The Arnold Palmer Invitational Golf Tournament is just getting underway at The Bay Hill Club in Orlando,Florida today. Arnold Palmer is probably the most important person in golf history as he brought golf to the masses in the 60's and 70's with his charisma and "charging" style. When I was growing up, he was my golf hero and so when I was able to attend a PGA Teaching Seminar at "Arnie's Place" (Bay Hill)
several years ago, it was quite a thrill!! It was a very informative seminar taught by Butch Harmon (who was Tiger Woods teacher at the time) and every day there was an electricity in the air because you never knew when Arnie might show up! Well today Arnie is 81 years old and still is a vital part of the golf world and host of this week's PGA Tour event. Here is the best Arnie story I have ever heard and it shows a lot about the man and why he is so popular.
Before the 1993 Senior British Open, which was scheduled to be contested over the links of Royal Lytham & St. Annes, Arnold Palmer received a letter from a Mr. Hans Bolton of Lancashire, England. The letter containing, as it did, the language of someone who knew nothing about the game, might have offended a superstar too full of his own importance. In Palmer's case, the handwritten letter caught his attention.
The letter, which came into the possession of a friend several years later, contains this remark in the opening paragraph, "I must admit I am not a golf fan. I realize that you must be extremely busy, being one of the "big names" in the golfing fraternity." Bolton then talks about the importance of the upcoming Senior Open but adds, "An even more important event is taking place (at least to me anyway). You see, I am getting married to my fiancee Sally Anne Murphy, a truly gorgeous and wonderful girl." The problem, as Bolton unfolds is simple, neither of the honeymoon suites at the Clifton Arms Hotel is available because, as it was explained to him, "Mr Arnold Palmer is staying in one and Mr. Gary Player is staying in the other, and they have been booked for ages!"
He then proceeds to paint an emotional potrait. "My fiancee was, of course, distraught at this news, convinced that our big day is doomed to failure. Something I suppose, like a triple bogey on the 1st hole" Then Bolton makes a daring suggestion. "I was just wondering if perhaps, there would be any chance at all of you swapping rooms with us, just for one night. This is a shot in the dark, I really don't expect that you will, but one can only try. You see I work for the Sunblest Bread Company and Sally works as a children's nanny so this is probably the only chance we will ever have of staying anywhere as grand as the Clifton Arms."
He signs the letter "Yours hopefully," and then adds two postscripts. P.S. You are more than welcome to join us for a drink at the reception. P.P.S. I didn't write to Gary Player because we were told youwere a much nicer chap!
Palmer, of course, not only surrendered the suite but took them up on the offer of the beer where he drank a toast to the happy couple and even posed for a photograph. Rolla Frisinger-March 24, 2011
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