Golf Inc - March/April 2009 - (Page 22) are going to be non-developed areas, or preserves, but you’ve got to develop. Q It’s not only water, but other costs of development that are slowing golf development today, at least in the U.S., along with the global economy. Would you agree? A There are a lot of golf courses in California on the brink of being blown up because there is a problem with water. My brother told me a long time ago to build a golf course that only needs 30 percent of the water, 30 percent of the fertilizer, 30 percent of [material] costs and an overall cost of 30 percent. I’ve done that on my ranch, and I did that as a showroom. Our course uses probably 20 percent of [the normal amount of water]. On my golf course, you don’t see a lot of water, you don’t see lot of [bunker edging] and you don’t see trees that need a lot of water. You see olive trees and cactuses. When people come [to my course in South Africa] they can’t believe that this is golf, but this is how golf is going to be in the future. If you look at a golf course today, it often will cost $2.5 million, $3 million, $3.5 million [a year] to maintain. It’s a fortune, and it’s going up, not down. You’ve got to drop that cost, and that’s where we’re going in the future. Everything is changing, and in the future we’re not going to build golf courses like this. Some golf courses will, but that can’t continue in the future, because one golf course takes the water necessary to keep 60,000 inhabitants alive for a year. A lot of places in the world, such as South Africa, are not giving permits like they used to. They know what’s happening to the water situation. And they are correct. So you’re not going to get permits without water. Look at water [use] in Arizona, how it’s dropped. Q Both America and South Africa have had their issues with race, and with bringing non-white players into the game of golf. Your admiration for Nelson Mandella and other social leaders is well-known. Do you have any thoughts on how to increase non-white participation in golf? A First of all, I never thought that I would ever live to see a black president in South Africa, and I didn’t ever think I’d ever live to see a black president of America. The encouraging thing about this, it shows you … in South Africa, the whites were outnumbered, so it was a matter of time before it happened. But whites outnumbered blacks in the United States, so I didn’t think I’d ever live to see that. But it shows you how the winds have changed. I listened to many people in America, both white and black, who said to me, “Gary, we’ll never have a black president in your time or my time, we’re too much of a racist country.” That is nonsense — this proves it. This is living proof that America is not a racist country. Sure you have some racists, but the racists get the big coverage. America has proved it’s not a racist society. There’s such a spirit — if you’re a black man in this country today, hearing and telling me there’s no way — a black American was sitting with me in the airport in Johannesburg, and I told him, I saw this man [Obama] speak in Congress, and this was two or three years ago, and I said this man’s going to be president one day. Now I’m not thinking he’ll be president so early, he’s such a young man, but this is a dynamic man. And he said, “No, he’ll never be.” Well, nobody could be so wrong. It is very encouraging for people to see, it lifts the spirit and I think America’s going into a new phase of a positive, positive spirit. I think that the economy could be good again much quicker than people think — I’ll give it two years. Q Given your fantastic physical condition, I’m sure we wouldn’t be reading it for many years, but if you were to write your own obituary today, what would you say about Gary Player, his life and his proudest accomplishment? A I would say if I had to write it, I’d like to have on there, “Gary Player, a man who loves people. He had a passion about making a difference in someone’s life. He tried his very best to contribute to society.” I think that’s about the best thing I could say. 22 Golf Inc. March/April 2009 PHOTO © RYAN FIELD
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