(Photo by Dima Gavrysh/Callaway Golf via Getty Images)
Any and every perk the modern day golfer enjoys, whether that be the fame or the bank accounts filled with tens of millions of dollars, can be traced back to one man—Arnold Palmer.
When Tiger Woods changes out of his Nike gear, gets on his luxury Gulf Stream jet and heads back to his mansion located in the exclusive Isleworth golf community, he has got Arnold Palmer to thank for just about all of it.
Through combining astounding skill on the course with an uncanny likability, Palmer transcended the PGA Tour from nothing more than a group of travelling vagabonds into a very large and lucrative business.
Palmer was the son of a greens keeper in Latrobe Pennsylvania and grew up in a working class family in a town that epitomized the industrial working class neighborhoods that began sprouting up all over the country following World War II.
When Palmer began to make a name for himself on the PGA Tour, his modest upbringing came into the public eye and drew the attention of every blue-collar worker in the country.
Factory workers, electricians, plumbers, etc. were in awe of Palmer as they saw him as an ordinary blue-collar guy who was dominating a sport that was typically reserved for the wealthy country club folks, and they loved him for it.
They saw Palmer as essentially one of their own.
These blue-color workers who adored Palmer began showing up at country clubs and made up a gallery of fans the likes of which had never been seen before in the world of golf.
They were loud, they were rowdy, they heckled Palmer’s competitors—they were "Arnie’s Army."
If Palmer were not as likable of a character as he was and still is, the initial infatuation with Palmer might have worn off and "Arnie’s Army" might have eventually faded away.
However, Palmer loved his army just as much as they loved him and he engaged and embraced them at every opportunity, which turned out to be the best recruiting tool imaginable as his army seemed to grow exponentially with each additional tournament he attended.
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