Article written by Peter Thomson, The Herald Newspaper, Melbourne, 1964

I saw Gary Player for the first time in January 1956, while I was on an exhibition tour of South Africa. He was included in a match with Bobby Locke and myself at a club in Johannesburg. Locke bade me pay close attention to Player as he felt him a great prospect. Even then he was in some ways impressive, but he seemed an odd little figure with a peculiar flat swing and an unbalanced action. It was obvious at the same time that he had uncommonly intense application, something I had never seen before.

Peter Thomson in fine form - 1954

He asked me after the match whether I thought he should try his chances in Britain immediately or wait in South Africa a few more years until he thought he was ready. Both Locke and I thought that his swing was not good enough to earn him some money in the golf world, but I still saw no reason why he should wait. The experience he would gain abroad would show him whether he could make the grade or not. As history shows he did, in a most phenomenal way.

He first came to Australia towards the end of that year and he won our biggest tournament ever at Yarra Yarra just before the Melbourne Olympics. By that time he was swinging a little better, although he was still very flat, and he told me that he was worried by constant pains in his back.  It seemed that his long periods of practice, and his rather awkward action, were creating a strain on his back muscles and he wondered if he had many more years left at golf.

I remember telling him that if he liked to stoop over a little more at the ball, he would swing rather upright and find it a lot easier and not such a strain on his back. He practised hard to do this and by the end of the next year he had developed a very good swing indeed.

Taken from Peter Thomson’s book ‘Lessons I have learnt’

WRITTEN ON October 30th, 2009 BY Tim AND STORED IN Peter Thomson, Philosophy