“Cape May Arnie”
By Sean Fawcett
Every golfer knows The King, Arnold Palmer. And nearly every golfer knows that Arnold Palmer was from Latrobe Pennsylvania, out by Pittsburgh. Few people know about his time in Cape May and at Wildwood Country Club.
For most of three years, from 1951 to 1953 in between his college playing days at Wake Forrest University and his prolific professional playing career which began in 1954, Arnold Palmer worked in the United States Coast Guard at Cape May. It was here, while serving his nation where he grew to become the great golfer by playing the beautiful tree-lined bayside links at Wildwood Country Club. The historic club was a pivotal training ground for Palmer in his formative early 20’s years before he turned pro and became America’s most famous golfing hero.
Longtime Wildwood C.C. member, Jim Byrne, 84, knew, and got to play with Palmer in those Wildwood and Cape May days when he was a teenager. “I was a senior in high school in 1951,” remembered Byrne. “We got out of school about the same time the Coast Guard guys did, and we would go to Wildwood to play and there was Arnie. He would always be like ‘hey, do you want to play a few holes’, and then he and my brother and I would go play. “He was so down to Earth. He was just Arnie from the Coast Guard to us. He would hit the ball way right, and long, and then hit the most amazing hook shots you’d ever see right back and onto the green. He was incredible.”
Long time Wildwood P.G.A. professional, and now GM Fred Riedel remembered how just months before his death, Palmer, who so much loved his playing days at the Jersey Shore course, signed several pin flags for him and wrote him a letter addressed to the club and its members to help commemorate Wildwood’s 100th birthday last year.
“It probably just took five minutes for him, but for us and our members it was huge,” said Riedel. “Arnie would come back sometimes when he was in the area, and he kept in contact with several of our members he knew over the years when he was down the shore. “It goes without saying that it’s a huge honor to be at Wildwood Country Club where Arnold Palmer played. He was The King.”
