Prior to the 2024 Open at Royal Troon, I attended an event at Dundonald Links where Gary Player was giving a clinic.
Then aged 89, he stood on the range and hit driver after driver with a hint of draw to very near the same spot each time, some 225 yards down the practice ground.
There’s a starting point – Gary Player aged nearly 90 could hit the ball 225 yards with modern equipment. Amazing!
Just like when I surmised how far “peak” Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer would have hit the ball with modern equipment, this piece requires conjecture. Let’s face it, we’ll never know for sure how far Gary Player in his prime would have hit the ball with the modern driver and golf ball.
First thing to say is that Player’s technique in his prime was designed to get the very most from the equipment that was available then.
To get the very most out of modern golf equipment, Gary Player of the “Big Three” era would need to adapt to maximise the potential of the oversized driver and urethane-covered ball.
Let’s just assume he would do that rather quickly – He is one of the most skilful players of all time!
Gary Player drives off while great rival Arnold Palmer watches on
(Image credit: Getty Images)
To give us a basis to make an estimate, we must consider how far Player hit the ball during his peak years.
How did he compare to the likes of Nicklaus and Palmer?
Well, by his own admission he wasn’t as long as them. In a 1963 interview with Sports Illustrated, Player said he always expected to be outdriven by Jack and Arnie.
Player had a much smaller frame than the two Americans, both of whom were known as power hitters.
Player was a strategic golfer and wasn’t obsessed with long hitting. He would often take 4-wood from the tee to secure position and wasn’t afraid to be hitting a long-iron into the greens when others were taking less club.
He could shift it further if he wanted to mind you. He made swing changes to be competitive at the Masters, and estimated he gained up to 30 yards in so doing. We know he has always been incredibly fit so he had the necessary strength and speed.
When I wrote about how far Gary Player hit the ball in his prime, I concluded that he would have averaged somewhere around the 250-260 yard mark from the tee. That compared to around 265-270 for Palmer and 275-280 yards for Nicklaus.
As mentioned, I have since written articles thinking about how far both Palmer and Nicklaus (in their prime) might have hit the ball with modern equipment and concluded that Nicklaus would have been up with the longest now, just as he was back in the 1960s – If he reached the fitness levels of a modern professional, he would have been able to shift it 320 yards plus with modern gear.
Palmer, I reckoned would, as he was 60 years ago, have been a few yards behind Nicklaus. I think with modern equipment physical conditioning, and let’s not forget modern agronomy… that has helped players hit further too, Palmer would have driven over 300 yards but possibly more like 310-315 on average.
Player would still have been behind Nicklaus and Palmer if they all had access to today’s equipment and other benefits in the 1960s. Player would have been classed as just on the longer side of average within the top echelons of the game.
If we look at average driving distances on the PGA Tour from last season it comes out somewhere around the 303-yard mark. I think that’s a good estimate for where peak Gary Player would have been if using modern equipment.
How far would peak Gary Player hit the ball with modern golf equipment? I think 300-305 yards.