Gary Player Reaps Award from Met Golf Writers

The Player Foundation and World Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player are slated to receive the Winnie Palmer Award from the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association at the organization's 64th National Awards Dinner on Tuesday, June 9 at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, NY.

The Player Foundation provides quality education, nutrition, medical care and extra-curricular activities for underprivileged children around the globe. It was established by the Player family in 1983 and to date, through several annual events staged in the U.S., Asia, Europe and South Africa, the foundation has raised more than $50 million for these important causes.

Each year, Black Knight International, in conjunction with The Player Foundation, manages and runs
a series of four prestigious golf events on four continents which raises more than a million dollars annually.

"What the Gary Player family and their entire company has done for others is remarkable," MGWA President Bruce Beck said. "The Player Foundation provides hope, just like Winnie Palmer did for so long."

The MGWA's Winnie Palmer Award acknowledges an individual consistently given their time, energy and enthusiasm to those less fortunate. The Award is named in honor of Winnie Palmer, who devoted much of her life to charity work for literacy programs and health care. Past recipients include Barbara Nicklaus, Dolores Hope, Vivienne Player, Betsy King, Peggy Kirk Bell, and Ernie Els.

Created by the Met Golf Writers Association in 2000, the Winnie Palmer Award has been sponsored by Rolex Watch USA since its inception.

Other MGWA award winners Nick Price (Gold Tee Award) and Ron Sirak (Werden Golf Journalism Award) will join Player on June 9. Additional MGWA award recipients will be announced in the coming weeks.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

GlenArbor Celebrates Ten Years With Gary Player Visit

Gary Player

GlenArbor Golf Club, a premier Westchester club located in Bedford Hills, NY, celebrated its tenth anniversary recently with a special visitor--golf legend Gary Player. Members, staff, and a few select guests had the opportunity to play and chat with the Black Knight for two memorable days.

Player designed the course, which was built on a spectacular site with a perfect mix of elevation changes, water, and tremendous vistas. He said he recognized the potential for a beautiful golf course the first time he walked the property.

At the reception that topped off Player's visit, he had nothing but good things to say about the GlenArbor staff, who, he said, "Always greet you with a smile." The club also earned his highest praise for its dedication to the game. "This club knows and demonstrates how important the traditions of golf are to the growth and well-being of the game."

Player said he was particularly pleased to see the GlenArbor learning center, which he said he recommended when the course was first built. GlenArbor not only has a practice range (double-ended), but a fully-equipped year-round teaching center with heated hitting bays as well. The real gem is the short game area, which features four practice greens, three target greens, five teeing areas, and every kind of sand trap, grass bunker, long rough, short rough, and greenside fringe the devilish designers could imagine.

In addition to the regular cups, the practice greens also have nine red-flagged holes.  These correspond to numbered “tees” arranged off the greens.  Together, they make up a nine-hole “course” that is re-routed every day but typically includes two bunker shots, two pitches out of rough, two tight lies, a lag putt, and other tests of your ability to get up and down.  There’s a par-18 scorecard, too, and a nearby computer terminal to enter your scores so you can track your progress.

The Gary Player Center, named to honor the course designer, has five teeing grounds surrounding three dedicated greens, each of which has three pin positions, so the player has nine targets at various distances from ten to a hundred yards away.  There’s a fairway bunker to practice the scariest shot in golf, as well as a sod-faced bunker to get you ready for St. Andrews.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Charlie Sifford & Gary Player - A Class Act

Charlie Sifford, the first African-American to play on the PGA Tour, was presented with the Gold Tee Award by the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association last night. The ceremony was one of the most moving experiences I’ve had in a long, long time.

What really made it sparkle was Gary Player’s acceptance speech for the Special Recognition Award presented to him by the MGWA at the same event. He graciously accepted the award, but then insisted on turning the spotlight on Sifford, whom he saluted at length as a strong competitor, loving husband, and powerful crusader for human dignity. It was a pure touch of class by the Black Knight, who suffered many of the same types of racial abuse during his playing days as a result of his steadfast stand against apartheid in his native South Africa.

Sifford’s story is testament to an indomitable spirit. He became a caddie at the age of 13 in this home town of Charlotte, North Carolina. Four years later, he turned pro and went on to win the United Golf Association’s National Negro Open six times, including five straight titles beginning in 1952.

He tried to qualify for the 1952 PGA Phoenix Open—a PGA Tour event—but was threatened and racially abused. In 1957, he won the Long Beach Open, a milestone of sorts since it was co-sponsored by the PGA even though it was not an official PGA event.

Finally, in 1961, Charlie Sifford overcame the “caucasion only” rule imposed by the PGA and won a tour card, the first African-American to do so. He became the Tour’s first African-American winner in 1967 when he won the Greater Hartford Open. In 1969, he won the Los Angeles Open. In a black mark that still stands, however, he was never invited to play in The Masters.

Sifford’s story is an inspiring one, and his humor-filled, poignant remarks at last night’s award dinner in Tarrytown, NY, reflected a life filled with both struggle and grace.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo