Arnold Palmer Design: Latest News: Archives
Tropical Gem
January 06, 2009
There are Arnold Palmer Signature golf courses in the high mountains of Colorado and on the blustery coast of Ireland, but if you’re like us you’ll take your golf beach-side, warm and beautiful. Enter the new Ginn Sur Mer from the excellent Ginn ResortsSM family.
Imagine an island community so magnificent in size and grand in scope, its skyline transforms the tropical horizon. Envision a level of service so customized, so catered to guests, that it is capable of changing a business culture.
This architectural objet d'art is Ginn sur MerSM, and it is soon to emerge on Grand Bahama Island. Upon its completion, the resort is likely to be seen as the creative magnum opus of Ginn Resorts Founder Bobby Ginn.
From the water, Ginn sur Mer will be the most impressive structure in sight for miles and miles. From its single-family residences and condominium homes, it will offer incredible ocean views in nearly every direction. And club offerings will provide a leisurely indoor-outdoor island lifestyle alongside all the elegance and sophistication one has come to expect from the Ginn Resorts brand of communities—including an Arnold Palmer golf course.
OCEAN FRONT AMBIENCE
West End's proximity to the Americas—less than 60 nautical miles from West Palm Beach—has long given this part of Grand Bahama Island the distinction of being called, "the gateway to the islands." Ginn sur Mer is to become a destination unto itself, the largest resort building project ever undertaken in The Bahamas and unlike anything else offered in the Caribbean. Upon its completion, the project will represent a $4 billion investment in The Bahamas, creating more than 4,000 new jobs to this part of the island.
A NEW ERA OF LUXURY
The resort will offer Ginn's unparalleled brand of beachfront living, which has become an increasingly rare commodity on the East Coast where there is little undeveloped land that sits on the waterfront.
Ginn explains: "We turned to the Caribbean and to The Bahamas after years of looking around. We have spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours looking at all the different islands and all the different locations. At the end of the day, we decided that we were going to one island. We decided we were going to make a major commitment. And we chose Grand Bahama Island." With that decision came a dedication to make Ginn sur Mer unlike any other resort destination available in the Caribbean. A marina and an on-site airport both will feature full-service customs houses to provide ease of entry for guests. A grand canal that winds through the entire property will offer water access to every resort amenity, including two championship golf courses and practice facilities designed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.
Just under six miles of private beaches, an upscale Monte Carlo-style casino, waterside spas, tennis complexes, underwater snorkeling mazes and grand swimming pools will be designed with an artistic vision in mind. Coupled with a catalogue of extensive infrastructure investments that are part of the agreement reached with the Bahamian Government West End's transformation is being highly anticipated by American families, as well as local Bahamians.
The opportunity to contribute to a community reinvestment program on Grand Bahama is as exciting as the chance to create an unparalleled resort locale for Ginn Resorts members and owners.
Says Ginn: "We have made a commitment to help in the continued development of West End and the people, and we are committed to becoming a part of this community-now and forever."
Posted: January 6, 2009 02:36 PM
Design Abroad
October 01, 2008
Costa Rica's Garabu is going to be an exquisitely beautiful course
Links-style golf in Chinese mountains? Elephants and tigers on Cambodian fairways? Teeing off in the hot winds of an emirate’s desert? Absolutely. North, south, east and west, the excellent team at the Arnold Palmer Design Company (APDC) is busy bringing great golf to all corners of the globe—and we do mean all corners.
“There’s a lot going on, and it’s all international right now,” says Erik Larsen, APDC Executive Vice President and Senior Golf Course Architect. “It’s really exciting; there are beautiful sites out there and we’re working in countries we’ve never worked before.”
There are many projects in many places, but just a few of the countries APDC is currently working with include Brazil, Russia, Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates, Costa Rica, China and the Philippines.
PHILIPPINES
John Hamilton, Vice President, says the newly completed Sun Valley course outside of Manila recently opened to rave reviews.
Just 39 minutes from the city, the mountain course features dramatic drop-offs and holes styled around the significant elevation changes.
“Stylistically we’re responding to all the existing conditions—the waterfalls, trees in the jungle—without disturbing the natural surroundings. On one of the holes, the backdrop of the green is a 20-foot wide natural rock waterfall.”
As beautiful (if a little less dry), the Imperial course on Mactan Island is a reclamation project built entirely on an existing mud flat.
“All the golf is on the sea,” says Hamilton. “It will be unusual and unique for the Philippines. The tidal movement will flush the course lakes every day.”
Another project in the Philippines will also be an exercise in reclamation. It will involve turning an old quarry into a top-notch golf course.
“It should be dramatic,” says Hamilton.
CHINA
The big story in China is Beijing Cascades. A 27-hole golf development built with the Beijing Open and the China Open in mind, Cascades will be a showpiece course to be sure.
As impressive as the course will be when it’s completely finished (18 holes are open now), the story of its construction is absolutely amazing. As with most Beijing courses, the site for Cascades was essentially flat. To provide elevation changes, 2.5 million cubic meters of soil were brought in and laid down. Now, the elevation changes near 50 feet! Giant waterfalls— some 70 to 100 feet wide—were created, 7,000 trees were planted and countless hours were invested shaping, trimming and adjusting the course to be the best in the country. No doubt it will prove to be exactly that when it opens shortly.
Another Chinese course, this one built in the mountains over a lake in Kunming, will provide drama as well, though its elevation changes are 100 percent natural—and 100 percent dramatic.
“Four holes play elevation changes of 300 feet above the lake,” Hamilton says. “They play over canyons, so on the tee shot you’re looking down these 150-foot deep gorges, and then they play down to the lake’s elevation and along the lake’s edge.”
Brandon Johnson, another APDC Golf Course Architect working on the course, agrees that the site “has a lot of character.” In addition to the fact that some of the holes sit up on cliffs and others play along the shore of the lake, he says the inland, links-style course has a lot of native grasses on-site that give it a special visual identity.
As Johnson put it, the course is “pure nature, untouched.”
When it’s open, it will definitely be one to see (if you can manage to get there).
RUSSIA
One of the more recent APDC projects to come along is a job in Moscow, which will be headed up by APDC Golf Course Architect Thad Layton. Russia has come late to golf but the potential for the sport is massive in a country where land and water availability is excellent and where the population are fanatical about sports. Layton says he’s already getting busy working up the course layout, and the plot, which includes some interesting river frontage, has excellent potential. We are dreaming of Dacha’s and saving up our roubles already.
CAMBODIA
A recent addition to the world of serious golf course development, Cambodia is coming on strong with Bokor Golf Resort Mountain, a 36-hole golf development set in a national park three hours south of Phnom Penh.
Now in the design phase, Hamilton says the area features tigers, elephants, carnivorous plants and all manner of other exotic flora and fauna.
“There’s lots of biodiversity,” he says. “The course is at 300 feet in secondary jungle, not primary forest. There’s easy access and no environmental impact. There’s even a view to the South China Sea.”
With a strong developer behind it, this course is one to keep an eye on.
OTHERS
Like its far eastern neighbors Vietnam is jumping into golf course development as well, with courses slated for Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. The 18-hole course in Da Nang is part of a huge casino resort complex and will feature mountain and riverside golf. The 36-hole development in Ho Chi Minh City offers both a links-style course and a resort-style course. Both should provide excellent golf—and excellent stories. A course called West End in the Bahamas is near 40 percent completed and should be a stunner; part of a lovely resort, ocean on both sides, plenty of golf on the water. There’s a project in St. Lucia that’s moving along, a beautiful farmland course in France called Vignoly that’s practically done and one in Costa Rica, at Garabu, that's just getting started. Dubai, Portugal, Ireland and Brazil are just a few of the other international locations APDC is looking to build. We’re planning our vacations already.
U.S.A.
Of course, APDC is still busy here at home building great courses for those of us who hate long flights.
On June 7, the beautiful Seven Falls Golf & River Club in the mountains of western North Carolina, celebrated the opening of its practice facility and par-3 course. An incredible residential development on the banks of the French Broad River, Seven Falls will eventually offer one of the first Palmer Premier golf course developments. And in addition to the top-tier golf and club, great fishing and other recreational opportunities will be available to members and guests. For now, a taste of the good things to come is possible with the recently opened practice facility, which offers a 20-acre driving range and 25-acre par-3 course that, like all things at Seven Falls, is a cut above the rest.
“It’s more of a par-3 plus,” says Layton. “That was at the request of the owner. He wanted to be able to practice every shot you’d encounter on the golf course. You can hit every club in the bag, starting with a lob wedge and going all the way through to a driver. There’s even a par-4 in there.”
Figure Seven Falls’ full course to open next year.
Just down the road from Seven Falls in Sylva, North Carolina, Balsam Mountain Preserve opened June 6. Offering great golf and a fantastic lifestyle for all of its residents, it also offers an incredible example of responsible living. An amazing 3,000 of the development’s 4,400 acres are protected by conservation easements, ensuring everyone who lives at Balsam Mountain Preserve will feel right at home in nature for years to come. An onsite Nature Center and naturalist will help residents appreciate the community, while plenty of trails for hiking and mountain biking will ensure they get out and enjoy it.
Also in North Carolina, N.C. State golf team will soon be practicing on a course that is—finally—all their own. Brandon Johnson says the course at the university (from which both he and Erik Larsen graduated) is going well. It is set amidst rolling terrain in classic N.C. style, with plenty of native vegetation, including dogwood and magnolia trees as well as native grasses.
On the other side of the country, Vice President Victoria Martz and Design Associate David Couch have been busy getting things rolling in California. The Los Valles project in Valencia is moving forward, Couch says, with “lots of dirt” being moved on what will eventually be a dramatic course with plenty of elevation changes. Rolling Hills, located in Palos Verdes, is another California project that’s going well. An addition to an existing 9-hole country club course, Rolling Hills is being created on an old quarry, adjacent to the club. “There are good views from the site looking up into town,” Couch says. “You might be able to catch some night lights, and there are a couple of ocean views.”
Should be nice.
Other projects include The Newport, a links-style course on the Gulf of Mexico in Port Aransas, Texas, that’s set to open this fall. If you aren’t frightened by bunkers, like “Scottish style” golf but prefer a temperate climate then The Newport is the venue for you. Further courses in South Carolina and Florida are also still in development.
GOING FORWARD
With plenty of projects on the table and plenty more to come, the team at APDC are busier than ever. And whether the greens fees are in dollars, yen or something else completely, there’s no doubt the golf courses they’re building will make the golfing world a better place. Bon voyage.
Posted: October 1, 2008 05:02 PM
Q&A with The King
September 01, 2008
Moments after posing for pictures with 16-year-old 2008 West Penn Junior Champion Ryan Prokay (Palmer won the title in 1947 and ’48), Prokay’s parents and Mulligan, the always-welcome picture-crashing canine, Arnold Palmer walked into his memorabilia-filled office and greeted Kingdom Magazine correspondent Chris Rodell. Palmer was warm, full of laughter and insight and in good spirits as he sat down for an hour-long chat
Kingdom: You recently spent time in North Carolina at Seven Falls and Balsam Mountain. How are they shaping up?
Arnold Palmer: Seven Falls is still being constructed. It will be opening, probably, if we’re lucky, this fall. Their nine-hole practice course and Palmer Teaching Center are open and are just beautiful. Really outstanding. Balsam Mountain is also tremendous. They’re continuing construction of the amenities, but the course is very well done. It ranges between 4,000 and 5,000 feet. It’s a major challenge to work with that kind of terrain and it’s a challenge we take seriously and thoroughly enjoy.
K: What did you think of the US Open? And in particular Rocco Mediate’s performance?
AP: What Tiger accomplished on one good leg was remarkable. It was a victory for the ages. As for Rocco, I thought he really excelled. I think he did a fantastic job. It’s too bad he didn’t win. That’s the only thing I can say that isn’t positive. I’m sorry he didn’t. He proved to himself and the world he’s capable of winning a Major. He really did the people of western Pennsylvania proud.
K: At The (British) Open, when there is a tie, they play a four-hole playoff there and then on the Sunday. Do you think this is a better way of deciding a Major than coming back on a Monday and playing a full 18 holes?
AP: I’ve lost three US Opens to 18-hole playoffs (1962, '63 and '66). Had there been four-hole playoffs, things might have turned out differently, but that’s pure speculation. Still, I prefer the 18 holes and I think the fans do, too.
K: Even before the US Open Tiger was sidelined with a knee operation and will now be out for some time. In 1969, you missed a good stretch of the season with hip problems. How frustrating was that? What did you do to rehab?
AP: In my case, I went to every orthopedic in the country and the final analysis was exercise to strengthen it, and that’s what I did. I exercised constantly from '69 to strengthen it and that’s remained part of my daily regimen. It still bothers me once in a while. But it’s been good enough that I haven’t felt like running to the surgeon for that drastic sort of step.
K: On the subject of Majors: Are there are any other courses that have never staged a Major that might prove to be a good venue for either the US Open or the PGA Championship?
AP: (Palmer dramatically reaches into a heaping pile on his desk and pulls out a thick directory of every APDC course from around the world and slams it on the table in front of the reporter). Here’s about 300 of them for you! Where would you like to start? (laughs heartily). A lot of great courses in there. That’s strictly a matter of opinion. Some aren’t suited for championship golf. But a number of them are very good. A lot of these are resort-type golf courses or public courses and now that they’re holding the Open on public courses some of them could certainly be considered. For a long time, I’ve believed that Bay Hill might be a good place for the Open and certainly Laurel Valley, which has held some major senior events and the PGA Championship. I could go on and on about these courses.
K: The American Society of Golf Course Architects is recommending multiple tees, flatter and smaller greens, and fairway mounding as devices to speed up play. Do you agree with these suggestions and are there other ways the game can combat slow play?
AP: I don’t disagree with those suggestions. There are many ways of speeding up play. One is educating the players and another is having the caddies instruct the golfers on how to play faster and more efficiently. At Pebble Beach we do quite well with that system. On a lot of our Palmer Management courses, and that’s over 50 of them now, we encourage fast play and help instruct them how to do it right.
K: Do you agree that golfers who win big financial prizes for holing in one should lose their amateur status?
AP: That’s an ongoing argument. I suppose it’s something that should be given some consideration. I’m not sure if you win, say, a car you should be disqualified. But there are sound arguments on both sides.
K: The excitement on your face at Bay Hill on 18 when Tiger made the putt seemed to match his. Do you get a vicarious thrill out of watching him do what you did so often?
AP: I felt pretty sure he was going to make it. I felt the excitement. I saw the excitement in his demeanor and his whole attitude. I was telling everyone he was going to make the putt. I wasn’t surprised. Everyone else was. Me, I’ve won a lot of tournaments with birdies on the last hole and to see him do it at Bay Hill was really enjoyable to watch. It was very exciting.
K: What can be done about golf being too expensive to lure in more players?
AP: About the same thing you can do about gasoline being too expensive: Not much. I don’t really know if there’s a solution. The one thing every golf club owner in the world has to do, no matter if it’s owned by members or individuals, is break even. They’re not going to be able to afford a continuous loss. Keeping costs low is something every owner wants to do, but we can’t do it when the food, the locker room, maintenance and every other aspect involved with running a golf course is going in the other direction. Not much you can do, except pay it and charge back to the players. It’s a simple economic problem.
K: With the election being between McCain and Obama, are you concerned that a non-golfer will be in the White House?
AP: Certainly, I’d rather one of them was a golfer, but it’s going to be one of them and neither of them plays golf. Obviously, I’m a McCain supporter. I’m not going to go out and give speeches about that, and I don’t dislike Obama. But I just suppose my natural political view is that I’d like to see McCain elected.
K: Do you ever regret resisting those calls for you to run for president?
AP: There was a time when some people in America thought I should run for president. It was short-lived because I didn’t allow it to get out of hand. I think there are certainly some people who were better qualified than me, but a couple of them maybe weren’t!
K: The Olympics are coming up very shortly. Do you think that golf—like tennis— should become an Olympic sport?
AP: I do. I think the potential for golf in the Olympics is becoming greater and greater. I hope and I believe as time goes on we will get golf in the Olympics. Representing my country is something I would have enjoyed immensely. It would be like the Ryder Cup or the President’s Cup, but it would be less limited and that would make it more interesting.
K: Your name is indelibly linked with Wake Forest. How closely do you maintain contact with your alma mater?
AP: I am a life trustee at Wake Forest, which means I’ll be a trustee for as long as I’m alive. This year I’m doing some appearances with trustees and philanthropists to encourage support of the university for scholarships for the unfortunate who can’t afford to go to college. I’m very fond and proud of my relationship with my alma mater.
K: Why do you think that Wake Forest has produced so many outstanding amateur and Tour golfers over the past half a century?
AP: We like to think the scholarships that we’ve developed and support we provide have something to do with that. We have some very good and sophisticated recruiting tools that lead to that sort of success. I’m optimistic that’ll go on like that for many years.
K: Do you see college golf continuing as the main breeding ground for PGA Tour talent for the foreseeable future?
AP: I don’t think there’s any question about that. I think the collegiate circuit is becoming more and more widespread with the international golf scene rapidly increasing. And more and more international students are coming to colleges and universities in America and are joining the golf ranks. And the other thing is, there are more international colleges that are starting to have golf teams. And as time goes on the European collegiate fields will be bigger. That will happen in places like Japan, China, Australia and all over the world.
K: This Kingdom features a story on the USCG base in Kodiak, Alaska, and the golf course there. You built one of your first courses at Cape May while you were in the Guard. Do you have any contact or affiliation with the USCG now, and would you ever consider building another course for them?
AP: I would certainly consider it. I keep in touch with the Coast Guard to some degree. I enjoy the affiliation and would be happy to work with them on a project.
K: Space tourism is becoming more and more common. As an avid aviator with a keen interest in this field, would you like to travel into space?
AP: I would never rule it out, but I’m not sure it’s ever going to happen in my lifetime. But that would certainly be something to give thought to. Sounds like fun.
K: You have used Callaway Clubs for some time now, what is it about Callaway that makes it a company you endorse?
AP: I knew Eli Callaway pretty well. We had a relationship that was very enjoyable and interesting. When he, in a sense, bought my company and closed the doors, he and I became quite close. He was a very enterprising type of guy and one who had a lot of foresight. He didn’t mind a challenge and welcomed the opportunity to work to overcome them. I think that shows up in the quality of the golf clubs that still bear his name.
K: With your incredibly busy life and schedule, have you ever had time to go fishing? And if so, what kind of fishing have you enjoyed/do you enjoy (fly fishing, deep sea fishing, lake or river fishing)? What’s the biggest fish you ever caught?
AP: I’m not a big fisherman. I do some trout fly-fishing and I’ve enjoyed some Pacific salmon fishing , but I don’t pursue fishing with a great deal of urgency. I just turned down an invitation to fish for some Atlantic salmon. My schedule is such that I just can’t do it.
K: Have you ever gone fishing in Alaska? If so, when, where did you go and what kind of fish were you after?
AP: No, but that’s something we’re talking about. I’m planning on taking my wife, Kit, and we’re going to enjoy visiting up there in Alaska.
K: Please describe your relationship with the USGA Museum and tell us how the Arnold Palmer Center came to be.
AP: When Fred Ridley was president he came to me and asked if I would lend my name to the museum and the Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History. I was flattered that they wanted me to do that. We opened it in early June and I was very satisfied. It’s very nice and I recommend that people go see it. They’ll enjoy it.
K: We understand that you will host the Bob Hope Classic next year, how did that come about and are you looking forward to it?
AP: Yes, I am. It came about because of my continuing support for the Hope tournament as a player and as someone who still supports it. I’m quite fond of the golf in the desert. I think it’s a wonderful venue. I wish we had more support from the players and the amateurs in the desert. It needs more support and if I can help bring some of that about, why I’m happy to do it.
K: Annika Sorenstam is quitting the LPGA at the end of the season. What are your thoughts on her career and decision to retire?
AP: Yes, at her young age, to me, it seems a little early. But some great players in our history have bowed out early, too. But she is such a good player, and she’s contributed so much to the LPGA that I think it would have been nice if at least she would have stuck to it for a couple more years.
K: Have you ever been asked, “Hey, aren’t you Jerry Palmer’s brother?”
AP: (Laughs, considers saying something and then resumes laughing again... Doc Giffin reports he is still laughing).
Posted: September 1, 2008 05:36 PM
Northern Exposure
August 14, 2008
The U.S. Coast Guard base in Kodiak, Alaska, has a lot of responsibility, a lot of great people, a lot of wind and a golf course with some startlingly natural hazards…
Words and Pictures: Reade Tilley
Three of us were from Florida—and not just from Florida, we were from the same part of Florida. We knew summers on the same beaches, took dates to the same restaurants. We probably drove too fast on the same roads when we were kids. Several thousand feet above the Gulf of Alaska in a Coast Guard helicopter off Kodiak Island, this seemed significant somehow, that three of the five of us on board were from the same part of the world. A much warmer part of the world, several thousand miles away.
But Alaska can be funny that way, offering up things you don’t necessarily expect. Like, for example, an otter on the golf course.
The golf course is a nine-hole public course called Bear Valley and it’s on Kodiak Island, approximately three miles from the largest operating U.S. Coast Guard base, Integrated Support Command Kodiak. I got to see it on the ground and from the air, the latter via a ride in a USCG helicopter. In a word—a word I rarely use because so few things are—the golf course is unique. Unique for the weather, unique for its location and unique because of the otter, which is only one example of the wildlife you might see on the fairways.
Wildlife aside, the real story of the golf course is the people who use it. Unlike so many courses, a significant number of the golfers at Bear Valley on any given day are some of the bravest men and women alive. Committed to protecting our borders, our interests and our people in the cold north, the USCG personnel stationed at Kodiak risk their lives every day. Any time they get on Bear Valley is certainly well-earned, and hopefully well enjoyed.
The Course
The course is on USCG land, and it used to be run by USCG personnel. Some years ago the Coast Guard got out of the golf course management business, but Bear Valley is still a big part of recreational life on base.
“I release a lot of frustrations on that little golf course,” says CAPT Andy Berghorn, Air Station Kodiak's commander. “I must have played 30 rounds last year.”
With the responsibility of looking after the lives of fishermen and women in the Bering Sea, enforcing the law and maintaining navigational aids throughout the extreme north, it’s no wonder several people on base expressed similar sentiments of the course’s stress-relieving attributes, but Berghorn’s frequency of play was the most impressive—all the more so because Bear Valley isn’t always playable, at least not by Florida standards.
“I’ve been out there on days where it’s horizontal rain and 30- to 40-knot winds and you’re in your rain slicker and everybody’s playing like it’s a beautiful day,” says Berghorn. “You have to take what nature gives you here, otherwise you’d never play.”
When you consider that it rains an average of 193 days per year and that the temperature is below freezing on 133 days (and above 90 only seven days), you realize Berghorn isn’t kidding.
Still, there are advantages to the weather: “I get to work on my wind game,” says LCDR Steve Jutras, C-130 pilot and former rescue swimmer. “The wind always comes into play.”
As a point of illustration, Jutras tells me about the course’s two par 5s, which run in opposite directions across the main water hazard, a creek that cuts through the course.
“You can try to knock it across, which is easily done with a tailwind,” he explains. “I’ve hit a driver and sometimes I’m 50 yards this side of the creek; sometimes I’m 50 yards on the other side of the creek. It’s just the wind.”
Jutras seems to handle it ok; he and several teammates won a trophy that I dubbed the “Colander Cup,” due to its eccentric construction. A base of what appears to be two dogfood dishes glued together supports a colander full of range golf balls, all stuck together with some kind of airplane-related epoxy. A bright orange range ball serves as the ornament on top, and winners’ names are immortalized in Sharpie on a “Hello, my name is” sticker affixed to the base. Clearly a coveted award, it triumphantly gleams down from a shelf over Jutras’ desk, daring anyone to challenge him and his team on a course they obviously know well.
“The best part about [the course] is the slight doglegs, so you get to work the ball both left and right. And there are no sand traps! There’s no way they’d be able to keep up with that in the rain and wind.”
The wind effects everything, including the shape of the course itself. “Sometimes we lose a big tree,” says Art Bors, Bear Valley’s manager. “And some of them are important strategically, inside the corner of a dogleg. When the big trees go down it makes it a little easier.”
Of course, “easier” is a relative term on a course that still had snow on it in May.
“If you can keep it in the fairway you’re a good golfer,” says Berghorn. “If you hit it in the woods, you never know what you’re going to meet out there. Between the deer and the mountain goats… Well, it’s a unique place.”
I saw goats and plenty of rabbits for myself, both while I was standing on the course and while I was flying over it. Others report seeing deer, foxes, vermin, even the odd bear. And, of course, there was the otter, which Bors told me he saw.
To be fair, he did qualify the sightings: “We’re making the thing sound like a zoo, and it’s really not. It just happens occasionally.”
In other words, don’t come here on safari; come
here to golf.
Palmer Stories
As many of his fans know, Arnold Palmer served in the U.S. Coast Guard, and even built one of his first golf courses at the training base in Cape May, New Jersey, with a wheelbarrow and a shovel. He recently told Kingdom that he’d certainly consider working on a course with the USCG again, and there are a few people around the base who would welcome his coming. Turns out a few of them already have their own Palmer stories to tell.
Here’s a sampling:
Art Bors, manager of Bear Valley Golf Club on Kodiak Island, once played in a tournament at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Pennsylvania, in which Mr. Palmer took part. “That’s me,” says Art, pointing to a picture of himself with Arnie and a few others. “You can tell Arnold Palmer that was the highlight of my golfing career. It had as much to do with meeting him as it did with playing in the tournament.”
LCDR Steve Jutras, C-130 Pilot and former USCG rescue swimmer met Mr. Palmer while attending flight school in Milton, Florida.
“He was there at The Moors Golf Club, a seniors tournament. It was during one of the practice sessions and everybody was waiting for autographs. I was waiting out in the parking lot, he came out in his Cadillac… Some other folks gathered around him. They were all talking about golf, and I said ‘Hey Mr. Palmer, how do you like that new Citation X?’ [Referring to Palmer’s Cessna Citation X jet.]
Mr. Palmer turned around, his eyes lit up and he said, ‘I LOVE IT!’
I told him I was in the Coast Guard going through flight school. He goes, ‘Oh yeah? I was in the Coast Guard.’ I thought he was kidding, but after the tournament I went home and looked it up and sure enough... He gave me the autograph, made small chat and was on his way. I still have the autograph. After the tournament on Sunday, he overflew the golf course and did the old wing dip. I said, ‘I know who that is.’
Be sure and tell him that if he ever needs a backup pilot…”
Posted: August 14, 2008 01:19 PM
