Go Arnie Go! The History of Arnie's Army
Every year, Arnold Palmer receives thousands of questions from fans, amateur golfers and the media. What's the one question Arnie seems to get asked most frequently? "How do you handle playing before a large and often noisy gallery?" After all, it's a real paradox when you consider how much emphasis the game of golf places on concentration. So what's Arnie's answer? "I love it. They help give me the confidence I need to play difficult shots and encouragement to play harder ." What other response would you expect from the "general" of Arnie's Army?
Since playing in the quarter-finals of the 1947 West Penn Amateur Championship while still in high school, Arnold Palmer has attributed a large measure of his success to the support of the gallery. Midway through that match back in '47, Arnie noticed the crowd had begun rooting for him to win. Whenever he got off a good shot or won a hole the cheers seemed to grow bigger. Says Arnie, "The feeling that came over me reached all the way down to my toes. And my game seemed to get better and better." He soon discovered, however, golf fans can be very fickle.
During Arnie's early years on the pro tour, even after he won the Masters in 1958, fans still chased after Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. But rather than becoming envious, Arnie worked even harder to win back their support. "I can't say this lack of interest hurt my game, it probably helped, because it seemed to make me more determined to be a consistent winner."
In 1960, during the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills in Denver, the gallery was back in his corner like never before. After the third round on Saturday morning he trailed the leader, Mike Souchak, by seven strokes. But that afternoon his famous "charge" began. Arnie birdied the first four holes and by the time he reached the fifth tee, it seemed like everyone at Cherry Hills was rooting for him to win. Says Arnie, "The cheers of the crowd that day will always be among my greatest memories. I'm sure that this support had as much to do with my winning the championship as the shots I played."
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