AGW Members Remember Arnold Palmer 1929 -2016

MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF GOLF WRITERS – MEMORIES OF ARNOLD PALMER – WHO PASSED AWAY 25th SEPTEMBER, 2016

thumbs-up-arnold-palmer

BOB DAVIES (AGW Treasurer & former Wolverhampton Express & Star/Shropshire Star golf correspondent)

Myself and three colleagues – sadly two of them no longer with us – treasured memories of Arnold Palmer and the day he bought us a drink, perhaps without even knowing about it!

Michael Williams, of the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian’s Dai Davies, Michael McDonnell, of the Daily Mail, and myself were at the 1994 US Open at Oakmont and on the eve of the tournament we were privileged to be invited to play at Arnold’s very own golf course at Latrobe.

Michael McDonnell used his influence to persuade the USGA to loan us a limousine and he drove us the 40 miles or so to the course, where Arnold’s manager, Doc Gifford, arranged clubs for those who didn’t have any with them.

I seem to recall it was a sweltering day so we dropped into the halfway house, where Arnold’s wife, Winnie, was having a drink. We talked with her for a while and as she got up to leave she shouted to the lady behind the counter “Please put these gentlemen’s drinks on my tab.”

“Thank you very much,” we chorused as she disappeared through the door which, a few seconds later, was flung open again and Winnie shouted “Then put my tab on Arnnie’s tab!”

To this day we don’t know who actually footed the bill, but it was all part of a memorable, and completely unforgettable, experience as there was still a unique encounter to come with the “King” himself!

Winnie told us that Arnie was on the course, practicing prior to playing for the last time in the US Open but when we walked off the course Doc Gifford met us to say that Arnie was in his workshop and would we like to have a chat with him.

We walked in and there he was, rewinding a leather grip on a putter, and we spent 20 or so fantastic minutes in his company, charmed by the warmth of his welcome and fascinated by the stories he had to relate.

One wall resembled a wine rack, but instead of bottles, it was occupied by literally hundreds of golf clubs all of which, Arnie told us, he had made and played with at some time in his illustrious career.

Propped up against another wall was a line up of putters, one of which appeared to be branch cut from a tee attached to a genuine business end of a putter.

When Arnie was asked for an explanation, he chuckled as he told us that someone in California kept designing putters and sending them to him and the branch of the tree was one of his latest offerings.

“He also sends me wine,” laughed Arnie. “I’ve told him to stop sending the putters but keeping sending the wine!”

Two days later, after the great man had missed the cut we were there as he said his emotional goodbyes to everyone in the crowded media centre.

But that wasn’t the end of it as far as I was concerned. After our return to the UK I wrote to Arnie to thank him for his hospitality and, like the true gentleman he was, he sent me a photograph on which he had written “To Bob. Best wishes Arnold Palmer.”

To this day it adorns my office as a permanent reminder of the day we were royally entertained by the man who did so much to further the game which we all love so much.

JOHN INGHAM (Former London Evening Standard golf correspondent)

Mark McCormack, manager of Palmer, introduced me to the great man behind the 18th green at St Andrew’s, in 1960. Since I was Golf Correspondent of the London Evening Standard, Mark thought I should know his top client.
From that moment,we were friends and I very much wanted Arnold to win that 1960 Centenary Open. However, he was pipped, by a single shot, by Australian Kel Nagle who vanished into a nearby building, and broke down.
The following year, at the Royal Birkdale Open, Arnold arrived for a practice round without the usual credentials and was stopped at the gate, almost certainly by a non-golfing guy. “You may be Arnold Palmer, and I may be General Eisenhower, but you’re not getting in without a ticket…” 
Arnold went on to win that Open, despite a late thrill from Dai Rees who stormed back in 31, if I recall.
Every Golf Writer belonging to our Association, really liked Mr Palmer a great deal. But my paper signed  boy wonder Jack Nicklaus instead. Yours truly had to ghost- write his stuff, every day after taking meals with him, and his delightful partner Barbara.
The greens at Royal Troon, in those days, were not great, and I knew this having played there with Henry Longhurst prior to the”off”.
Anyway, Jack started with a ghastly round, and seemed upset when his wedge shots had bounced. He vanished and since I had to telephone “his” copy by teatime, a search began. Finally, I asked Arnold if he’d seen Jack and Arnold said he was out at the back of the hotel, pitching onto the town green, a municipal job.”tell him to dry it behind the ears…” he said. In those days Arnold did not welcome Nicklaus with his cropped haircut and pushey approach. Later, however, they became firm friends and Jack joined the McCormack stable, until he realised that Palmer landed the big contracts. “I want to handle my affairs in house” Jack told me…
Palmer won that Open, putting like God on suspect greens. I remember his teeing off at hole 11 with a no.1 iron, and knocking in some whopping putts.
Everybody loved him, and the game won’t be the same.
BILL ELLIOTT (Former Chairman, AGW & Golf Monthly correspondent)
ARNIE Palmer was a terrific, flamboyant golfer but most of all he was a man, a leader, an inspiration. His voice was mahogany compared to Jack Nicklaus’s thin bamboo, his approach to playing the game was the same as his philosophy about life – grip it, rip it and, most importantly, enjoy the ride.
My first close encounter with him was for an interview during my first Masters in 1980. His media man told me to be outside the club barber’s at 2pm on Tuesday as Arnold always had his cut at that time. The club barber’s? Who knew?
Shortly after two o’clock he emerged, saw me, shook hands and suggested we sat down on a verandah bench for a chat I had been warned could not be more than ten minutes max. A waiter wandered by and Arnold asked him to bring us out a couple of beers. Ten minutes later, as predicted, the interview ended, Arnold ordered a couple more beers and the conversation began.
Over the course of the next hour he asked me more questions than I asked him. We had more beer and there was a lot of laughter. Eventually I had to politely excuse myself as I had a copy deadline to meet. If I hadn’t, we might well still be there. Every time I saw him after that whether in a mass press conference or walking the fairway, I got a nod, a smile and a wink. Not always in that order.
And over those years I came to realise that he was the most interesting of men, the most engaged and outward-looking professional sportsmen I’ve ever listened to. It was a colossal bonus that he actually liked the Press. He didn’t put up with us, he enjoyed our company so that some of his very closest mates were old-style newspaper men whose humour and disregard for authority appealed to his own brand of individuality.
In the mid-nineties he agreed to speak at our annual dinner at St Andrews during Open week. he stood up and pulled a sheaf of notes from a pocket and began to talk. A few minutes later, he sighed, looked at the notes and placed them back in his pocket. “I’m just gonna say a few things from my heart, ” he smiled. And he did. And we listened. And, if you weren’t there, let me tell you it was wonderful stuff. About golf, about life, about love and passion and simply enjoying the fact you were still pulling air into your lungs.
Miss him? You bet we will. He was a one-off and we were lucky to know him.

Ed Hodge, Scottish Golf Union.

I’m sure you will know many people who had far more conversations with ‘The King’ than me, but his death did bring two things into my head…. which may be of use for the AGW web.

In researching my first book, Jewel in the Glen: Gleneagles, Golf and The Ryder Cup, I sought to track Palmer down back in 2012, as I knew he had played a famous ‘Big Three’ match with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player over The King’s in 1966 and I sought some recollections. I already had words from Jack and Gary, but Arnold was proving tricky to pin down. However, my grandfather, who was a journalist for 66 years, knew him well from covering The Open beat on Scotland’s west coast and always spoke highly of him – so I always felt Arnold would get in touch.

My hopes were fading though and I had virtually given up, only for an email to drop into the generic Scottish Golf Union email inbox out of the blue (see below). The email was passed onto me by a colleague in due course, and although it said very little, the words were so precious that I used them in the Gleneagles book. I just thought a simple email reply summed Palmer up so well.

The second thought I had yesterday again concerned my research work for the Gleneagles book. I thus posted on Facebook yesterday the following:  Summing up Arnold Palmer? Harry Bannerman, the Scottish former Ryder Cup player, says it all:

“I remember my great Arnie story was at the 1971 World Disney Open, Magnolia Course, Orlando. After the Ryder Cup, I went back to play a few tournaments in the States. I had the 140 (four under) 36-hole total and as was my want that day, I headed to the range for a hit. Arnie was on 141 or 2 and was moving back with his ‘army’ to the first tee after practicing. I was maybe 10-15 paces to Arnie’s right when he noticed me and spoke to me. He said ‘Harry, you keep it going today, you play well”. I replied: “Thanks, Arnie.” Mayhem ensued. I never saw the range. People came after me. All I heard was ‘Why did Arnie speak to you? Who are you? What’s your name? What are you doing here? How did you get in the tournament…? bla bla bla. Could you sign this autograph?’ I spent the practice ground time signing autographs. And it was just because Arnold Palmer spoke to me. There was the measure of the man in a nutshell.”

RIP Arnie

To Ed Hodge:

Arnold Palmer did not have any specific recollections about the golf filmings at Gleneagles.  He did make these general comments:  “I just remember it (Gleneagles) as a very beautiful place and a very enjoyable hotel.  The surroundings were tremendous.  I always enjoyed Gleneagles.  I had a lot of fun playing the Big Three match at Gleneagles.  It was always fun playing with Jack and Gary.  I also enjoyed playing in those Celebrity matches.”

Perhaps this will be of some help to you.

Doc Giffin • Assistant to Arnold Palmer
Arnold Palmer Enterprises, Inc.
T: (724) 537-7751 • F: (724) 537-9355
P.O. Box 52 • Youngstown, PA 15696
www.arnoldpalmer.com