#29: Purchases Latrobe Country Club
In 1971 Arnold Palmer purchased Latrobe Country Club, where his father, Deacon, had worked as both course superintendent and head golf pro, and where a young Arnie first learned to golf.
“Are you crazy?” Deacon asked upon learning the news. “Why on earth do you want to do that?” In A Golfer’s Life, Palmer wrote he responded that the family connection was a good enough reason, waited a second, and then told his father, “Besides, it means you’d have to work for me.” Childhood connections and family humor aside, by 1971 Arnold and Winnie owned the club and Palmer called it “one of the smartest moves” he ever made. Renovations followed, and as Arnie reflected in his autobiography, “While much has changed around here, the spirit of the place, the most important part, remains the same.” That holds true today for the members of Latrobe Country Club and for all the guests who stay and play there—the same spirit is still very much intact.
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