~ ~ Arnold Palmer, from here on called by his nickname “Arnie”, is the American professional golfer who almost single-handedly dragged the game of golf from the doldrums in the 1950’s and 1960’s, when it had hit perhaps one of its lowest ebbs.
Born in 1929 in Latrobe in Pennsylvania, this was a guy who looked as though he had just come of the building site, with his rugged features and hands that resembled two sides of ham.

~ ~ His golf swing wasn’t anything special, and he broke almost every rule in the book when it came to “how to” swing the golf club. The best way to describe it would be to liken it to someone swinging a sledgehammer at a breezeblock!
But boy, was it effective!
With his charming and constant smile and magnetic personality, Arnie attacked golf courses with a mixture of sheer brute force and the putting touch of an angel. Every round of golf was like a declaration of war, and right from the start of his career he became a firm favourite with the golfing public, soon building up a dedicated band of followers who became affectionately known as “Arnie’s Army”.
He made golf exciting again at a time when it had become about as exciting as sitting watching paint dry, and drew thousands to the sport who previously didn’t know the difference between a “birdie” and a budgerigar.
To this day, and at the ripe old age of 72, he can STILL attract more support than many of his much younger contemporaries, and lots of people would rather watch Arnie shooting 85 than some less charismatic players shooting in the 60’s.

~ ~ He began his journey into golfing history when he birdied the final two holes at Augusta National in Georgia to win the 1960 Masters tournament, and only two months after this he repeated the winning exercise, by scoring a final round 65 to win the US Open.
All was not sweetness and light for Arnie though, as he had the misfortune to play his best golf during the same period as two other giants of the sport, the “Golden Bear” himself, Jack Nicklaus, and the irrepressible little South African, Gary Player.
Together they became known as the “Big Three”, and, until the recent rise of a young fella called Tiger Woods, golf has never seen anything quite like them since.
(Incidentally, and a bit off topic, Tiger has taken advice from Arnie almost from the beginning of his career)
Between them, these three golfers totally dominated the sport in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, and were responsible for bringing the “big money” sponsorship into golf that we are used to today. The modern game owes a debt of gratitude to these three legends that it will never be able to adequately repay, and if it were not for their influence and business “savvy”, professional golf as we know it would never have got off the ground, and players would still be playing for peanuts, instead of the millions they can now pocket.

~ ~ Arnie had seven “glory” years from 1958 to 1965, during which time he won no less than seven Major Championships to add to the US Amateur title he had won in 1954. In total he won the US Masters four times, the US Open once, and the British Open on two occasions. He collected these titles from only 22 starts, and also managed to lose two playoffs for the US Open (1962 and 1963), and to throw away his chance in the US Masters of 1959 and 1961.
Along the way he represented his beloved America with distinction on no fewer than six occasions in the prestigious Ryder Cup match. (1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1971, and 1973)
He is also responsible for dragging our own beloved British Open out of the doldrums. During the 1950’s very few foreign golfers graced our shores to play in the Open, and it was in great danger of sinking into almost total obscurity.
Arnie was the first of the great Americans to come here to play in the Open again, calling it the greatest golf tournament on the planet, and finishing only one shot behind the winner on his debut appearance in 1960! Many other famous professionals followed Arnie’s lead, and today the Open is the most spectacular golf tournament anywhere in the world, and the one that all true aficionados of the sport desire to win, above ALL others.
One major championship that eluded Palmer however was the USPGA Championship, which he never managed to win, in much the same way as another of golf’s greats, Sam Snead, found it impossible to win the US Open.

~ ~ Arnie was to repeat his promotion of the sport he loves so much when he moved onto the US Senior Tour in 1979. At this time the Senior Tour was almost a sideshow to the main event, and watched by a paltry number of spectators. Then Arnie hit the scene, and within a short period of time it had become almost as popular as the main tour itself, and almost as lucrative.
During his career he has amassed a total of 60 wins on the regular US Tour, and added a further 10 victories to this total since joining the “fat bellies”. (the nickname the pros give to the Senior Tour)

~ ~ Everywhere he went Arnie was always accompanied by his wife and childhood sweetheart, Winnie, who was as small as he was large. Everywhere you saw Arnie, you could be sure that Winnie was only a couple of paces behind. Sadly, he lost his beloved wife of many years standing to cancer a couple of years back, and this loss hit the big man very hard.
Nowadays, at the ripe old age of 72 years, his appearances are few and far between, but it is a measure of the esteem in which this marvellous man and golfer is held that whenever he plays a round of golf he STILL attracts the largest galleries in the field.
He has also gone on to become a massively successful businessman, and has amassed an enormous fortune from club and equipment manufacturing, and also from his venture into the field of golf course design.
It was Arnie that Dr. Michael Smurfit approached to design and build his famous K-Club here in Straffan, Ireland, that is to play host to the 2006 Ryder Cup match between the United States and Europe.

~ ~ I’ll leave you with a famous quote from the big guy himself, which shows his fantastic sense of humour. When asked by a golfing journalist whether he had any tips that would help the average player to improve their game, he replied,
“I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s golf game. It’s called an eraser.”