We thought Gary was odd – it turns out he was right!
RORY McILROY has fallen victim to the machismo that befalls every golfer whenever they step onto a driving range.
He is currently recovering from a stress fracture in his ribs, picked up during the off-season.
The Irishman admitted that he practiced hard in Dubai ahead of his first tournament in South Africa, as he experimented in his quest to find new clubs.
Rory will have been trying different clubs with different shafts, and he will have been hitting a lot of drivers and three-woods.
He will have stayed on the practice ground longer than normal. And because there are no fairways, the only way to judge is how far the ball goes.
He has obviously forced it too much.
The secret is to find a club that gives you the distance you want, but where you feel like you’re playing within yourself.
Rory felt the pain in South Africa and could have withdrawn. But it was commendable that he carried on as he didn’t want to let anybody down.
Hopefully that extra exertion may only have added a week or so to his recovery time.
Modern equipment is such that it makes you swing harder and faster. It’s less about rhythm and more about power.
It is forcing golfers to be more athletic, which is good on the whole. But there are drawbacks.
Jason Day puts so much effort into his swing. It’s all in the arms. As the season goes on, the Australian has to take a few weeks off because his body needs a rest.
He is still only 29 but he could do worse than look at Tiger Woods, whose problems with his knees and his back are a result of his fierce swing in his younger days.
The days of golfers having a few pints and a cigarette after a round are long gone. The rewards on offer mean players are committing themselves 100% to their careers.
I used to do a bit of light jogging, but it was nothing compared to Gary Player and his press-ups.
The rest of us thought he was eccentric, but it turns out Gary was right!
I don’t have a problem with players going to the gym nowadays, as long as they do it right. It’s a good way of relaxing after a round.
But if you don’t do that, you feel you are being left behind when you see all your peers in the gym.
What I would advise against is doing like Vijay Singh and spending hours upon hours on the practice ground. It should be used as a place to warm up.
As for Rory, this injury is a major setback. He had a very good schedule mapped out, with the two events in the Middle East and then Riviera and the Honda Classic to start his PGA Tour season.
Now he will miss all of those and it will be a race to be match fit for The Masters.
But he must not be too impatient to return. This rib injury must be allowed to heal properly.
Rory must heed this lesson. If he finds the balance between control, power and rhythm, he will return better than ever.