The Shark, Greg Norman, stays fit as a fiddle at 63

26 June 2018: The Shark is as sharp as ever. The ESPN Body Issue 2018 featured Greg Norman in his hunky best at 63, a stunning sculpture of fitness and good health. The Aussie great credited his impressive muscular structure to his love for the sport, especially surfing, during his younger days and continued discipline with fitness and diet.

“In my younger days, when I was No. 1 player in the world, I was golf-fit. If we had a weather delay and we had to walk 36 holes, I knew I was already 2 strokes up on the field because of my fitness,” Norman told the ESPN. “It never bothered me playing in adverse weather conditions that would test you physically. That, I knew, was my 15th club in my bag back in those days.”

Norman was the Open Champion in 1986 and 1993. He also had seven runner-up finishes in the majors – 3 in the Masters and twice each at the US Open and the PGA Championship.

The Aussie wears many hats now as a serial entrepreneur, course designer and philanthropist. Norman has created over 100 courses across the world. He also owns a clothing & accessories collection and winery that produces 14 different varieties from Australia, USA and Argentina.

The 63-year-old is into his third marriage – he married Kirsten Kutner, an interior designer, in 2010. American flight attendant Laura Andrassy was his first wife. The two of them married in 1981 but their 25-year association ended in a $105mn divorce settlement in 2006.

Norman also enjoyed a brief courtship and marriage with tennis stalwart Chris Evert, but their marriage ended within two years in 2010.

The Shark also offered some valuable insight into the mechanics of golf swing, in the ESPN body issue.

“To hit the ball a long way, you’ve got to learn to swing from the ground up,” offered Norman. “It’s core strength. It’s your glutes, it’s your abs, your thigh muscles. It’s your base. When you swing from the ground up, you’re storing a lot of energy into your shoes. When you want to release that energy, it’s got to be in a sequence that matches up right at impact.

“I had an incredible amount of fast-twitch muscle speed. My hips were really quick. That’s the reason why I could hit the ball so far when the equipment really never allowed you to hit the ball that way.”

The sculpted muscles of the 63-year-old Norman are set to bring fitness back to the centre stage as an increasingly younger generation of golfers seek to gain advantage from their fitness.

The US Open winner Brooks Koepka is among the fittest of golfers. Golf veteran Gary Player, well into his 80s, is said to be as fit as a young man of that age could be. Tiger Woods also is known to have worked insanely hard in the gym to separate himself from the pack during the prime of his career.