Friday, May 15, 2009

Rancho Park's Arnold Palmer Tribute?

A couple years ago, I moved about 20 miles west to the beach town of Santa Monica, CA. As a result, my home course went from the to Rancho Park, former home of the L.A. Open. On the par-5 18th tee, there's an interesting plaque to commemorate Arnold Palmer's achievement at the 35th L.A. Open in 1961.


Here's the engraving:

The first day of the 35th L.A. Open, Arnold Palmer, voted Golfer of the year, took a 12 on this hole.

As an inspiration to all Golfers The L.A. Jr. Chamber of Commerce dedicate this monument.

Palmer hit a fine drive. He sliced his next 2 shots into the driving range, then hooked two more onto Patricia Ave. Hit the green with his sixth shot, and two putted. Eight strokes plus four penalities add up to 12.

Here's the detailed story according to Golf For Dummies:

Palmer needed a par 5 on the 18th for a 69 in the second round. After a good drive, instead of laying up with an iron for the tight second shot, he went for a birdie and pushed a 3-wood out-of-bounds onto the adjacent driving range. He paused briefly to regroup and then hit another 3-wood. This time, he hooked it onto Patricia Avenue. Stubborn if not downright foolhardy, Palmer hit the 3-wood yet again, and again hooked it out-of-bounds. On the fifth try, after four straight penalties, he finally put his 3-wood on the green and went on to make a 12. A long, sad story. Arnie's description was more succinct. Asked by a reported how he managed to make a 12, he replied, "I missed my putt for an 11."

The plaque and story are great comic reliefs to any golfer having a bad day on the golf course. But did anyone bother to check the grammar before it was engraved in stone!?

6 comments:

Tees for Two said...

Love this blog. My dad is a fan and sent me your Banden Dunes post.

I added you as a favorite blog of mine at www.blueteesredtees.blogspot.com.

It's a blog my wife and I run to review courses that appeal to couples who love to golf together.

Marietto said...

Palmer is great!
But I can do better, I can play 12 without penalties! :-)

Eddie said...

Hello Grouchy,
We're doing a post linking to you and would like to use your photo of the plaque. We'll give you credit. Let me know asap.
Great blog by the way. We invite you to join RanchoParkOnline.com and write a blog post about our beloved golf course.
Eddie

Golf Grouch said...

Eddie,

Yes, you can use my photo.

GG

Anonymous said...

There's a typographical error on the plaque. Penalties is spelled incorrectly as Penalities.

Just saying...

Anonymous said...

It happened on the 9th hole of the first round of the tournament. They used to play from Friday to Monday and the nines were reversed.