Tales from the Ranks
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A young little boy (Caddy) who met the BIG GUY...
It was the summer of 1960, and I was 11 yrs old and a caddy at Madison Golf & Country Club, in Madison, Ohio. My older brother was a caddy too and a good golfer, so he and his buddy got tickets to watch ARNOLD PALMER golf an exibition with two of our members and our club pro. I told him I was going to caddy that morning and see if I could see Mr. Palmer before leaving for the day.
Well after I caddied my morning round a friend of mine (Gary, the brother of our Club Pro) asked me if I wanted to help him caddy for Arnie.
Now I was about 4ft.5in., a freckle-faced, bucked-teethed boy with a polo-shirt and jeans, who thought that, next to Mickey Mantle, and my Dad, Arnold Palmer was the biggest thing in the world! Gary told me that I would need to do little things for him - like clean a golf ball or two, get water for him - things like that. So I said sure!!
The next thing I knew I was standing next to Arnold Palmers golf bag, that was almost as big as me, watchig them tee-off on the first hole. There was a creek that ran across the first fairway and I had never seen anyone drive their ball over the creek, but Mr. Palmer did it! So, after they had all driven their shots, they started walking down the fairway and so did I. In fact I was walking right next to ARNOLD PALMER! I looked up at him and said "Wow, I never saw someone drive over that creek!" And he looked down at me and just started to talk to me like I was a regular person.. Like we were friends.. (I get tears in my eyes when I think of that moment in my life.) He was warm and human. He made me feel like I had never felt before. This little kid, who was just a caddy, and not even his caddy (just a helper), and we were walking down the first fairway, with all of these people on both sides, and me and Arnold Palmer were just talking to each other.
Now there was the rest of the 18 holes to go and he made alot of good shots, but the one on the 14th hole, where he was behind a tree and told the crowd that he would try to shoot the ball through an opening in the tree to the green was the one I will always remember. He did what he said, but as the ball went through the opening of leaves it knicked a branch and landed about three feet from the hole.. I asked him if he planned to knick the branch and he winced with his eyes tight and and chuckled (meaning he had almost goofed). I understood exactly what that meant. I will never forget that day...
I always wanted to tell Mr. Palmer about what that day meant to me, so I hope he will get a chance to read this note. (Now I am now almost 57 Yrs old and only 5ft.7in.) But he made me feel like a big guy that day.
Thanks Mr. Palmer!...
Tom Lilly,
Posted by scurry at September 15, 2005 08:06 PM