The Television Career of Arnold Palmer
Palmer worked with NBC Sports as an on-course commentator before heading up to the broadcast tower where he joined John Brodie to call the action
How much fun was it watching The Match? Pretty cool to see golf under the lights and the trash talk was epic. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth were on fire with six birdies in ten holes. Looking forward to watching Tiger and Charlie, as well as the rest of the field in the PNC Championship this weekend.
We’re continuing to do some features while we wait for the TOUR to return for the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January. We’ll return with our historical tournament coverage then. This week, explore the television career of Arnold Palmer.
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Palmer Moves From “Foot Soldier” to the Tower For NBC Sports
It is February 2nd, 1964, at the Eldorado Country Club in Indian Wells, CA, and Tony Lema is playing the final hole in the fourth round of the Palm Springs Golf Classic. He began his fourth round just four-strokes off the lead.
He was one-over par for his round as he arrived at the 18th hole. He then drove his ball onto a hillside at the edge of a pond and decided to play the shot even though it meant standing in the water. Things did not go well.
“I had $1,300 worth of fun in the water.”
He had to stand in the pond to play his second shot, a shot that barely cleared the water and required him to stand in the pond to play his third shot. The television broadcast asked him to wait for them to change and set-up a new camera angle to capture his play from the water. He eventually finished the hole with a 13. The disaster resulted in him finishing out of the money.
Meeting him after his finish was Arnold Palmer who was working for the Fourth Network who was broadcasting the final round to over 100 television stations nationwide. Palmer interviewed Lema on his misadventures on the final hole.
“I had $1,300 worth of fun in the water,” Tony said explaining his final hole escapades. “Oh well, what’s $1,300?” He laughed along with Palmer as he made his exit.
Palmer became more involved in television commentary in 1968 when he joined the broadcast crew at NBC Sports. Palmer sporadically worked as a “foot soldier” assigned to follow a specific group of players. He was a natural for this job as he was adept at describing the shots and situations that players faced during their round. He was also natural and comfortable interviewing the players because he knew them so well.
In 1975, Palmer exercised an option to buy that he held on the Bay Hill Club golf course in a suburb of Orlando. In 1979, the PGA TOUR moved the Florida Citrus Classic tournament from the Rio Pinar Country Club to the Bay Hill Club and re-christened it the Bay Hill Citrus Classic. Palmer would act as host while also playing in the tournament.
“Working in the tower should be easier because you have all the action in front of you.”
As if he didn’t have enough going on that week as he took care of details for the players and their families, and playing in the tournament, Palmer began a new phase of his television commentary career that week. He moved from being a “foot soldier” to a position in the tower where he joined John Brodie, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback to call the action.
Palmer thought that moving into the tower would be easier than being down on the ground.
“Working in the tower should be easier because you have all the action in front of you,” Palmer told Golf Digest. “When you’re working as a foot soldier you really are locked into the group you’re following. Also, I know John pretty well and he’s a good guy to work with.”
It’s like trying to carry on a conversation while people are sliding you notes and yelling ‘commercial’ at you. It’s not easy work.”
While Brodie was excited to work with Palmer, he didn’t quite agree with the job being easy.
“Working up there is more complicated than being on the ground,” he said in the same Golf Digest article. “You want to know what it’s like trying to work in the tower? It’s like trying to carry on a conversation while people are sliding you notes and yelling ‘commercial’ at you. It’s not easy work.”
Palmer finished in 59th place that week earning $555. He also made his move into the broadcast tower to call the action when he wasn’t playing. Although he may have found the move to be easier than being a foot soldier, he would no longer get candid remarks from a player fresh off his round as he did with Tony Lema at the 1964 Desert Golf Classic.
Arnold Palmer changed how television covered the final round of tournaments. Scroll down to see in our Bonus story.
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Bonus Story
Don Wade, the Associate Editor of Golf Digest, accepted an offer from NBC Sports Producer Larry Cirillo, to join the crew at the Bay Hill Club to observe preparations for the telecast of the Bay Hill Citrus Classic. Wade detailed the long day in the March 1979 issue of Golf Digest.
Arnold Palmer joined the group as they surveyed the course early one morning just before Thanksgiving. The group discussed camera locations, hand-held camera locations and commenting tower locations, and the infrastructure needed to pull off a nationally televised golf tournament.
The broadcast would show the action from holes 14 through 18, a standard setup for golf tournament telecasts of the era. Palmer had an idea, though.
“I’d like to see some coverage of the front nine,” Palmer suggested. “There are some earlier holes that are going to play a big role in this tournament. That’s one of the problems with golf coverage on television. We show the leaders, but we rarely give people any insight on how they got ahead.
“I’d like to see us get some hand-held cameras out on the front nine early in the rounds, bring the stuff back to the mobile units, and have it in the can to put on later. That way we can show people the leader—let’s say it’s Jack . . . no, that’s a bad example,” Palmer said with a laugh. “Anyway, if Jack is leading, we could show what he did on three, six, and eight. Those are the key holes on the front side.”
“You’re right,” Cirillo agreed. "There’s no question we have the capabilities. I mean it wouldn’t be a problem to do our regular opener at the top of the show, tell who’s leading, then go with some taped action from the front nine. That would be super.”
In addition to everything else that he contributed to golf, Palmer could add this revolutionary idea on how to cover a final round of a PGA TOUR event on television.
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Tour Backspin Quiz |1979 PGA TOUR Trivia
Who swept the leading money winner, Vardon Trophy (scoring leader), and PGA Player of the Year awards in 1979?
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Hi Larry-
Another great newsletter this week.
MD
Larry,
You made me laugh out loud regarding caddies. I’m also critical of what they do and don’t do. The last time I took a caddie was at Spyglass Hill. He caddied for pros in the old Crosby Clambake days including Bobby Lunn. He did an A+ job for me and told a few humorous stories. I also caddied at Green Hills CC in the early 1970s. George Archer played there with the GHCC pro John Joseph. I caddied for John and witnessed first hand Archer’s magic on the greens, the greatest putter I ever saw.
BE
Tour Backspin Quiz Answer:
Tom Watson won all three awards (money leader, Vardon Trophy and PGA Player of the Year) in 1979.
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