Farming and horses on par with golf: Gary Player

Feb 22, 2016

Player is considered among the best golfers in history

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

What does 80-year-old golf legend Gary Player love more than the sport he’s synonymous with?

“I love golf and I love horses and farming,” Player said in an interview with CNN’s Winning Post. “I don’t know what I love more. I have to give them a tie.”

Player’s love for farming and horses is shown on the farm he’s owned since 1974 in his native South Africa.

The farm consists of 300 acres of irrigated pasture, a 1,500-acre game reserve, a golf course, and his thoroughbred breeding operation called the Gary Player Stud; however the property wasn’t always in the greatest of shape.

“When I bought this farm it was just bare ground,” he said. “There was an old mud hut house here and a few stables. I demolished everything and planted every tree here, built all the rock walls, all the dams, all the irrigation schemes.”

His farm isn’t always financially successful but that doesn’t stop Player from pursuing his passion.

“I lose money on my farm here but I keep going because it’s a passion,” he said. “It’s a way of life, what it does for me. I go to bed early, I wake up early.”

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