Kingdom Magazine: Issue 14
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AP Foreward - A year, and a lifetime, to remember
August 20, 2009
A year, and a lifetime, to remember
I still have a few weeks to go before I can celebrate my 80th birthday, but already 2009 has proved to be a landmark year both in my lifetime and for the game of golf.
We celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard at Bay Hill in March when Tiger Woods signaled his recovery from a dreadful knee injury to win our title for an astonishing sixth time. The manner of his victory—holing a curling putt across the 18th green—gave me a pleasing sense of déjà vu.
Tiger’s return to the winners’ circle after his knee reconstruction—three times so far this season at the time of writing—has given the game a major boost at a time when golf needs all the friends it can get.
The financial crisis which has hit the world in general and the sponsorship that professional sports people rely on so much in particular, continues to bite hard into the lives of ordinary people everywhere, and golf is no exception.
However, I have recently detected a more optimistic mood in the country and it is my fervent wish that this will prove to be the green shoots of a full-blown recovery. I am old enough, just, to remember the Depression and I sincerely hope and pray that we will not be returning to the pain and suffering that characterized that dark period in our history.
We have been busy in recent times, both with our ongoing projects at Arnold Palmer Design Company and also at Bay Hill where the Championship Course has been closed this summer for the re-grassing of the greens and an extensive refurbishment program.
Inevitably, with a landmark birthday approaching, I have been taking stock of many aspects of my life. I have been reflecting on the pleasures of my family life—my upbringing in Latrobe, all the years Winnie and I were together, the joy we experienced raising our girls, Peggy and Amy, and watching our seven grandchildren grow up, and more recently my marriage to Kit and the arrival of great-grandchildren.
I also recall the wonderful moments I have enjoyed and the friendships I have made through the game of golf—from the moment I started playing under the aegis of my father through all the tournaments I have taken part in, some of which I was fortunate enough to win, to my current work in course design and development.
I have rubbed shoulders with folks from all walks of life—with Presidents of the United States and numerous other celebrities but also many other people who have not been famous in any way but whose friendship has meant just as much to me.
Looking back, it is amazing how fast the years have passed by and how many changes I have witnessed in my lifetime. Certainly, the game of golf is quite a different business than when I was a youngster. I sincerely believe that most of the changes have been improvements and I never cease to be amazed by the standard of golf now being played and the quality of technology now applied to both equipment manufacture and course construction.
Golf continues to be well governed and its fine traditions of fair play, honesty and courteous behavior are upheld in the main by the vast majority of its participants. I like to think my life has made some small difference to the game—perhaps, more than anything else, with the spreading of its gospel to new parts of the world, like the Far East and South America.
Ultimately, though, I couldn’t possibly have achieved even a fraction of what I have managed in golf and life without the loyalty and love of those closest to me—family, friends, colleagues, fellow golfers and sponsors. My life story, in many respects, is theirs too.
Enjoy the read,
Arnold Palmer
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