Arnold Palmer Stories

Canadan

You Are Great
Albatross 2024 Club
Staff member
Joined
May 16, 2010
Messages
148,329
Reaction score
105,565
Location
Ohio
Handicap
**
Some of you guys have some absolutely incredible stories around one of my favorite people ever, the King of golf, Arnie. His connection with the fans was unbelievable and it’s one of my biggest regrets never getting to connect with him.

If you don’t mind, share your Arnie story with me and the community. How did he impact your life?
 
They used to play a Greats of Golf competition with Arnie, Trevino and Player. One year, 2012 I think, they made a stop to the Woodlands CC (north Houston). I headed out there because I am a big Lee Trevino fan and wanted to walk with their group. Surprisingly there wasn’t many people out there and it was a great day.

What I didn’t expect was falling in love with everything Arnie represented. His swing mesmerized me, even at his age. The way he carried himself and the way he interacted with the fans. Coming off one of the greens on the back nine I made a comment of “great putt” or something like that. He turned and shook my hand. That grip is something I’ll never forget.

Not sure how impacted me as I was still navigating the impact the greats had on the game, but I instantly became a fan and embraced all he represented. Arnie’s Army gained a member that day.
 
Friday Morning early (was gonna miss the cut) at the 2003 Masters. I had just arrived and walked down 18 from the green toward the tee making my way to the interior of the course. Arrived at 18 tee and over on 17 Green there was a small crowd gathering. I walk over and get a spot on the rope. Down below in the fairway you could see some heads but not people yet. After a minute or so there is a thump and a ball appears on the green and rolls out to the back of the putting surface and into the fringe. Maybe 3 or 4 yards away.

Fast forward a few minutes and the heads start moving up the fairway and then give way to full humans and low and behold The King himself is walking up the fairway. As he approaches the front of the green he stops and looks at everything and his caddie hands him his putter. After he sees what he wants, he walks through the center of the green to fix his ball mark and then stands up and walks directly to me while looking me in the eye. He probably wasn’t looking at me, but everyone always thinks Arnie looks them directly in the eye. He stopped three feet away and then he did say “Good Morning young man” and that was to me! I stammered a Good morning Mr. Palmer and he was off to line up his putt.

That’s it. My experience with The King. Was on the grounds of Augusta National for the first time in my life and after maybe 20 minutes Arnold Palmer says good morning to me. Needless to say, it was a good day.

JM
 
For Tapatalk

471d2021fc9c719608547706778b9544.jpg
 
maybe 5-7 years ago i was invited to play a round at bay hill. we were loading up in carts and getting ready to go the range, mr. palmer was in his cart heading to the first tee. i caught his eye and said, "hi mr. palmer!" he gave a big smile and wished me a good round.

it wasn't anything life-changing but it was something i'll appreciate forever. he had no reason to acknowledge me, could have just kept his head down and moved on.
 
I worked my way through college at Sheplers Western Wear in Wichita,KS. We provided shuttle service from the airport and the executive airstrip. Arnold Palmer was getting his Lear Jet serviced and came into the store. This was before I was bitten by the golf bug so I didn’t really appreciate how cool that was!?
 
My wife sent him a letter. She received a response that addressed specific things she wrote about. It may have been signed by an assistant but it was still really cool to get a signed response from The King. We were not big Arnie fans before but we were after. We still have that letter somewhere.
 
Very cool idea for a thread, Dan.
 
I was an air traffic controller in Indianapolis for 22 years, and one of the airports that was located close to our en route center airspace was Arnold Palmer Regional in Latrobe, PA. One afternoon in the early 2000’s, I was lucky enough to work N1AP (tail number of Palmer’s aircraft) en route to Latrobe; even luckier was that Mr. Palmer was the pilot-in-charge! I called ahead and got permission to clear N1AP direct to Latrobe airport, so my ATC instruction to Arnie was “cleared direct to...um, your regional airport.” I got a chuckle and a thank you from Mr. Palmer...it’s still one of my favorite moments ever!
 
As I got into golf I was not aware of all the legends and the stories. As my passion for golf increased naturally my curiosity about the greats did as well. Having been a member of a great course that was a Palmer design my greatest regret is never making an effort to meet The King while he was still here
 
1968 I was stationed in Hawaii and was able to caddy for Rod Funseth. Played the practice round and Pro Am and after the Pro Am Rod went into the locker room to see who we were playing with Thursday and Friday. Gardner Dickinson and Arnold Palmer. On the 4th hole Thursday as I was toting Rod's bag to the green, an arm wrapped around my shoulders and it was Mr. Palmer. He said "well Son, I understand you're in the Navy and play golf to a 14 handicap." I was gobsmacked....... I stammered out a "yes Mr. Palmer, that's correct."

It was an amazing experience caddying for Mr. Funseth, we made the cut. But to witness Mr. Palmer for 2 days was awesome. He talked to me, small talk, both the days we played with him.

In November 2014 I wrote Mr. Palmer a letter explaining my experience with him those 2 days in 1968. I wanted to write to him since I saw how poorly he looked at the Masters and his Bay Hill tournament that year. 2nd week in December I received a letter from Mr. Palmer stating how he was glad to have talked to me bringing back fond memories for him. Below is the letter. I remember it like it was yesterday.

3%2030%2017%20A%20Palmer%20letter%20a_zps8zofaga2.jpg
 
Great thread Dan!

I have no experience with Arnie directly, but I was talking to my pro yesterday after the lesson. The Bay Hill tournament was on in the background, and he told me his story. Bill's first job as assistant pro was at Twin Lakes CC in Kent, OH, and one of the members was also a member of Bay Hill & invited Bill down there over the winter.

Remember that in those days there was not a year-round schedule, so for a few winter months there would be a lot of touring pros hanging out around Bay Hill & they had weekly games - usually pros vs members/other PGA teaching pros, etc. So Bill is in the clubhouse after one of these rounds and just happens to make eye contact with Arnold Palmer from across the room. Arnie stopped whatever he was doing, walked up to Bill, introduced himself (was there ever a less necessary introduction than "Hi I'm Arnold Palmer"?), shook his hand, and started talking with this young nobody. "I here you one of the new guys around here. Great to have you here! If you need anything..."

I know it made a huge impression on Bill.

Arnold Palmer might have been the most genuine person most people will ever meet. Nothing phony about him, and he genuinely cared about people.
 
I was probably 1-2yrs old at the time but in a previous career my father used to be a salesman for Cessna aircraft. He did the delivery of one of Arnold’s first Cessna Citation jet. Believe there are some pics at my parents house. Was pretty cool and funny cause my dad is not really a golfer but certainly knew who he was even back then.

As a pilot myself and being in Orlando I’ve seen N1AP many times but was never able to see him in the FBO. Was hoping it would happen one day.
 
My favorite memory is the day I actually met Arnold Palmer.
A friend and I were playing a round locally in Monterey and decided to drive over after and have lunch at the Tap Room at Pebble Beach.
While eating our great prime rib chili, we noticed a table toward the back that had a group sitting. The waiter said, “do you know who that is over there?”. We said no and he said that’s the King. Mr.Palmer’s back was turned to us so we really couldn’t tell.
After a several minute debate with my friend and I, we finally decided to at least try and say hello to hi. As we approached, I could see his hands. I had seen those hands 1000 times before in pictures and on TV. I knew it was him, even before we faced him.
I have to say, the man didn’t have to even acknowledge us, but rather he got up from his chair and actually started talking to us. We both felt like we had joined his lunch party for the brief 2 minutes he took with us.
Wow. It really was incredible how warm and nice he was. We both got pictures with us and it is my scteensave on my phone to this day. Really just an amazing day.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6826.jpg
    IMG_6826.jpg
    45.6 KB · Views: 0
Arnold Palmer Stories

KFD Palmer Ali.jpgI helped plan and coordinate Muhammad Ali and Arnold Palmer to serve as honorary co-captains at the 2007 Orange Bowl. Ali for Louisville and Palmer for Wake Forest. In exchange for private air travel, Ali agreed to appear at a pre-game hospitality event for fans. When we asked Palmer if he would be appear as well, he was quick to accept. Ali arrived first on a private bus, and thousands of fans began to swarm the bus and chant his name. I boarded the bus to greet him, and give him a quick outline of the events and to sit tight until Palmer arrived. Minutes later, I was notified via walkie-talkie that Palmer and his wife Kit were outside the hospitality tent. I went and greeted him and his wife.....and then walked him inside to the stage. He gave me a firm handshake, an umbrella pin, and called me by name saying "it was nice to meet me". To see him and Ali on stage together....surreal.

I met him again a couple of years later at Bay Hill during a Golf Channel dinner event for TOUR sponsors. We made some small talk. He remembered the Orange Bowl event with Ali...and he was gracious enough to pretend that he remembered me escorting him inside.
 
Last edited:
As I watched the Palmer special on Golf Channel this API week (have seen it many times but always watch) one thing that someone said (his sister maybe?)”Arnie treated people how he would want to be treated.” It’s really that simple isn’t it? Very hard in practice of course, but really such a wonderful rule to live by. That theme is so evident by the interactions that have been shared here.

Great thread Dan!

JM
 
My daughter works for The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, and their annual golf outing is one of their biggest fund raisers, with nearly 300 golfers filling five nines and the sponsorships and auctions bringing in over $100k of late. I don't know how it began, but the Food Bank started to send our prints or photos to famous athletes asking for them to sign the print for the auction. My daughter does not golf, but after about three years she realized that the only athlete who returned a signed print every year was Mr. Palmer. This happened without fail until he passed. I'm looking at his signed copy of three prints of Amen Corner as I write this. It has a place of honor in my study.

He didn't have to do that, but he did. Truly a class act.
 
I was an air traffic controller in Indianapolis for 22 years, and one of the airports that was located close to our en route center airspace was Arnold Palmer Regional in Latrobe, PA. One afternoon in the early 2000’s, I was lucky enough to work N1AP (tail number of Palmer’s aircraft) en route to Latrobe; even luckier was that Mr. Palmer was the pilot-in-charge! I called ahead and got permission to clear N1AP direct to Latrobe airport, so my ATC instruction to Arnie was “cleared direct to...um, your regional airport.” I got a chuckle and a thank you from Mr. Palmer...it’s still one of my favorite moments ever!

Haha this one brought a smile to my face. Reading all of the golf stories are really cool, but this one is really cool to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Haha this one brought a smile to my face. Reading all of the golf stories are really cool, but this one is really cool to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Totally. Can you imagine hearing that voice over a radio? Let alone in a flight pattern (not that I would know about air traffic), but I can imagine how cool that would be.
 
I told my story in the banter thread, but I'll tell it in here if nobody minds:

I played Bay Hill in 2015 with a group of guys from my old club and I missed meeting Mr. Palmer in the locker room because I stayed outside to work at the practice bunker

He was having breakfast in the dining room when we showed up another morning and I wasn't going to interrupt him, but I gave him a wave from across the room and he sent one back. I wish that I was comfortable enough to enjoy meeting 1/100th of the people who he had met.
 
I told my story in the banter thread, but I'll tell it in here if nobody minds:

I played Bay Hill in 2015 with a group of guys from my old club and I missed meeting Mr. Palmer in the locker room because I stayed outside to work at the practice bunker

He was having breakfast in the dining room when we showed up another morning and I wasn't going to interrupt him, but I gave him a wave from across the room and he sent one back. I wish that I was comfortable enough to enjoy meeting 1/100th of the people who he had met.

I cant get enough of these stories
 
this is such an awesome thread. thanks for starting it Dan and thanks for the stories guys
 
Pretty cool hearing some of these stories. What a great guy, such a good role model.
 
Back
Top