I really loved that man

I'm a duffer, always have been, always will be. I was attracted to golf at an early age and followed many champions until he came along in the late 50's. As a kid in west Texas, I learned to like golf and the current champion Ben Hogan, but it was the youth and energy that the new star brought to the game that captured my imagination. My Dad was not a golfer and I couldn't afford a set of clubs until I worked a second job at Montgomery Wards in my early twenties. While I was learning the game, my hero was winning tournaments across the country and I became a member of "Arnie's Army". Chi Chi, Lee Trevino, Gary Player  and many more rose in the ranks, but Arnie was always my favorite.

 I followed him all of his active playing time until the mid-nineties when he retired. I loved and adored his playing skills, his style of playing, his dressing style (with the soft sweaters covering a different colored polo underneath) his genuine humility and his generosity toward others. I admire the man's character above his playing skills. He was not just a golfer, he flew his own private jet from match to match because family time mattered, he became a successful business man with his own line of clothing and canned drinks, he designed new golf courses, and  he created charities and a couple of new hospitals to share the blessings he had been given. He was a caring, sharing man.

I kept up with his infrequent appearances on the Senior Tour as I now live in North Carolina. My company had an agreement to furnish the marshals at the Vantage Senior Tournament at Tanglewood in Winston-Salem and I volunteered to be a marshal with my friends. I actually met and spoke to many greats like Lee Trevino, Chi Chi Rodriguiz, and Gary Player, but I always wanted that one chance to exchange pleasantries with the "King of Golf", and it finally came.

I was working on the par 5, fourteenth hole as a marshal at mid-point of the fairway where tee shots land. At the 250-300 yard marker the hole has three fairway bunkers covering a dogleg right on the right side to protect from incoming shots. I was stationed at the right side and charged with spotting the ball for the incoming golfers as they launched their tee shots. I inched out into the fairway and squatted to get a view of the next shot. The X on the map below indicates where I waited for Arnie, and finally his turn came up.

I kept waiting and then one of the marshals hand signaled me to move back. When I did, Arnie hit his tee shot into the middle of the fairway. I awaited my opportunity to see my hero as he drove to his ball. No opportunity to speak, I merely watched the great man, Arnold Palmer, play through.

My friend who was working as marshal on the tee box came running up to my position as Arnie played through.
"Why did you wave me back?" I asked.
He was laughing as he said, "You should have heard what he said about you".
Thinking how fortunate I was that the "king" of golf and my longtime idol had actually noticed me, I responded "What do you mean?".
My friend replied, "He said to tell that 'idiot' to get off the fairway so I can hit my tee shot"
Not what I was hoping for Arnie but, now that you have a better view of things, it was me and I still love you man.