Arnold Palmer Practically Invented Modern Golf

Here’s how Arnold Palmer singlehandedly invented modern golf – the game and the industry.

Arnold Palmer has passed into golf history. I’m not taking anything away from anyone who preceded Arnold Palmer or who played with him or after him.

However, it’s not an exaggeration to say that Palmer was big in golf, certainly as large as the oversized as the statue of him – a perfect likeness – that was unveiled this week at Bay Hill Golf Club.

The statue made me think a little bit about all the things Arnold Palmer brought to golf in addition to his formidable talent.

Arnie's new statue at Bay Hill... appropriately larger than life pic.twitter.com/pBVgg38Gng
— Kathy Bissell (@KathyBissell1) March 14, 2017

Probably the most important thing, historically speaking, was that he invented the modern grand slam on a flight across the Atlantic on the way to play in his first Open Championship in 1960.

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If you somehow missed this story, as the late sportswriter Bob Drum told me, Palmer had won the Masters and US Open and decided to go to the The Open Championship. Drum worked at the Pittsburgh Press at the time, and he had suggested to the paper that they send him to the The Open Championship.

Drum had the luck to cover the Palmer saga from the beginning since Palmer was from nearby LaTrobe, Pennsylvania. Drum’s nickname, I was told by some of his colleagues years ago, was “comma” because he started every story with the words Arnold Palmer followed by a comma.

However, even though Palmer was the “next big thing” in sports and had won the Masters and U.S. Open that year, the Pittsburgh Press declined to pay Drum’s way to the The Open Championship. Palmer offered him a ride to St. Andrews.

Palmer Invented the Modern Grand Slam

On the flight, as Drum explained to me, Palmer asked him what it would be if he, Palmer, won the Masters, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and the PGA. Drum replied it would be the equivalent of Bobby Jones’ grand slam. Palmer proclaimed that was what he would do, he would win the grand slam.

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That was the day the modern grand slam was born. Every golfer after that day would play for the modern grand slam, even if they did not know it was Palmer who had invented it.

If Palmer did nothing else in his lifetime to affect golf, creating the modern grand slam would have been enough. But that was just one of the sprinkles on the mountainous cupcake of Palmer’s career.

That same week, Palmer invented the importance of the Open Championship for American golfers just by showing up. The people at the European Tour will likely tell you that he saved the Open.

Arnie & McCormack Invented Sports Marketing

A few years earlier, Palmer invented modern golf sports marketing along with a lawyer named Mark McCormick, who reportedly had a lifetime handshake deal with Palmer.

It’s possible that Palmer might have been as successful without McCormack, but it’s less certain that McCormack would have been as successful as quickly without Palmer. Regardless, McCormack was thinking big. He named his company International Management Group and McCormack secured many international business deals for Palmer.

While Walter Hagen may have invented the golf endorsement, it was Palmer and McCormack who changed it to golfers endorsing products in and outside golf. With Palmer, endorsements reached a new level with a wide range of products, both domestic and international, from motor oil – the now famous, yellow, Penzoil can – to Hertz rental cars, Rolex watches and even ice tea.

Palmer and the Golf Industry

Old Tom Morris and Willie Park are two major-winning golf professionals who also designed golf courses. But it was Arnold Palmer who was the first professional golfer to make a business of it.

In addition to the United States, Arnold Palmer course designs appear in Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Spain, Ireland, China, Guam, Korea, Portugal, Australia, Germany, Bahamas, Thailand, Italy, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Taiwan, Costa Rica, and even Kazakhstan. There are more than 300 in the Palmer portfolio.

PGA TOUR

In 1969, Palmer along with Jack Nicklaus joined with a group of fellow professional golfers, headed by Gardner Dickenson, who wanted to separate from the PGA of America. Before that, all professional golf was run by the PGA of America. After that agreement, tournaments were run by the Association of Professional Golfers which soon became the PGA Tour, an organization separate from the PGA of America. Would it have worked without the two biggest stars? What do you think?

Golf Channel

Palmer was not golf’s first superstar, but he was golf’s first televised superstar, and that expanded the sport and changed the game for the better. TV could not get enough Palmer, and neither could golf viewers. In the 1990s, Palmer paid us all back by co-founding Golf Channel so that all golf fans could see more golf.

The Palmer Perks

Those are the big things, of course. And there are others. Palmer had the first gallery with a nickname. Arnie’s Army. Today his charitable foundation carries that title.

Palmer was the first to have The Charge, a large come-from-behind victory, which he debuted at the 1960 U.S. Open when Palmer marched through the pack in the final round on the way to victory.

He was the first to have a pants hitch, the characteristic move he made before an important tee shot, as though he was going to hit the ball so hard that his trousers would fall down unless he gave them a tug before he started his powerful swing.

He may have been the first to have a car dealership, and as I write this, I am reminded of the Cadillac I saw make a turn into one of the streets at Bay Hill that had a license plate holder saying Arnold Palmer Cadillac. It was big, and it was red and it had a ton of chrome. Top of the line.

Palmer was probably the first professional golfer to have his own plane, and likely the first one to pilot his own plane.

While Palmer may not have invented the hard collar golf shirt, he certainly popularized it because he could wear it with a sport coat and have a collar that looked good. He could even wear a tie with it, if need be. Millions of men of his era decided they could too.

And of course, there’s the newcomer on the block, Arnold Palmer Ice Tea, which debuted in 2001. OK, he has his name on it, but between 10 and 15 years before that, while living in La Quinta, California, I used to have the occasional lunch with Elly Vines, the late and great tennis and golf professional of the 1930s and 1940s, courtesy of a friend of his, Leoda Willis. Elly always ordered half-and-half ice tea and lemonade.

Elly and Leoda told me it was quite the common beverage and favored by many in the area. Well, several years later, it became Arnold Palmer Ice Tea. There are stories that say the combo dates back to the 1960s, and I have no way to dispute that. Elly Vines dates back to the 1930s as a tennis star and to the 1940s as a professional golfer. And all I know is it was what Elly Vines ordered at lunch time after time.

This week the Arnold Palmer Invitational is going to bring back an old Palmer look when the champion is crowned on Sunday. The winner will receive a red alpaca cardigan sweater, the kind favored by Palmer himself, the kind he wore in tournament play seven decades ago. It will probably set a new retro fashion trend in golf. He will be setting a new first again without even being here.

And there’s a funny end to the 1960 Open Championship story. Palmer was in contention at the tournament. Drum received a wire from the Pittsburgh paper saying something like: “Need story on Palmer.” Drum alleged that he wired back a reply that said: “Hope you get one.”

Next: 20 US Open Upsets to Remember

That year the Open Championship was won by Kel Nagel, but in 1961, it was won by Arnold Palmer.

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