Arnold Palmer: The way he truly lived…

A typical day for Mr. Arnold Palmer, whether up in Latrobe, PA or at his beloved Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Fl., was rising early, enjoying the morning paper with a cup of coffee and making sure that, at the time of our one on one interview, his beloved dog Mulligan had a decent morning walk.

“I don’t walk as much as I should on the golf course now, but I recommend that people walk as much as they possibly can, “ he explained. “I am no Gary Player, but I do believe that being busy and keeping yourself active are key elements to success in life.” This statement truly defined Mr. Palmer, when he was not playing golf, he was giving back to others.
Mr. Arnold Palmer, always believed in rising early and felt the key to living a long, healthy life was good sleep. He explained to our team that he felt sleep to be one of the most important things one could do for their physical and mental well-being and living a long and healthy life.

As we look back now, remembering that exclusive interview with Mr. Palmer in 2009, we are still amazed that at 80 years young, our interview was cut a few minutes short due to Mr. Palmer’s daily tee time. With a Florida temperature in the mid 90’s that November day, Mr. Palmer graciously thanked us for our time in talking with him about how exercise, nutrition and sleep played such a vital role in his career.

As we began to gather our belongings, Mr. Palmer had already quickly set out for the driving range for his pre-round warm-up. “Wish me luck!” he exclaimed as he drove off to the range with his notorious thumb up in the air and that we did.

Never-the-less, when we asked him several days later how he played in the heat, he replied with a smug grin, “not as well as I should have or would have liked to play.”

At 80 years young at the time of our interview, we had the honor of speaking with Mr. Palmer about how he continued to keep, (as he liked to refer to it), “agile and supple.” Besides sleep, Mr. Palmer remarked, “my grandfather lived to be 100 and I feel it is because he drank a quart size bottle of water ever morning.”

To go on about the wonders that this man has done for the game of golf, for our community, for those that have utilized the wonders of his hospitals and foundations would fill volumes of books. However, when we asked Brad Brewer, of the Brad Brewer Golf Academy in Central Florida, one of Mr. Palmer’s team/family members for years and a huge part of the international growth of the Arnold Palmer Golf Academy, not to mention author of Mentored by the King, Brad Brewer quickly sums it up by stating:

“My 30 years of being mentored by the king can be summed up by saying this; he was all LOVE! He loved his family, friends, community, all sports, high performance of any kind, he loved his country and he loved to win!”