Happy Birthday to the King!

September 10, 2013

Today, the King turns 84 years young. That’s right, join us now in wishing Arnold Palmer a very happy birthday. In honor of this momentous occasion, we’re taking a look at 10 of Arnie’s best quips and how they represent golf’s living legend.

1. “I never rooted against an opponent, but I never rooted for him either.” This was especially true in the infamous 1960 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills where Palmer prevailed in golf’s most historic final grouping along with Ben Hogan and a young Jack Nicklaus.

2. “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting it is.” This quote makes so much more sense looking back on Palmer’s impressive career spanning six decades and 95 professional victories.

3. “You must play boldly to win.” Throughout his career, Palmer was always known to “go for it,” rarely playing the percentages. It’s safe to say that his strategy worked well.

4. “What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive.” Most golf fans saw art in Arnie’s golf swing. Thanks to increased television coverage of the PGA TOUR coinciding with Palmer’s emergence, the world got to see Arnie’s action on their screens and it was a thing of beauty.

5. “Putting is like wisdom – partly a natural gift and partly the accumulation of experience.” It’s safe to say that all of us took a little something from Palmer’s putting style when we first took up the game.

6. “I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s golf game. It’s called an eraser.” Always a competitor on the course, Palmer has always been very candid and welcoming off of it.

7. “The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.” A terrific business man once his competitive playing career was over, Palmer is also credited for bringing the Senior PGA (now Champions Tour) into mainstream focus.

8. “The secret of concentration is the secret of self-discovery. You reach inside yourself to discover your personal resources and what it takes to match them to the challenge.” Before the Open Championship became the lively Major Championship it is today, Palmer wanted to win it for his own reasons. He set his goals and won it multiple times.

9. “Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character.” Fed by the strength of Arnie’s Army, Palmer consistently showed terrific strength in his own character and mind to reach the top of his profession.

10. “Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening – and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.” True words from a true King of the game.

It’s also the birthday month for three other golf celebrities. Here’s some of the best golf-related quotes from this trio of September birthday boys:

Tom Watson (9/4): “No other game combines the wonder of nature with the discipline of sport in such carefully planned ways. A great golf course both frees and challenges a golfer’s mind.”

Bull Murray (9/21) in Caddyshack: “Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac… It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole!”

Will Smith (9/25) in Bagger Vance: “Yeah, I always felt a man’s grip on his club just like a man’s grip on his world.”