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The Caddy Shack

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    Arnold Palmer

    Mongrel
    Mongrel


    Posts : 1780
    Join date : 2012-12-04
    Location : The Oort Cloud

    Arnold Palmer Empty Arnold Palmer

    Post  Mongrel Sun Sep 25, 2016 9:16 pm

    Several months ago I got the feeling that Arnie was nearing his finish line and this afternoon he crossed it. Undoubtedly now resting in peace. I first saw him up close and personal around 1062 when my father took me to a PGA tour event just outside Philadelphia. I will still see in the mind's eye Arnie's drives cracking off the persimmon with a low initial flight and then shooting up to a quick apex and landing around 270. The galleries seemed to be 99% for Arnie and almost all booing the crew-cut thick-bodied young 20 something named Jack. My father was a devotee of Hogan and thought that Palmer was the second coming. As a young teen, I thought that Arnie was cool and so was Jack. They both smoked cigarettes while playing. Palmer would smoke about half the cigarette and toss away the long butt before he hit his next shot. In fact one of the tobacco companies marketed Arnold Palmer cigarettes for a short time. They were half the size of regular cigarettes. I realized that golf could be pretty cool because it was the only sport where you could play and smoke at the same time.

    Over the years I saw him play on some occasions and the last was around 1996 or so at a senior tour event just south of Philadelphia. By then my father couldnt' walk very far so he would stake himself out on his portable stool just behind the par 3 green closest to the Cadillac tent parking lot. I would leave him there and roam a bit. We always went to the Friday rounds-- the first day of the three day tournaments-- because the crowds were sparse and you could get right up next to the players, especially at the tee boxes and around the greens. This Friday Arnie was paired with Gary Player and Jay Siegel, a local amateur of renown and a bear of a man who could pound it out like Daly. So before they teed off on a par 5, I shook hands with Arnie and Player who I also saw from the early '60's. Arnie was polite and looked me in the eye and said "Nice to see you again." I thanked him and realized later that the only other time I saw him and we established eye contact was back in 1962.

    Between those events, I played a set of his irons. Palmer Standards which were tiny blades with sweet spots the size of a flea's clit. They were gorgeous with primo chrome plating and Arnie's signature filled with gold. I won a lot of skins money with them at my club and shot my lowest rounds in competition. I retired them in 1994 when the Golf Nazis decried that we couldn't wear golf shoes with proper spikes made of steel anymore and my leg drive that enabled me to hit my Palmer Standard 3 iron 230 disappeared with the damn plastic things.

    Anyway, I'm a pretty cynical elderly motherfucker but I did get pretty misty when the Golf Channel interrupted the senior tour playoff with the news of his death.

    Bye Arnold and thanks for everything.
    Kiwigolfer
    Kiwigolfer


    Posts : 477
    Join date : 2012-12-05
    Location : A land downunder

    Arnold Palmer Empty Re: Arnold Palmer

    Post  Kiwigolfer Wed Sep 28, 2016 4:06 am

    Great yarn Mongrel. Wink

    Sad indeed but 87 is a decent innings isn't it.

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