Kingdom: How often do you come out here to the Palm Springs area and what is its appeal to you?

Arnold Palmer: I came here for the first time in 1955 to see what was here and I liked it so much I’ve been coming back to play ever since. Back then there were only three courses here—Thunderbird, Tamarisk and O’Donnell, a public course down town. Now we have dozens of courses and I even have a nine-hole par-3 layout I can walk straight on to from my back garden.

Do you dine out much when you come to Palm Springs, or do you prefer to stay at your home and have a barbecue? Which are your favorite restaurants in the area?

Oh yes—I like to go to my own restaurant here quite a lot and I’m always very pleased to recommend it to anyone.

Would you ever act again as the host of the Bob Hope Classic, or was your participation in the 50th anniversary staging last year a strict one-off?

No, certainly not as long as I have to organize and host my own tournament. But I’ll keep coming back here for the Classic because I like it.

Your successor is Yogi Berra. Are you friends and have you ever played golf together?

He is a good friend and a great guy. I have played golf with him and I like him a lot. I don’t remember where or when I first met him—I’m not sure it was on a golf course. It could even have been at a baseball game.

The [British] Open Championship celebrates its 150th anniversary at St. Andrews in July. Do you plan to take part in the Former Champions’ four-hole exhibition that the R&A have planned?

I’m planning to be there and participate in all the general festivities. I’m going to stay until the tournament itself starts. I’m also going to receive an honorary degree from St. Andrews University, though I don’t know at present exactly when that ceremony will take place—presumably during the early part of the week.

What do you plan to do for the rest of the week?

My wife wants to go to Ireland for three or four days while we’re over, so we’ll probably do that once the tournament proper begins. She comes from an Irish background and we’re going to visit some of her relatives down in the south—a place I’ve never been to or heard of before. Mind you, I’ve been to Ireland a lot over the years, especially when I was designing my two courses there [The K Club and Tralee].

Wasn’t the first time nearly 50 years ago, just before you made your British Open debut?

Yes, Sam Snead and I played together in, and won, the Canada Cup [now the World Cup of Golf] in 1960 at Portmarnock on the coast near Dublin. This was my first visit to Europe and it was the week before the centenary staging of the British Open at St. Andrews, which was my first appearance in the event.

Snead won at St. Andrews in 1946, straight after the Second World War, and then likened the experience to camping out. Did he advise you against playing there?

[Chuckling] He said a few things, but nothing I would repeat to you.

On the way to making your British Open debut over the Old Course, how did the idea of the modern Grand Slam evolve?

One of my strongest memories was of flying over with my journalist friend Bob Drum from Pittsburgh. He was the guy who got me riled before the final round of the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills a few weeks earlier. I asked him what he thought of my chances if I shot 65 and he said it still wouldn’t make any damn difference. I was seven shots behind after three rounds and went on to win by two. When we were drinking vodka and eating caviar on the flight, we were talking about the Open and I began to philosophize. I said there was no way an amateur would ever win another major championship, let alone all four like Bobby Jones did in 1930, but it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that a professional could win a modern Grand Slam made up of the Masters, our Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship, which everyone regarded as a major—perhaps even more so then than today. Eventually Bob came round to my way of thinking and the idea was born.

What are your memories of going over to that first British Open and playing in it?

I remember the weather was fine until just before the final round. In those days, you used to play 36 holes on the last day. It started raining heavily just as I had got in close to the lead. At lunchtime I was in my room in Rusacks Hotel and my father and my wife were with me. They said to me ‘it’s raining so hard you may not play at all this afternoon.’ I replied ‘we will play—they’ve never postponed The Open in this country before.’ I was absolutely ready to play—couldn’t wait to get back out there. As I was saying this, I looked out of the window and saw the Valley of Sin in front of the 18th green had filled up with water. Of course, I was wrong and we had to come back the next day. My momentum had gone and [the Australian] Kel Nagle beat me by a shot.

Do you still keep in touch with Nagle?

I ask and hear about him, send him my regards, but we don’t correspond. He’s a few years older than me and I’ve heard he’s doing okay even though he’s not been too well recently.

The R&A plans to move the championship tee back 35 yards on the 17th so that the hole will now measure 490 yards, yet remain as a par-four. Do you agree with this decision and what effect do you think it will have in the different conditions that can prevail at St Andrews?

It’s a tough and pivotal hole, and it will be even tougher with 35 yards added to it. The road and the [Old Course] hotel will probably come more into play, especially if the wind blows. I don’t know what the yardage of the Old Course is now—it might be as much as 7,200, maybe more, but that’s still not long when you think about it.

What is your overall view of par-4s in championships that sometimes measure in excess of 500 yards, especially as the old rule of thumb had the maximum par-4 yardage at 474 yards?

With the distance these young guys hit it you have to think about how you’re going to maintain the challenge presented by a long par-4. You don’t want them hitting wedges and short irons into every par-4 because that takes away all the competitiveness. Anyway, I’ve always enjoyed long par-4s, especially if the wind’s blowing.

Do you still believe that legislation in relation to the distances the ball can travel is inevitable?

I hope so. I’d really like to see them slow the ball down. The alternative is longer and longer courses and we can’t go down that route because we’ll run out of territory one of these days.

You will be acting as joint honorary starter of the Masters in April with Jack Nicklaus. Will the two of you play a few holes before retiring to the clubhouse or will you just hit your drives and then walk in?

I think we’ll just hit our shots and walk in—at least I know I will. I don’t know what Jack plans to do, but I’ll do it and call it a day. We’ll be doing this at around 7.30 a.m.—just after day break—so I’d be surprised if he decides to play on.

What do you plan to do for the rest of the tournament?

I’ll leave once the tournament is under way. The other highlight for me at the Masters is the par-3 tournament. It’s great fun. Jack, Gary [Player] and I played together last year and I hope we do again this time.

What is your verdict after a few weeks of watching the top players adjusting to the new rules relating to grooves in clubs?

I don’t think there’s going to be a great change; in fact as far as their scoring is concerned it will be much the same. That said, a lot of shots that bounce through the green are inevitably going to be blamed on the grooves.

How are preparations going for this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard at Bay Hill?

We feel like we’re in pretty good shape—we redid the course last year, as you know, and it’s coming through well. From the New Year, we cut back on the number of rounds played there. Normally at this time of year [winter through to spring] we have anything between 160 and 200 rounds a day at Bay Hill, but we’ve cut it back to an absolute maximum of 150.

As this will be the first tournament staged at Bay Hill since the recent course changes, how do you think it will play compared to recent years—harder or easier?

Everyone involved in this transformation has a different opinion. Score-wise, I think it will play pretty much as it has for the past few years. At one point I thought it would be easier, but now I’m beginning to think it will be about the same. The main thrust of our changes is that everything on the course—the traps and the greens—is now in clear view from the tees and fairways. The course has been lengthened a little but not very much. From the back tees, if the PGA Tour choose, we can stretch it to 7,400 yards. On the other hand, I think the greens will be a little less firm, in other words they should accept well-struck shots.

At present, do you think there’s chance that Tiger Woods will return to the Tour at the Arnold Palmer Invitational?

I have no idea. I hope so, but I’ve heard nothing from him.

How do you think his delayed absence will affect the PGA Tour in terms of TV ratings, crowd figures and sponsor revenues?

I think it will affect it to some degree, but that said it will not be the end of the Tour by any means. The game was in pretty good shape [before the Tiger Woods furor exploded] and I’m betting it will survive.

This year’s Bob Hope Classic has no title sponsor. The organizers believe they have enough financial reserves to fund the tournament next year as well. Do you think other tournaments might find themselves in this situation this year and if so what steps do they need to take?

I think it’s possible other tournaments will find themselves in trouble. The Torrey Pines tournament [the week after the Bob Hope Classic] only got Farmers Insurance on board at the eleventh hour. But I’m optimistic enough to think the sponsor and business world will come to the rescue. Most tournaments are run to raise and save revenue for the future, and the PGA Tour as a body is looking at the same thing to ensure the preservation of tournaments. At Bay Hill, we always try to get our sponsors in a good position. We’ve got two to three years still to go with MasterCard and we’ve just re-signed with Hertz for another four years.

Tiger’s absence represents an opportunity for a number of players to emerge from his shadow. Which ones would you expect to put their hands up and shine?

There are some good players coming along. I keep expecting the slightly-built lad who hits it a mile—Charles Howell—to break through. But the boy who really impresses me from the current generation is Ryan Moore. He’s up and coming and has real star potential, the potential I would judge to go all the way and win a major. I’m pleased with the way he plays. He has a strong mind and knows what he wants to do, which is very important. He’s quite happy not to have clothing or club sponsors, and I quite like that. Rory McIlroy, the young Irishman, is another to watch. I certainly hope he’ll be playing at Bay Hill in March.

This year’s PGA Championship is returning to Whistling Straits. Have you ever been there or played the course?

I’ve never played it or been there, so I couldn’t possibly comment on it. Even after watching it on television a few years ago, I don’t feel I know it well enough to pass any sort of judgment. I know the owner, Herb Kohler, and see him occasionally at social events. I know he’s a great golf enthusiast, but I’ve never played with him.

The U.S. Open will be back at Pebble Beach in June. What memories do you have of playing there, both in U.S.G.A. events and in the old Bing Crosby tournament?

I have played a lot there—in the Crosby Pro-Am as well as U.S. Opens—but I never won though I had chances a couple of times. Once I think I was leading or tied for the lead in the final round when I hit a 3-wood shot to the 14th green. My ball caught the two tall pines just to the right of the green and kicked out of bounds. That was a disaster and I lost the tournament because of that. That night there was a storm and the following morning, when I was driving away from Pebble Beach, I noticed these trees had blown down overnight, which served them right.

On another occasion, Jack Nicklaus made a par putt from 10ft on the 12th green at exactly the time that I missed a birdie putt from a shorter distance on the 15th, and that turned out to be the difference between us as I lost by one shot.

You have been heavily involved with recent changes to the course at Pebble Beach. Briefly, what changes did you make and why?

I’ve been working on the golf course quite a lot over the last few years and in particular we have changed some of the bunkering and moved a few tee positions. One of the ideas has been to strengthen the fairway bunkering on a number of holes to make players aim a little more towards the sea off the tee, to ask questions of their accuracy if you like. For example, we’ve put in more traps and trees at driver length on the right of the 18th fairway, and anyone who messes with those will most likely have to come out sideways with their second shots. Pebble Beach is always a test for the players, but I think it will be especially tough at the U.S. Open when the U.S.G.A. will do their usual job in growing up the rough.

Have you ever done any ocean game fishing? If so, did you enjoy it?

I’m not a big fisherman. I do some trout and fly fishing, and I occasionally venture out for salmon. I never did much fishing when I was growing up in and around Latrobe. We had a few streams, and they were mostly stocked with bass.

Given that most of the courses you’ve designed have adjoining properties, do you adopt a different approach when it comes to designing a course which has no residential dimension?

It’s always nice to do a course where you’re not obliged to design it for residential purposes. Laurel Valley, a course I designed in Pennsylvania, falls into this category—it has no residences on the course.

As a kid, Mike Weir, famously, wrote to Jack Nicklaus asking whether he should switch to being a right-hander. Nicklaus advised him to stay as he was. Do you think left handers enjoy any advantages over right handers on the golf course, or encounter any problems that right handers don’t?

I think some left-handers have a little advantage in that they seem to swing physically the same way every time and this helps them to play consistently at a high level for a lot longer. Bob Charles is a classic example of this. I’m convinced his longevity [as a player] is due to the fact that he’s left-handed.

Do you think Rio de Janeiro needs a specially built course to host the Olympic golf tournament in 2016 and would you be interested in designing it?

Yes, I would be very interested in designing it and they [the Brazilian Olympic organization] know I’m interested. We’ve already told them! They are definitely going to have to build a new course in order to host an Olympic golf tournament because they can’t really use any of the courses they’ve got at present. I’m hoping they’ll decide soon because it usually takes about three years to create a course from the start of the job to the opening. They will want this course to be open and playable well before 2016. I am already working in Brazil—on a course in Sao Paolo which should open in about a year’s time—so I know the country well.

How big an impact do you think Y-E Yang’s PGA Championship will have on golf in Asia?

It will have a huge effect and it’s a very good development within the game. Asia is going to be a major golfing Mecca in the not too distant future. China we all know about, but India is going to be big as well.

Did you ever imagine that countries like China, Brazil and Russia would be the future of golf course design?

Since I started out as a designer, I’ve been familiar with the international scene. I’ve been going to Japan for more than 40 years, since I designed the first of my 19 courses there. I currently have a couple of projects on the go in China, but also in Sao Paolo, as I’ve already mentioned, Moscow, Romania and Acapulco in Mexico.

The Dominican Republic is a wonderful place to visit and play golf. How much do you think this might be affected by the recent tragedy in Haiti?

The Haiti earthquake was a terrible tragedy, but even before that there was a huge contrast between Haiti and [its neighbor] the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is a very comfortable place with a nice way of life, with the exception of the hurricanes and tornadoes you occasionally get in the Caribbean.

During the build-up to this year’s Bob Hope Classic, you spent time on the range with your grandson Sam Saunders to help him prepare for his PGA Tour debut as a pro. What sort of things did you work on with him and what advice did you pass on?

I’m trying to help him develop his own style and stick with it. I’d say he’s doing pretty well but it’s a little early to assess the results. I’m his swing coach and we’ve been working quite hard together, but it’s not really about basics like grip or stance—more about his overall style of playing. Certainly playing here and in the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach in a few weeks’ time will give him invaluable experience.