25 pounds a year? And he asked me to play golf, and I'm playing rugby and cricket and the sports at school. I said, not for me that success is game. I'm not really interested.
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How old are you here?
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Probably 1415. So I said, No, not for me. But anyway, I reluctantly went and the basic I ever did, obviously.
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And you know what an epic journey I've had having travelled more miles than any human being ever in the history of the planet. And the people I've met and the experiences I've had, it's been unbelievable. Unbelievable.
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Going back to your early days, and it being quite difficult, but yet having that contrast between the family life, that was a challenge, a difficult but yet the school that was the other side of the coin, by the sounds of it quite luxurious and privileged. What was that? Like? How was that to marry up?
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Well, the school wasn't luxurious. In those days, it's a public school. It's a public school. We went to school those days was about 10 pounds a year.
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Now, it could be, you know, something like 10,000 pounds a year now, because obviously with inflation, and you're talking about, you know, a long time ago, 70 years ago, more so? No, but it's a Johannesburg, where I grew up was a wonderful city, not now, there's a lot of crime, not a crime and, you know, 45% unemployment. Just not the same place anymore. There's no law and order, which is a shame.
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That was the greatest living country that I've ever seen in my life. But let's hoping we can get some new leaders coming up and can possibly change things.
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At the moment, it's not doing as well as we'd like to see or do.
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You mentioned a statement somewhere you said I always wanted to be different from other athletes and that you were interested in trying to increase your vocabulary and improve your speaking and be good at speaking like where did that come from? Because that's probably not on the minds of lots of budding sports stars and athletes out there.
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Exactly. I mean, I think the command of the English language is not very prevalent as athletes, they renowned as poor speakers, but I played the managers, the managers should be, you know, even my father who was poor, and left school at 15 years of age to support his family. He always said to be read, and try and speak well, and then obviously, my all time hero was so Winston Churchill, and I We're so fascinated by his command of the English language, his word. Besides his leadership must be the greatest leader.
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Certainly in the last 150 years, maybe all time. I don't know about Caesar, then about the Trojans. And then about William the great. I don't know about Napoleon, I've read about him.
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But I've experienced woods and Churchill. So that makes a vast difference in one's life. But it's very important for young athletes to speak well, if you want to endorse, well, if you want to be representing different companies, you've got to dress well. You got to you gotta shave every day. And you got to be able to have good manners Manners maketh a man. So and but there's today there's so much money in athletics, that people don't worry about that they spent on the field this but everywhere, they don't shave, they don't worry about dress code. You see some of them get on aeroplanes, it's disgusting.
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But to change the world, it's a vastly change world now. You see the things I teach in schools as compared? When I was young, I'm so pleased that I lived in the time that I lived in. But when in Rome do as the Romans do, that's what we got to live with.
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Now,
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how were you able in the early stages of picking up golf to differentiate yourself? Because it was it was quite a quick trajectory from what I hear
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Scott, you know, there's a little thing called it and it's indefinable. And I've always said to be a superstar in golf, everybody uses the word superstar and great so loosely, to be a superstar. You gotta win six total of six majors or more.
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And we were doing some debating and search the other day, there are only 15 players in the history of golf, that have won six or more major championships.
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What did these people have that was different from other people.
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It's a thing called it indefinable without being repetitive. We have many debates, we have not come to the conclusion. I played with many people when I was young, they were much better than me. But when it came down the line of major championships or big tournaments, I beat them. Why?
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Why in my life, I'm very calm.
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I'm full of love. Very much like Churchill, very much a cry baby.
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Tears are a good message from God. So I'm not ashamed to cry.
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I've been, as I say, very patient. But the minute I got on the golf course, was like, something just switched on. And I became irritable, tense. And all the sports that I've seen Excel, most of them have been irritable. If you look at Tiger Woods, he's the best example. I mean, he didn't know didn't know, he and I were very similar. We didn't know our wives, we didn't know our children. And when you play four days of competitive golf, and you wouldn't buy one shot, that's a quarter of a shorter day. So you better be focused.
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So what it does for you gets you focused, and I'd come off the golf course. And I was a different person. Now, why is that? There's so many things about the human, we haven't scratched the surface of the human being. For example, there's somebody is born right now in the last year that will live to be 150 years of age. You young people will see things there'll be extrasensory perception. If I'm in South Africa, and I want to speak to my daughter here in America, you won't need a phone, there'll be a chip in your body. Or you'll just speak to her. And people say, Well, you're talking nonsense. Well, there was a man who had elephants in South Africa, sent them to Iraq, Iraq, had their wall, he got in a boat and brought them back to South Africa, put them in their natural habitat. And they absolutely adored this man part of his family, he died, they walked 30 miles to his house, walked around his house for two days, and then went back to their natural habitat. They didn't know anything about SMS.
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So that's a very good example of the kind of thing that's going to happen with the human being.
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So it's just as there's been such a change, and changes the price of survival. If you look at how golf for example, you know, I've been saying I said on BBC Two, Peter Ellis 2530 years ago, I said, Peter, one day there's gonna be somebody hit the ball. 400 yards, he said, absolute nonsense. Now I'm telling you earlier at 500 yards, saw a man the other day he had 460 yards. I said somebody would win a major at 50. Now I'm saying somebody will win a major at 60. You see, one of the biggest improvements in the human being now. Very few.
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The majority of the world is suffering from obesity. So obviously you can't live a long time. Now when they're getting cancer, heart attacks and all the diseases. So the great secret to living a long time and performing well is to under eat Some people talk about exercise.
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Yes, it's important, but under eating is 70%. And exercising is 30%. Everybody thinks it's the other way around. So the human being is going to change. Now again, when I started weight training in 1953, even on Obama and Jack Nicklaus said, You can't do weight trading, it'll ruin your golf. Well, we've seen what if now, they got a travelling gymnasium, following the players, they're all using weight. Well, not all but the majority. If you look at Rory McIlroy, who's got the best streak in the world today, I've got a feeling he's gonna win the Masters this year. I keep saying that, but he hasn't won a major I think in in 10 years, he should have won the open. It's an Andrews this year without a question. So I'm just hoping you'll win the Masters to be another Grand Slam winner, which will be a great feather in the cap to have somebody from Britain as a Grand Slam winner.
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But it's so many things. It's having the right mind. It's loving adversity. I think that's the greatest asset an athlete can have. Particularly a golfer, I'm speaking in terms of a golfer to love adversity, because golf, when you're playing tournaments, from the minute you tee off to the time you end is pretty much adversity, maybe not to the extent of some other examples.
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But when I you know stress I keep up with oh, I can't the stress. Everybody puts that emphasis on stress. I love stress. I think stress is good for you. Who can live without stress. I'd like to meet the human being that is lived, that doesn't have stress, whatever you do, so make the best of it.
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Don't feel sorry for yourself and get in and work. But that's another thing, no work ethic.
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How do you get a young boy today? Who lives in the west with our culture? How do you expect us to beat people that are in China and other countries where there's no freedom and work and a habit? See people wouldn't $4 million in a golf tournament. You think that they're not going to work twice as hard as us. The work ethic is something that we got to try and try and maintain. They should be an incentive we incentivize as Lee Kuan Yew, the great deed of Singapore, the best read country of the world. You know, he put great emphasis on incentivization Well, what greater centralization? Can you get them to play at a golf tournament and win $4 million.
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If you're a golfer, that's more money than on apartment and I went in our golf careers on a regular tour together. But money wasn't the criteria, we didn't play for the money. We wanted to be the best. And at the time, there wasn't that amount of money. There was sufficient. And we made our money afterwards in endorsements. And today I make more money at the age of nearly 88 And I did when I was world champion, you know representing country companies like Rolex Berenberg bank in Germany, PSG golf equipment, etc, etc, etc.
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So we never ever thought that would happen. But here it happened. And so it depends on your timing, but the work, the work ethic is something that is very, very important. And there it is in front of you. You have the choice.
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Where did the work ethic get instilled in you from Do you think you can't
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work these things out, Scott, you know, their opinions about a lot of things. But nobody really knows. I mean, the fact that I came home from school an hour and a half in a tram and a bus got home and there's nobody there dark house at the age of nine and a cook my food, make my bed, lay in bed every night crying wishing I was dead. I had one wonderful black gentleman who came in once a week and helped me a little bit get organised in the house helped me tidy up, etc. So I think having that adversity was the greatest gift bestowed upon me ever. So everything from then onwards, as I grew older and started to play golf, it was almost downhill for me compared to what I had as a youngster. So I had already had the grounding, the grounding of determination of patience, of loving people of heavy and good faith, of exercising because my brother before he went prior to going he stood in our garden and said, you want to be a professional sportsman, you're too small, you're too weak. And he bought me a second set of weights and he said, well you practice and work hard at this for the rest of your life, which I've adhere to, and still work out still push it nearly 93 pounds of my legs, hundreds of situps run the treadmill at max. All because I sleep well. I laugh a lot.
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Laughing is a youthful cell that spread throughout the system and helps keep you young, asleep nine hours a night. I try and under eat. That's the hardest of everything. But there are ways and means of living to a long age. And so I try and argue at least five things that I worked on every day to try to reach that 100
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You're literally the epitome of high performance, which is why I was so excited to speak to you today, going back to the mental side of it, because you mentioned it a little bit how you loved adversity and stress. Was there a time in your career where that wasn't the case where you were struggling? Maybe mentally?
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Yeah, I think that's something you know, it's like learning rithmetic at school, you know, it's a process, you learn more as you go on. If you read a lot, I try and read as much as I can. I'm not an avid reader, my wife was, but I'm a reader. And I'm forever trying to, I'm trying to be the best orator of every athlete that's ever lived. That's not a great achievement, because as I mentioned, they're not great orators. But everything you do is a process. It just doesn't happen. It's something you got to work at, and something that takes great patience, and a great work ethic. And somebody asked my hero, Winston Churchill, why he was so successful. I'll never forget verbatim, he said, the height that great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight, that while his opponents were sleeping, he was toiling up in the night. And that's what I did. I had more balls than anybody else. I exercise harder than anybody else, all these 88 years. And that's what stood me in good stead. I used to go to a dinner get back at 1130. I go to the hotel managers say, Can I use the gym? Nope, it's closed.
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Sorry, please promise your locker app, keep it clean. And I went to gym at that night. See, your body doesn't know whether it's Monday or Friday, or whether you're working out and you're not working? Yeah. It's always as he said, whilst your opponents are sleeping. You were toiling up at night. So the message is very clear, it's abundantly clear that you've got to outwork people if you want to do well.
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And I bet it will be the best decision you make this year. It certainly was for me back to the show. In terms of keeping that momentum and that motivation going. Did you have a team around you that helped sort of feed into that energy and pick you up when you're on the days that you weren't wanting to train, you must have had a pretty good team around you as well, right?
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You're speaking like a typical young guy. Now I listen to all these pros and they play.
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But they sit down I'd say my team, I've got a chauffeur. I've got a machine I've got my own jet. And the sanella team, we didn't have teams we had we had a manager that was it was a different times no jet we went off and went by Greyhound bus.
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So several in the back of the aeroplane and, and went by train all in Britain and carried my own bags and lived in hotels for you know, maybe five pounds a night. So it was not complete.
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There were no teams at all. And now I'll get perturbed when I see the guys wasting money on all these things because doesn't mean to say because you're making money today that you'll be making it tomorrow. And my advice to young guys are. Don't let your managers ever invest your money. Let them make money for you. And don't waste money with unnecessary things. Because because you've got money today.
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You might not have it tomorrow, as we've seen. Let's take a man like Tiger Woods, one of the greatest players that ever lived. He joined the seal scouts, jumping off high walls and ruined his knees and ruined his back. Then he has his car accident of Reese recently, so you never know what's gonna happen. Alright, he's made so much money that doesn't apply to him. But you never know what's in store for you. And you got to be very wise in your decisions very wise. What's good today is not necessarily good tomorrow.
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I've been asked to ask you about Mark McCormack and his influence on you and why he was so special.
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Mark McCormick was a genius. I first met Mark McCormack he was making $22,000 a year, he ended up a multi billionaire, you gave me a couple of sayings that remained with me all my life. And that is a blunt pencil is better than a sharp memory. He says nobody can remember. Anybody who tries to remember is a conceited fool, and to write everything down. If young people would only do that, because the time comes by and goes by and you look back and say, What did I say? What did I do? You can't remember my brother, who is the leading conservationist in the world, and save the Rhino from Biggie becoming extinct until the Chinese and the and the Asian people started coming into South Africa and killing Karina, taking the horns. He saved the rhino at that stage and said rhinos all around the world in game reserves. And so he had vision. And he was also the same, you know, he said, Write everything down, keep keep, he said to me, make sure you keep a diary. And I did not do that.
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And now I've written something like over 20 books. And it comes to time, you got to try and remember things. If I could just take that diary and say, Here's my ghostwriter. Here it is, it's all here. Well, we live in a different world now, obviously, of conveniency, with the phones, and the laptops, etc, etc. It's a different world. But it's vitally important to have a good memory and to write things down.
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Not try and remember,
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I think you're speaking directly to me there because I'm a professional traveller. I'm pretty sure I still forget my pants, every third trip I go on. So you've, you've played golf with some incredible people. And you've obviously met some incredible people as well. And obviously, your rivals in Arnold Palmer and some of the greats in the game, and also some world leaders as well. Is there anyone that sort of sticks out in your memory as somebody that almost gave you lessons in life?
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You know, I play a lot of golf with Donald Trump. And, funnily enough, he reminds me a lot of Churchill. He's not a diplomat. He gives his opinion when asked, and he does not come across to the average person, as though he's got love in his heart. But he does. He's got a family that did. So well mannered and manners maketh a man, charming wife, his principles, what he's done, we need tough leaders like Churchill, to stand up for freedom. And freedom is dying in the world rapidly. There's so little freedom left in the world today. And soldiers like my brother, and the people of Britain and America, these young men went to war, if you think of Normandy, they went and they fought rather world for freedom, a world that I cherish and appreciate because I lived in the midst of apartheid. I've seen communism in China, I've seen around the rest of the world, what it's like to live with freedom is a great blessing. And unfortunately, it's crumbling.
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Is that what do you think drives you still to this day? Because I mean, your legacy is completely without question, both from a golfing point of view, but also the work you do in the foundations, the golf design, everything you do on a global stage, like, is that what's still driving you to this day? Well, very
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much. So. You know, you're talking about what drives me. I mean, it's quite interesting at my age where you think where I've just travelled, in one trip, most people in their lifetime never do that.
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Time changes that, that I've travelled all my life. But my legacy, my legacy, really, my my theory is, yes, I can sit here.
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I'm not boasting when I say this, but I'm the only man that's won the grand slam on the regular Turner senior to have won more tournaments than any man that's alive today have won more national championships.
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Then on apartment, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory put together but my legacy is changing the lives of people due to the fact that I experienced what it is like to have nothing and my company in one way or another, has raised well over$100 million, and has changed the lives of 1000s and 1000s of people, just this week coming up, now, we having the Gary Player and Vivian foundation charity match, we'll make, we'll make close to a million dollars.
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And we take it into these underprivileged schools and hospitals and people that don't have an opportunity to have clothes and toys. And we help change the lives and America I must say, is an incredible country, at giving and helping people. That's, that's my, that's my joy. That's if if you knock on the door in heaven to get in there, you're not going to get in there by just being a great athlete or a rich man. I think it helps it helps if you contribute to society, and that's Margaret joy. That's, that gives me such pleasure to see young people and visit people. But I build schools in South Africa, hospitals, churches, sponsored black golfers, and to be doing that, and building aid centres in China, homeless schools, homeless homes, we got the poll that I did with a very big bank, right? In London, we've taken people off the streets, that were sleeping in the streets, and everybody calls them bums to the country, we took these people and gave them the opportunity. And now they acting and lawyers and doctors as such, if you give people an opportunity in life, but we quick to criticise people, because they lying in the streets.
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On that point, what one ingredient? Would you have maybe a bit of advice for other people in terms of being able to make their own small piece of impact with the influence that they have? How do you come up with these ideas and put them into practice?
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You know, it comes back to that thing called it. You can't explain why you think the things the only thing I can explain why. Why I'm a crybaby, and why I have a lot of love in my heart is because of what I experienced in my life. Not having a mother I mean, my mother never saw me hit a golf or when did you become a world champion, your mother never even saw you hit a golf ball. And to become a world champion, and anything is very, very difficult to say the least. You know, competition has always been fierce. Everybody thinks it's fierce today. It's always been fierce. So I can't give you the answers. What actually happened.
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I wish I knew I'm still in my infancy. I have a friend who is a genius we still trying to work out. You know, he said a very interesting thing the other day, he said, a cell phone. We only found out about wi fi 20 years ago, and yet we've been in existence for over a million years, whatever the number is 20 years ago. He says your phone won't work without the Wi Fi.
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There's a Wi Fi up there. He says some people get more Wi Fi in their bodies, which make them excel more than others. Now, I don't necessarily believe in that. But he's talking about scientific fields, which is beyond my comprehension. But he's talking about scientific fields, and things that we will find out you in your lifetime we'll find out things that we never even dreamt of. As I mentioned earlier, we are now infancy
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you must have spoken to Jack Nicklaus about this it and come up with some theories as he got an input on what it could have been because you must have walked into tournaments knowing that you guys had the edge in some respect.
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Haven't really sat down at any great length of time discussing it with auto Jack, who are the players but I do know Jack always said golf should not be called golf, it should be called patience. And as we know the old saying that patience is a virtue. How many people have patience, if you stop at the robot, just a second longer of its turn green guards are talking the Hooters at you.
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You know if you see you're driving along the highway and a man is going across the road, if he waits 10 seconds and let you go, but now he's got to zoom out in front of you. The impatience is, unfortunately, impatience overrules patience. And so we got to work on patience. I think enjoying the accepting the adversity and believing in yourself. I think that's a great asset. A lot of people say they do believe in themselves, but when they get on the first tee at the British Open or the open, they're not truly believing in themselves. You're going to actually believe I know when I played Jack Nicklaus in the final of the world match play championship at went with a golf club, which I adore. I'm playing against Nicklaus and the final courses long, it's wet, and 12 newspapers unanimously said he will beat me while I beat him six and four. And the next year, the same thing of good. I've been in five and four. I said him because he's my best friend.
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I can teach him. I said, you're lucky we're not playing a third time there. It's time I'd really give you a hiding. So, you know, it's, it's all a matter of the mind. The mind is the answer.
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The mind is the answer. Can you cultivate it to the extent? Is it a gift? On the other hand?
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Yes. Is it it? Yes. Maybe in your time and time to come.
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Because if you did a survey amongst 10 people, you get 10 different answers. It's not a definite answer. And coming back to why you do these things, everybody has a debt incurred.
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Anybody who makes money on life, must remember that they never had money to start with, unless they inherited it, which that's, I wouldn't pat myself on the back by inheriting money. But you still got a debt and good to help somebody if it's only just one person, do something to help others in the world. Because we all needed help in our lives. I know how I was helped in my life. So that's maybe that's the reason you asked me what I do.
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Because I was helped to a great extent, coming along, a helping hand was given to me. And so maybe it's just a matter of loyalty. It's a matter of decency, it's a matter of appreciation, and giving back.
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If you've won,
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probably more times than most golfers would ever even conceived possible to win in your career? Is there one moment or memory or victory that is bigger or more important to you looking back?
00:31:35.339 --> 00:31:57.390
Well, as I said earlier, I've won more tournaments than any man alive today. I think that's a feather in my cap. But they are, they are tournaments that are obviously more important than others, and to be the only man on the planet, to win the grand slam on the regular tour and the grand slam on the senior tour.
00:31:53.250 --> 00:32:41.069
My personal opinion, the grand slam on the senior tour was more difficult than the grand slam on the regular tour. I was young, I was strong, confident. Now you go on a senior tour of the 50, or at 50. And over. And I was just as fit at 50 as I was when I was 25. And I think that stood me in good stead. And I think the work the work ethic, and what I dedicated my life to being to maintain youth, energy, patience, all the trials and errors that I went through, that kept my age young through fitness and eating properly. I think that gave me the big thrill to be the only man to do that. On the planet.
00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:49.349
Gary, before we go, we got a few quickfire questions. The first one is one piece of advice you would tell your younger self before starting out.
00:32:51.180 --> 00:33:01.259
I would first of all, I use the word gratitude. I think people take a lot for granted.
00:32:56.849 --> 00:33:39.240
You know, if you look at the world today, how many people have a beautiful shower, a bath a car, air conditioning, schools, food, etc, etc, etc. 70 young people and I address young people. And I address universities as well in business men, the highest Echelon in the world. And I my first word I talk about is gratitude. And we must never forget the people in this room are in the 1% of the world. Think about the people that don't have anything. So I'm gonna go out there, I'm gonna try my hardest. Because I'm so blessed to have the opportunity.
00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:49.920
I'm going to do my very, very best if I'm successful, so be it. If not, I'll come back tomorrow and be successful, believing in yourself and be grateful that you have the opportunity,
00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:53.490
one mantra or belief that has enabled your high performance life.
00:33:54.359 --> 00:34:22.949
I think having faith having faith is has helped me a lot in my life, to accept adversity and you know, my wife has died. We've been together for 72 years. And the most incredible wife, what she did for me and my 22 grandchildren, and my six children and great grandchildren. That's something that is very special in my life.
00:34:18.389 --> 00:34:41.010
Now she dies. Can you imagine? A lot of people feel sorry for themselves. They get depressed and they die very quickly after the spouse has gone not me. Life is one of the greatest gifts bestowed upon you. So Messiah now die of Sauron. I did mourn.
00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:55.829
I have tears in my eyes thinking of her a lot. But now I've got to go on in life. You know, life is full of adversities. And unfortunately schools purely academically are teaching and universities. They're not giving them the true facts of life.
00:34:53.519 --> 00:35:37.409
There's so many things they're not teaching them about how to accept adversity. You Learn how to have manners and how to treat people, and how to smile when you meet somebody. There's so many things, they're not paying the elementary things they're not teaching. Now admit parental guidance is important. But some people don't have parents. So when we go to school, you know, if you go to Oxford or Cambridge, do they really teach, they really teach people those vitally important things other than educating them? Along getting a degree, getting a degree in life is not just academically, it's a lot of other things and a lot of other sides to it as well.
00:35:37.889 --> 00:35:45.059
One ingredient or habit that has contributed to your success the most? I think there's probably quite a lot of ingredients and habits that you've used along your time.
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:48.059
Oh, no question.
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:51.809
There's just one having a strong faith. That's the no question.
00:35:48.059 --> 00:35:51.809
Don't debate.
00:35:52.528 --> 00:36:07.559
And finally, I'm not too sure what I'm going to get from this answer. But what's your go to tune or artist in terms of music? What do you go to in terms of music to get you in the mood or get you in the zone or even just to get yourself relaxed?
00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:39.750
Very good question. I love music. I love opera. I love country music, country music always got a message. I love the BGS. Now, whenever I do a speech, which I do a lot of a lot of speeches, when I introduced always have the song staying alive, that has got a real beat. And what I do is I dance before I speak. And I take three ladies out of the gallery and I pick them out and I stand up and I dance with them. So we start off with the right vibe.
00:36:35.400 --> 00:36:45.090
And I love to dance and I love music. Man. I just love music across the board. African music.
00:36:45.360 --> 00:37:26.550
I got a song calm malema, malema, Malema. It's it's just African music. Look, wherever you go. If you go to Spain, wherever you go, I've got the music. And I just love music. I think that makes you happy. I love the song when they said was the most appropriate song. Be happy. You got to travel, you make a double. You never feel sorry for yourself. Nobody cares. A damn. You know that old song when you're smiling. The whole world smiles with you when you're crying. Nobody cries with you. Boy, that's such a true saying.
00:37:28.619 --> 00:37:55.469
Thank you so much for your time today, Gary. I'm just thinking about how much gratitude I have for your time today. Because I don't I probably haven't warranted this hour of your time. But I know that your your words today are going to help so so many people in my network and listening to this podcast. So thank you for the work that you do with your foundation, the legacy that you've left, and just how you show up in the world still today is like it's so inspiring. So thank you. Well, thank
00:37:55.469 --> 00:38:02.400
you and we must never forget that the use of a nation are the trustees of posterity.
00:37:58.500 --> 00:38:10.980
We got to educate the youth for the future. And secondly, I love Britain, my whole family trees from Britain. My father's love to Britain. Take care
00:00:02.250 --> 00:00:22.710
There are only 15 players in the history of golf that have won six or more major championships. What are these people have that was different from other people. It's a thing called it. I played with many people when I was young, they were much better than me. But when it came down the line of major championships or big tournaments, or beat them, why?
00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:57.420
When I started weight training in 1953, even on a farm and Jack Nicklaus said, You can't do weight training, it'll ruin your golf. But I'm the only man that's won the grand slam on the regular Turner senior to have won more tournaments than any man that's alive today have won more national championships than on apama, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory put together but my legacy is changing the lives of people due to the fact that I experienced what it is like to have nothing.
00:01:01.649 --> 00:01:11.609
Gary, what were some of the biggest early influences or moments from your childhood that would help us to understand a young Gary Player pre golf? Well, first
00:01:11.609 --> 00:01:50.760
of all, I had a very, very difficult childhood because my mother died when I was nine, my father worked at a gold mine 1000 feet underground. My brother went to war with the British and the last World War at the age of 17. He left high school can you imagine my sister was at boarding school, but I went to a very English school, which saved my life really, or played a vital role. You dressed we had the crown on our cap and our jacket, you had to dress with a tie every day stand up and the teacher came in the classroom. You said a prayer.
00:01:50.969 --> 00:02:27.689
And they had libraries debating holes, gymnasiums, the best track, rugby fields, cricket fields, people spoke four languages, incredible school, cool kid with the seventh, which are visited just the other day, which was really remarkable. So did my father, in spite of the fact he's working on a goldmine, he gets to play golf for 25 pounds a year? And he asked me to play golf, and I'm playing rugby and cricket and the sports at school. I said, not for me that success is game. I'm not really interested.
00:02:27.870 --> 00:02:28.889
How old are you here?
00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:39.719
Probably 1415. So I said, No, not for me. But anyway, I reluctantly went and the basic I ever did, obviously.
00:02:40.289 --> 00:02:54.960
And you know what an epic journey I've had having travelled more miles than any human being ever in the history of the planet. And the people I've met and the experiences I've had, it's been unbelievable. Unbelievable.
00:02:55.169 --> 00:03:12.930
Going back to your early days, and it being quite difficult, but yet having that contrast between the family life, that was a challenge, a difficult but yet the school that was the other side of the coin, by the sounds of it quite luxurious and privileged. What was that? Like? How was that to marry up?
00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:26.759
Well, the school wasn't luxurious. In those days, it's a public school. It's a public school. We went to school those days was about 10 pounds a year.
00:03:21.780 --> 00:03:54.090
Now, it could be, you know, something like 10,000 pounds a year now, because obviously with inflation, and you're talking about, you know, a long time ago, 70 years ago, more so? No, but it's a Johannesburg, where I grew up was a wonderful city, not now, there's a lot of crime, not a crime and, you know, 45% unemployment. Just not the same place anymore. There's no law and order, which is a shame.
00:03:54.750 --> 00:04:08.789
That was the greatest living country that I've ever seen in my life. But let's hoping we can get some new leaders coming up and can possibly change things.
00:04:02.909 --> 00:04:10.139
At the moment, it's not doing as well as we'd like to see or do.
00:04:10.530 --> 00:04:26.189
You mentioned a statement somewhere you said I always wanted to be different from other athletes and that you were interested in trying to increase your vocabulary and improve your speaking and be good at speaking like where did that come from? Because that's probably not on the minds of lots of budding sports stars and athletes out there.
00:04:26.370 --> 00:05:09.839
Exactly. I mean, I think the command of the English language is not very prevalent as athletes, they renowned as poor speakers, but I played the managers, the managers should be, you know, even my father who was poor, and left school at 15 years of age to support his family. He always said to be read, and try and speak well, and then obviously, my all time hero was so Winston Churchill, and I We're so fascinated by his command of the English language, his word. Besides his leadership must be the greatest leader.
00:05:06.149 --> 00:05:20.040
Certainly in the last 150 years, maybe all time. I don't know about Caesar, then about the Trojans. And then about William the great. I don't know about Napoleon, I've read about him.
00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:58.949
But I've experienced woods and Churchill. So that makes a vast difference in one's life. But it's very important for young athletes to speak well, if you want to endorse, well, if you want to be representing different companies, you've got to dress well. You got to you gotta shave every day. And you got to be able to have good manners Manners maketh a man. So and but there's today there's so much money in athletics, that people don't worry about that they spent on the field this but everywhere, they don't shave, they don't worry about dress code. You see some of them get on aeroplanes, it's disgusting.
00:05:54.449 --> 00:06:13.589
But to change the world, it's a vastly change world now. You see the things I teach in schools as compared? When I was young, I'm so pleased that I lived in the time that I lived in. But when in Rome do as the Romans do, that's what we got to live with.
00:06:11.610 --> 00:06:13.589
Now,
00:06:13.860 --> 00:06:21.240
how were you able in the early stages of picking up golf to differentiate yourself? Because it was it was quite a quick trajectory from what I hear
00:06:21.329 --> 00:06:39.089
Scott, you know, there's a little thing called it and it's indefinable. And I've always said to be a superstar in golf, everybody uses the word superstar and great so loosely, to be a superstar. You gotta win six total of six majors or more.
00:06:39.870 --> 00:06:53.339
And we were doing some debating and search the other day, there are only 15 players in the history of golf, that have won six or more major championships.
00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:56.850
What did these people have that was different from other people.
00:06:53.339 --> 00:07:16.649
It's a thing called it indefinable without being repetitive. We have many debates, we have not come to the conclusion. I played with many people when I was young, they were much better than me. But when it came down the line of major championships or big tournaments, I beat them. Why?
00:07:10.379 --> 00:07:16.649
Why in my life, I'm very calm.
00:07:17.129 --> 00:07:21.569
I'm full of love. Very much like Churchill, very much a cry baby.
00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:26.879
Tears are a good message from God. So I'm not ashamed to cry.
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I've been, as I say, very patient. But the minute I got on the golf course, was like, something just switched on. And I became irritable, tense. And all the sports that I've seen Excel, most of them have been irritable. If you look at Tiger Woods, he's the best example. I mean, he didn't know didn't know, he and I were very similar. We didn't know our wives, we didn't know our children. And when you play four days of competitive golf, and you wouldn't buy one shot, that's a quarter of a shorter day. So you better be focused.
00:08:02.339 --> 00:09:00.570
So what it does for you gets you focused, and I'd come off the golf course. And I was a different person. Now, why is that? There's so many things about the human, we haven't scratched the surface of the human being. For example, there's somebody is born right now in the last year that will live to be 150 years of age. You young people will see things there'll be extrasensory perception. If I'm in South Africa, and I want to speak to my daughter here in America, you won't need a phone, there'll be a chip in your body. Or you'll just speak to her. And people say, Well, you're talking nonsense. Well, there was a man who had elephants in South Africa, sent them to Iraq, Iraq, had their wall, he got in a boat and brought them back to South Africa, put them in their natural habitat. And they absolutely adored this man part of his family, he died, they walked 30 miles to his house, walked around his house for two days, and then went back to their natural habitat. They didn't know anything about SMS.
00:09:00.929 --> 00:09:07.169
So that's a very good example of the kind of thing that's going to happen with the human being.
00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:46.440
So it's just as there's been such a change, and changes the price of survival. If you look at how golf for example, you know, I've been saying I said on BBC Two, Peter Ellis 2530 years ago, I said, Peter, one day there's gonna be somebody hit the ball. 400 yards, he said, absolute nonsense. Now I'm telling you earlier at 500 yards, saw a man the other day he had 460 yards. I said somebody would win a major at 50. Now I'm saying somebody will win a major at 60. You see, one of the biggest improvements in the human being now. Very few.
00:09:42.000 --> 00:10:02.009
The majority of the world is suffering from obesity. So obviously you can't live a long time. Now when they're getting cancer, heart attacks and all the diseases. So the great secret to living a long time and performing well is to under eat Some people talk about exercise.
00:10:02.009 --> 00:10:57.210
Yes, it's important, but under eating is 70%. And exercising is 30%. Everybody thinks it's the other way around. So the human being is going to change. Now again, when I started weight training in 1953, even on Obama and Jack Nicklaus said, You can't do weight trading, it'll ruin your golf. Well, we've seen what if now, they got a travelling gymnasium, following the players, they're all using weight. Well, not all but the majority. If you look at Rory McIlroy, who's got the best streak in the world today, I've got a feeling he's gonna win the Masters this year. I keep saying that, but he hasn't won a major I think in in 10 years, he should have won the open. It's an Andrews this year without a question. So I'm just hoping you'll win the Masters to be another Grand Slam winner, which will be a great feather in the cap to have somebody from Britain as a Grand Slam winner.
00:10:51.389 --> 00:11:16.679
But it's so many things. It's having the right mind. It's loving adversity. I think that's the greatest asset an athlete can have. Particularly a golfer, I'm speaking in terms of a golfer to love adversity, because golf, when you're playing tournaments, from the minute you tee off to the time you end is pretty much adversity, maybe not to the extent of some other examples.
00:11:17.009 --> 00:11:35.159
But when I you know stress I keep up with oh, I can't the stress. Everybody puts that emphasis on stress. I love stress. I think stress is good for you. Who can live without stress. I'd like to meet the human being that is lived, that doesn't have stress, whatever you do, so make the best of it.
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Don't feel sorry for yourself and get in and work. But that's another thing, no work ethic.
00:11:38.940 --> 00:12:24.059
How do you get a young boy today? Who lives in the west with our culture? How do you expect us to beat people that are in China and other countries where there's no freedom and work and a habit? See people wouldn't $4 million in a golf tournament. You think that they're not going to work twice as hard as us. The work ethic is something that we got to try and try and maintain. They should be an incentive we incentivize as Lee Kuan Yew, the great deed of Singapore, the best read country of the world. You know, he put great emphasis on incentivization Well, what greater centralization? Can you get them to play at a golf tournament and win $4 million.
00:12:20.370 --> 00:12:56.460
If you're a golfer, that's more money than on apartment and I went in our golf careers on a regular tour together. But money wasn't the criteria, we didn't play for the money. We wanted to be the best. And at the time, there wasn't that amount of money. There was sufficient. And we made our money afterwards in endorsements. And today I make more money at the age of nearly 88 And I did when I was world champion, you know representing country companies like Rolex Berenberg bank in Germany, PSG golf equipment, etc, etc, etc.
00:12:56.820 --> 00:13:11.100
So we never ever thought that would happen. But here it happened. And so it depends on your timing, but the work, the work ethic is something that is very, very important. And there it is in front of you. You have the choice.
00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:15.389
Where did the work ethic get instilled in you from Do you think you can't
00:13:15.389 --> 00:14:41.039
work these things out, Scott, you know, their opinions about a lot of things. But nobody really knows. I mean, the fact that I came home from school an hour and a half in a tram and a bus got home and there's nobody there dark house at the age of nine and a cook my food, make my bed, lay in bed every night crying wishing I was dead. I had one wonderful black gentleman who came in once a week and helped me a little bit get organised in the house helped me tidy up, etc. So I think having that adversity was the greatest gift bestowed upon me ever. So everything from then onwards, as I grew older and started to play golf, it was almost downhill for me compared to what I had as a youngster. So I had already had the grounding, the grounding of determination of patience, of loving people of heavy and good faith, of exercising because my brother before he went prior to going he stood in our garden and said, you want to be a professional sportsman, you're too small, you're too weak. And he bought me a second set of weights and he said, well you practice and work hard at this for the rest of your life, which I've adhere to, and still work out still push it nearly 93 pounds of my legs, hundreds of situps run the treadmill at max. All because I sleep well. I laugh a lot.
00:14:41.399 --> 00:15:03.539
Laughing is a youthful cell that spread throughout the system and helps keep you young, asleep nine hours a night. I try and under eat. That's the hardest of everything. But there are ways and means of living to a long age. And so I try and argue at least five things that I worked on every day to try to reach that 100
00:15:03.659 --> 00:15:18.659
You're literally the epitome of high performance, which is why I was so excited to speak to you today, going back to the mental side of it, because you mentioned it a little bit how you loved adversity and stress. Was there a time in your career where that wasn't the case where you were struggling? Maybe mentally?
00:15:19.830 --> 00:16:34.590
Yeah, I think that's something you know, it's like learning rithmetic at school, you know, it's a process, you learn more as you go on. If you read a lot, I try and read as much as I can. I'm not an avid reader, my wife was, but I'm a reader. And I'm forever trying to, I'm trying to be the best orator of every athlete that's ever lived. That's not a great achievement, because as I mentioned, they're not great orators. But everything you do is a process. It just doesn't happen. It's something you got to work at, and something that takes great patience, and a great work ethic. And somebody asked my hero, Winston Churchill, why he was so successful. I'll never forget verbatim, he said, the height that great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight, that while his opponents were sleeping, he was toiling up in the night. And that's what I did. I had more balls than anybody else. I exercise harder than anybody else, all these 88 years. And that's what stood me in good stead. I used to go to a dinner get back at 1130. I go to the hotel managers say, Can I use the gym? Nope, it's closed.
00:16:31.169 --> 00:16:57.059
Sorry, please promise your locker app, keep it clean. And I went to gym at that night. See, your body doesn't know whether it's Monday or Friday, or whether you're working out and you're not working? Yeah. It's always as he said, whilst your opponents are sleeping. You were toiling up at night. So the message is very clear, it's abundantly clear that you've got to outwork people if you want to do well.
00:16:57.990 --> 00:17:56.339
I want to take a few seconds to talk 2040 the sponsors of this podcast, because to me, they're the epitome of what high performance is for young leaders and decision makers looking to make a mark. So 2040 is a membership community. That doesn't just help you accelerate professionally. But it's also helped me grow and develop personally to bowl intensive purposes. This is an opportunity community. And it brings together the next generation of exceptional young talent and connects those rising decision makers to help them unlock their fullest potential through the power of their peers and creating the opportunity for each other. Now, when I joined 2014, I went from feeling alone in my entrepreneurial journey and missing the energy and the ideas and a collaboration of others, to having an endless new source of high quality connections. Super long list of the world's highest performers to interview which has been epic. And even this partnership that has allowed us to scale the show, all of its really come from the opportunities presented at 2040. Also, the private events are absolutely legendary.
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00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:49.049
And I bet it will be the best decision you make this year. It certainly was for me back to the show. In terms of keeping that momentum and that motivation going. Did you have a team around you that helped sort of feed into that energy and pick you up when you're on the days that you weren't wanting to train, you must have had a pretty good team around you as well, right?
00:18:50.190 --> 00:18:56.700
You're speaking like a typical young guy. Now I listen to all these pros and they play.
00:18:52.920 --> 00:19:18.690
But they sit down I'd say my team, I've got a chauffeur. I've got a machine I've got my own jet. And the sanella team, we didn't have teams we had we had a manager that was it was a different times no jet we went off and went by Greyhound bus.
00:19:14.220 --> 00:19:34.259
So several in the back of the aeroplane and, and went by train all in Britain and carried my own bags and lived in hotels for you know, maybe five pounds a night. So it was not complete.
00:19:27.299 --> 00:20:01.109
There were no teams at all. And now I'll get perturbed when I see the guys wasting money on all these things because doesn't mean to say because you're making money today that you'll be making it tomorrow. And my advice to young guys are. Don't let your managers ever invest your money. Let them make money for you. And don't waste money with unnecessary things. Because because you've got money today.
00:20:01.170 --> 00:20:34.559
You might not have it tomorrow, as we've seen. Let's take a man like Tiger Woods, one of the greatest players that ever lived. He joined the seal scouts, jumping off high walls and ruined his knees and ruined his back. Then he has his car accident of Reese recently, so you never know what's gonna happen. Alright, he's made so much money that doesn't apply to him. But you never know what's in store for you. And you got to be very wise in your decisions very wise. What's good today is not necessarily good tomorrow.
00:20:35.009 --> 00:20:41.700
I've been asked to ask you about Mark McCormack and his influence on you and why he was so special.
00:20:41.849 --> 00:21:54.480
Mark McCormick was a genius. I first met Mark McCormack he was making $22,000 a year, he ended up a multi billionaire, you gave me a couple of sayings that remained with me all my life. And that is a blunt pencil is better than a sharp memory. He says nobody can remember. Anybody who tries to remember is a conceited fool, and to write everything down. If young people would only do that, because the time comes by and goes by and you look back and say, What did I say? What did I do? You can't remember my brother, who is the leading conservationist in the world, and save the Rhino from Biggie becoming extinct until the Chinese and the and the Asian people started coming into South Africa and killing Karina, taking the horns. He saved the rhino at that stage and said rhinos all around the world in game reserves. And so he had vision. And he was also the same, you know, he said, Write everything down, keep keep, he said to me, make sure you keep a diary. And I did not do that.
00:21:49.470 --> 00:22:18.720
And now I've written something like over 20 books. And it comes to time, you got to try and remember things. If I could just take that diary and say, Here's my ghostwriter. Here it is, it's all here. Well, we live in a different world now, obviously, of conveniency, with the phones, and the laptops, etc, etc. It's a different world. But it's vitally important to have a good memory and to write things down.
00:22:18.930 --> 00:22:20.099
Not try and remember,
00:22:20.579 --> 00:22:45.480
I think you're speaking directly to me there because I'm a professional traveller. I'm pretty sure I still forget my pants, every third trip I go on. So you've, you've played golf with some incredible people. And you've obviously met some incredible people as well. And obviously, your rivals in Arnold Palmer and some of the greats in the game, and also some world leaders as well. Is there anyone that sort of sticks out in your memory as somebody that almost gave you lessons in life?
00:22:46.409 --> 00:23:53.459
You know, I play a lot of golf with Donald Trump. And, funnily enough, he reminds me a lot of Churchill. He's not a diplomat. He gives his opinion when asked, and he does not come across to the average person, as though he's got love in his heart. But he does. He's got a family that did. So well mannered and manners maketh a man, charming wife, his principles, what he's done, we need tough leaders like Churchill, to stand up for freedom. And freedom is dying in the world rapidly. There's so little freedom left in the world today. And soldiers like my brother, and the people of Britain and America, these young men went to war, if you think of Normandy, they went and they fought rather world for freedom, a world that I cherish and appreciate because I lived in the midst of apartheid. I've seen communism in China, I've seen around the rest of the world, what it's like to live with freedom is a great blessing. And unfortunately, it's crumbling.
00:23:54.089 --> 00:24:11.970
Is that what do you think drives you still to this day? Because I mean, your legacy is completely without question, both from a golfing point of view, but also the work you do in the foundations, the golf design, everything you do on a global stage, like, is that what's still driving you to this day? Well, very
00:24:11.970 --> 00:24:26.430
much. So. You know, you're talking about what drives me. I mean, it's quite interesting at my age where you think where I've just travelled, in one trip, most people in their lifetime never do that.
00:24:22.289 --> 00:24:37.799
Time changes that, that I've travelled all my life. But my legacy, my legacy, really, my my theory is, yes, I can sit here.
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I'm not boasting when I say this, but I'm the only man that's won the grand slam on the regular Turner senior to have won more tournaments than any man that's alive today have won more national championships.
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Then on apartment, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory put together but my legacy is changing the lives of people due to the fact that I experienced what it is like to have nothing and my company in one way or another, has raised well over$100 million, and has changed the lives of 1000s and 1000s of people, just this week coming up, now, we having the Gary Player and Vivian foundation charity match, we'll make, we'll make close to a million dollars.
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And we take it into these underprivileged schools and hospitals and people that don't have an opportunity to have clothes and toys. And we help change the lives and America I must say, is an incredible country, at giving and helping people. That's, that's my, that's my joy. That's if if you knock on the door in heaven to get in there, you're not going to get in there by just being a great athlete or a rich man. I think it helps it helps if you contribute to society, and that's Margaret joy. That's, that gives me such pleasure to see young people and visit people. But I build schools in South Africa, hospitals, churches, sponsored black golfers, and to be doing that, and building aid centres in China, homeless schools, homeless homes, we got the poll that I did with a very big bank, right? In London, we've taken people off the streets, that were sleeping in the streets, and everybody calls them bums to the country, we took these people and gave them the opportunity. And now they acting and lawyers and doctors as such, if you give people an opportunity in life, but we quick to criticise people, because they lying in the streets.
00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:52.380
On that point, what one ingredient? Would you have maybe a bit of advice for other people in terms of being able to make their own small piece of impact with the influence that they have? How do you come up with these ideas and put them into practice?
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You know, it comes back to that thing called it. You can't explain why you think the things the only thing I can explain why. Why I'm a crybaby, and why I have a lot of love in my heart is because of what I experienced in my life. Not having a mother I mean, my mother never saw me hit a golf or when did you become a world champion, your mother never even saw you hit a golf ball. And to become a world champion, and anything is very, very difficult to say the least. You know, competition has always been fierce. Everybody thinks it's fierce today. It's always been fierce. So I can't give you the answers. What actually happened.
00:27:27.420 --> 00:27:54.900
I wish I knew I'm still in my infancy. I have a friend who is a genius we still trying to work out. You know, he said a very interesting thing the other day, he said, a cell phone. We only found out about wi fi 20 years ago, and yet we've been in existence for over a million years, whatever the number is 20 years ago. He says your phone won't work without the Wi Fi.
00:27:51.480 --> 00:28:17.430
There's a Wi Fi up there. He says some people get more Wi Fi in their bodies, which make them excel more than others. Now, I don't necessarily believe in that. But he's talking about scientific fields, which is beyond my comprehension. But he's talking about scientific fields, and things that we will find out you in your lifetime we'll find out things that we never even dreamt of. As I mentioned earlier, we are now infancy
00:28:17.819 --> 00:28:31.619
you must have spoken to Jack Nicklaus about this it and come up with some theories as he got an input on what it could have been because you must have walked into tournaments knowing that you guys had the edge in some respect.
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Haven't really sat down at any great length of time discussing it with auto Jack, who are the players but I do know Jack always said golf should not be called golf, it should be called patience. And as we know the old saying that patience is a virtue. How many people have patience, if you stop at the robot, just a second longer of its turn green guards are talking the Hooters at you.
00:28:54.960 --> 00:29:56.849
You know if you see you're driving along the highway and a man is going across the road, if he waits 10 seconds and let you go, but now he's got to zoom out in front of you. The impatience is, unfortunately, impatience overrules patience. And so we got to work on patience. I think enjoying the accepting the adversity and believing in yourself. I think that's a great asset. A lot of people say they do believe in themselves, but when they get on the first tee at the British Open or the open, they're not truly believing in themselves. You're going to actually believe I know when I played Jack Nicklaus in the final of the world match play championship at went with a golf club, which I adore. I'm playing against Nicklaus and the final courses long, it's wet, and 12 newspapers unanimously said he will beat me while I beat him six and four. And the next year, the same thing of good. I've been in five and four. I said him because he's my best friend.
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I can teach him. I said, you're lucky we're not playing a third time there. It's time I'd really give you a hiding. So, you know, it's, it's all a matter of the mind. The mind is the answer.
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The mind is the answer. Can you cultivate it to the extent? Is it a gift? On the other hand?
00:30:13.740 --> 00:30:23.549
Yes. Is it it? Yes. Maybe in your time and time to come.
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Because if you did a survey amongst 10 people, you get 10 different answers. It's not a definite answer. And coming back to why you do these things, everybody has a debt incurred.
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Anybody who makes money on life, must remember that they never had money to start with, unless they inherited it, which that's, I wouldn't pat myself on the back by inheriting money. But you still got a debt and good to help somebody if it's only just one person, do something to help others in the world. Because we all needed help in our lives. I know how I was helped in my life. So that's maybe that's the reason you asked me what I do.
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Because I was helped to a great extent, coming along, a helping hand was given to me. And so maybe it's just a matter of loyalty. It's a matter of decency, it's a matter of appreciation, and giving back.
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If you've won,
00:31:21.809 --> 00:31:35.099
probably more times than most golfers would ever even conceived possible to win in your career? Is there one moment or memory or victory that is bigger or more important to you looking back?
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Well, as I said earlier, I've won more tournaments than any man alive today. I think that's a feather in my cap. But they are, they are tournaments that are obviously more important than others, and to be the only man on the planet, to win the grand slam on the regular tour and the grand slam on the senior tour.
00:31:53.250 --> 00:32:41.069
My personal opinion, the grand slam on the senior tour was more difficult than the grand slam on the regular tour. I was young, I was strong, confident. Now you go on a senior tour of the 50, or at 50. And over. And I was just as fit at 50 as I was when I was 25. And I think that stood me in good stead. And I think the work the work ethic, and what I dedicated my life to being to maintain youth, energy, patience, all the trials and errors that I went through, that kept my age young through fitness and eating properly. I think that gave me the big thrill to be the only man to do that. On the planet.
00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:49.349
Gary, before we go, we got a few quickfire questions. The first one is one piece of advice you would tell your younger self before starting out.
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I would first of all, I use the word gratitude. I think people take a lot for granted.
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You know, if you look at the world today, how many people have a beautiful shower, a bath a car, air conditioning, schools, food, etc, etc, etc. 70 young people and I address young people. And I address universities as well in business men, the highest Echelon in the world. And I my first word I talk about is gratitude. And we must never forget the people in this room are in the 1% of the world. Think about the people that don't have anything. So I'm gonna go out there, I'm gonna try my hardest. Because I'm so blessed to have the opportunity.
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I'm going to do my very, very best if I'm successful, so be it. If not, I'll come back tomorrow and be successful, believing in yourself and be grateful that you have the opportunity,
00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:53.490
one mantra or belief that has enabled your high performance life.
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I think having faith having faith is has helped me a lot in my life, to accept adversity and you know, my wife has died. We've been together for 72 years. And the most incredible wife, what she did for me and my 22 grandchildren, and my six children and great grandchildren. That's something that is very special in my life.
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Now she dies. Can you imagine? A lot of people feel sorry for themselves. They get depressed and they die very quickly after the spouse has gone not me. Life is one of the greatest gifts bestowed upon you. So Messiah now die of Sauron. I did mourn.
00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:55.829
I have tears in my eyes thinking of her a lot. But now I've got to go on in life. You know, life is full of adversities. And unfortunately schools purely academically are teaching and universities. They're not giving them the true facts of life.
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There's so many things they're not teaching them about how to accept adversity. You Learn how to have manners and how to treat people, and how to smile when you meet somebody. There's so many things, they're not paying the elementary things they're not teaching. Now admit parental guidance is important. But some people don't have parents. So when we go to school, you know, if you go to Oxford or Cambridge, do they really teach, they really teach people those vitally important things other than educating them? Along getting a degree, getting a degree in life is not just academically, it's a lot of other things and a lot of other sides to it as well.
00:35:37.889 --> 00:35:45.059
One ingredient or habit that has contributed to your success the most? I think there's probably quite a lot of ingredients and habits that you've used along your time.
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:48.059
Oh, no question.
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:51.809
There's just one having a strong faith. That's the no question.
00:35:48.059 --> 00:35:51.809
Don't debate.
00:35:52.528 --> 00:36:07.559
And finally, I'm not too sure what I'm going to get from this answer. But what's your go to tune or artist in terms of music? What do you go to in terms of music to get you in the mood or get you in the zone or even just to get yourself relaxed?
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Very good question. I love music. I love opera. I love country music, country music always got a message. I love the BGS. Now, whenever I do a speech, which I do a lot of a lot of speeches, when I introduced always have the song staying alive, that has got a real beat. And what I do is I dance before I speak. And I take three ladies out of the gallery and I pick them out and I stand up and I dance with them. So we start off with the right vibe.
00:36:35.400 --> 00:36:45.090
And I love to dance and I love music. Man. I just love music across the board. African music.
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I got a song calm malema, malema, Malema. It's it's just African music. Look, wherever you go. If you go to Spain, wherever you go, I've got the music. And I just love music. I think that makes you happy. I love the song when they said was the most appropriate song. Be happy. You got to travel, you make a double. You never feel sorry for yourself. Nobody cares. A damn. You know that old song when you're smiling. The whole world smiles with you when you're crying. Nobody cries with you. Boy, that's such a true saying.
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Thank you so much for your time today, Gary. I'm just thinking about how much gratitude I have for your time today. Because I don't I probably haven't warranted this hour of your time. But I know that your your words today are going to help so so many people in my network and listening to this podcast. So thank you for the work that you do with your foundation, the legacy that you've left, and just how you show up in the world still today is like it's so inspiring. So thank you. Well, thank
00:37:55.469 --> 00:38:02.400
you and we must never forget that the use of a nation are the trustees of posterity.
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We got to educate the youth for the future. And secondly, I love Britain, my whole family trees from Britain. My father's love to Britain. Take care
