Why Arnold Palmer’s personal letters meant so much to so many

The following story is reproduced with permission from “Arnold Palmer: American Hero,” © 2022 The American Golfer, Inc. You can buy the book here.

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Brandt Snedeker was just hours away from home in Franklin, Tenn., the day Arnold Palmer died in September of 2016. Snedeker had just finished the Tour Championship in Atlanta and had a quick turnaround before heading to Minneapolis to play Ryder. Cup.

Trying to somehow, like many golfers, get over the shock and impact that the one king of golf was gone, Snedeker sat down in his home study and began pulling out some of the letters Palmer had written to him over the years.

There were about 15 of them, he said. As he read each one, studying them for their thoughtfulness and personal practice, he was struck by the extent of Palmer’s warmth, generosity and overflowing kindness.

“I’m looking at all the things he sent me, and I’m thinking about the time he spent on me. . . “I was a nameless person when he started writing letters to me, and I can see that he did it for a lot of people,” Snedeker said. “It made me sad, the time he put into everyone except him. That will be something you cannot change.”

When Snedeker made the US Palmer Cup team after graduating from Vanderbilt in 2003, Palmer sent him a letter. A year ago, when Snedeker was named the NCAA Div. 1 All-American, Palmer had sent him a note and photo, signed “Best wishes, Arnold Palmer.”

“It’s great to have all that stuff at home and to go through it and realize that I’m one of about 10,000 people who’s done that in his life. That is very special.”

Ten thousand? Snedeker’s estimate may be higher.

Actually, probably not. Palmer sure made a lot of golfers happy.

When did it all start? His longtime office assistant, Doc Giffin, said Palmer, an old-school guy who has worked for him for 51 years, has written letters to tournament winners.

as long as he can remember.

Giffin was a newspaper man from Pittsburgh, Palmer’s backyard, who first went to work for the PGA Tour and later became Palmer’s assistant in 1966. The two had a run together. Palmer has won 62 times on the PGA Tour. He knew that winning anywhere, on any tour, was a special achievement in a career. Many Monday mornings in the office across the street from Palmer’s beloved Latrobe Country Club were reserved for discussions between Palmer and Giffin about what happened in the many tournaments on the many trips over the weekend, such as who won, and how they won. victory.

What started decades ago as Palmer writing handwritten congratulatory notes to winners and friends turned into an extended tradition in the years that followed. Palmer would call the personal books of the winners each week on the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions, LPGA and even what is now called the Korn Ferry Tour. The letters would be well written, and Palmer would affix his famous signature to them.

“We enjoyed talking about the weekend golf, of course,” Giffin said. “And I can see that it meant something to the players who received those letters. He received many ‘thank you’ letters over the years from those who received the book and enjoyed it.”

On Gee Chun winning a major on the LPGA? Letter from Palmer. Mark O’Meara playing in the 1996 Presidents Cup with Palmer serving as his captain? A book.

Wesley Bryan won a third title on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2016, earning a promotion to the battlefield on the PGA Tour? Palmer sent him a letter. His books were not only for the winners. When a player did something special, Palmer noticed.

As much as Palmer won, and won some major events (his 62 PGA Tour titles include seven major championships), he lost some real losers, too. So any player who has lost a tournament on the phone may be a candidate for a comforting message from The King.

“Sometimes, when someone was disappointed and didn’t win, a rare situation, he would write to someone sympathetic that he didn’t win the tournament,” Giffin said.

When then-University of Michigan sophomore Nick Carlson raced in the 2016 US Amateur in the Oakland Hills outside Detroit, advancing to the semifinals, Palmer, who had won the 1954 US Amateur championship in Country Club of Detroit nearby. , realized success. The US Amateur in Oakland Hills had been contested about a month before Palmer’s death, and the letter Carlson would receive was the last to be sent to the Palmer Enterprises office.

“To find a book, read it, and get the balls to read it, you’re almost in tears, shocked and humbled that someone like that would take the time to reach out to you,” Carlson said.

Jordan Spieth figures he received about 15 letters from Palmer. He keeps them all together, and vows to keep a few of his favorites on display at his home in Texas.

“I think the first one I got was the first John Deere,” Spieth said of his first tour win, in 2013. “It was so cool. It was personalized and signed. But…it wasn’t just the special feeling that this book was coming to me; it was knowing that he took the time to do that every week, not even for our tour winners that week. It’s amazing.”

Palmer’s incomparably neat letters – with his acquaintance Arnold Palmer, PO Box 52, Youngstown, Pa., with a prominent title – were sent by US mail, although when Palmer started mailing letters to LPGA winners, the PDF would be attached to the. email and sent. With email in our hands every day, a letter of any kind has become a lost art. Palmer loved to create, sign and post them.

“That was his nature,” Giffin said.

Palmer and Jack Nicklaus were often seen as bitter rivals at school, but they became good friends. Nicklaus said Palmer took him under his wing as a young player and taught him a lot about what it takes to be a professional. It was Palmer who convinced Nicklaus to write a note to the tournament sponsor at the end of the event. Nicklaus began taking those notes as a PGA Tour rookie and continued the tradition in his days on what was then the PGA Senior Tour.

Nicklaus said: “It was a great pleasure to have Arnold teach me, and I really appreciated that.”

Following Palmer’s lead, Nicklaus sends a handwritten note to the four major winners each season, something he has done for more than 40 years. Did Jack ever get a letter from his friend Arnold? He didn’t remember a single one, although when he won his sixth Masters in 1986 at the age of 46, Nicklaus received a Western Union call from Palmer.

Palmer, who was 10 years older than Nicklaus, began congratulating Nicklaus on winning his 18th major. And ever the optimist, Palmer concluded: “Can you imagine there’s a chance for a 56-year-old?”

Palmer’s writing history dates back to his playing days, when he took the time to thank sponsors after each tournament he played. In terms of notes to the players, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2013, he discussed how he and Giffin, his assistant, would meet on a Monday or Tuesday, talk about the week’s winners, and send a personalized message of congratulations. Palmer even pointed out that apart from being a good practice to continue, there was more incentive to keep up with PGA Tour winners.

“It’s something that reminds them that we also have a tournament,” said Palmer, “and that we would like them to show up here (at Bay Hill).”

However, many times there were no cables. These letters simply served as a courtesy to congratulate the player on a job well done. Golf is a lonely game that brings more disappointments than triumphs, and winning is not easy. People should be careful. Palmer always did.

English specialist Paul Broadhurst drew on an email he received in late September 2016 while returning home from the US to the village of Fenny Dreyton, outside Nuneaton. There

they were common bills, and there was one book that immediately caught his eye.

“It’s funny, actually,” Broadhurst said, “I thought it might be the Bay Hill Classic (Arnold Palmer Invitational), that’s what I thought. It had ‘Arnold Palmer’ on the envelope, and I thought, ‘Okay, I’ve just won the British Seniors, I’ve just won at Pebble Beach, it might be an invitation to play.’ That was my first reaction.”

Broadhurst, who had won the PGA Tour Champions’ Nature Valley First Tee Pebble Beach Open nine days earlier, finally opened the envelope and found the surprise that besets any tournament invitation: There was a well-written congratulatory letter signed from Mr. Palmer – accepted. two days after Palmer’s death.

Broadhurst’s special memorial is one of the last three letters Palmer sent to his Pennsylvania office. For Gee Chun and Michael Thompson, who on September 18, 2016, won events on the LPGA and Web.com Tour, respectively, they also received letters from Palmer dated September 19, less than a week before his death. (The PGA Tour was closed the week of Sept. 15-18.)

On the walls at home, Broadhurst has framed photos of himself competing in the Ryder Cup, a photo of him playing with Spanish great Seve Ballesteros, and a photo of his rookie days at the British Open, when he was paired with Jack Nicklaus.

Broadhurst regrets that he never had the opportunity to meet Palmer in person; His letter was written so that it would remain in a prominent place in his home.

“Obviously it’s very special,” Broadhurst said. “The way he wrote even though he was sick he was watching the end of the golf course, or he didn’t know how I played on the 18th and our delay playing that hole.

“I’ll find a good place for it on my wall.”

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