The King Visits Suncadia | Cybergolf News

I hadn’t seen Arnold Palmer play in person since 1995, and I was a little concerned that in the past 10 years his game may have deteriorated. What a surprise I had in store. Palmer was in Roslyn in North-Central Washington to perform an exhibition and put his autograph on the Prospector Golf Course at Suncadia Resort. Palmer Golf Design crafted the attractive resort-style course that opened for play last fall.

Palmer started off with a clinic on Prospector’s expansive driving range. It was a fairly intimate setting with only a couple hundred people in attendance. The clinic turned into more of a question-and-answers session as Palmer would hit a shot and then take a question or two from the gallery before hitting his next warm-up shot. Palmer still radiates charisma as he held the crowd spellbound with old stories. He covered topics ranging from the distance of the golf ball (he thinks the current golf ball needs to be scaled down), to aviation (he flew his Citation 10 jet from Latrobe, Pa. to Washington state in just over four hours).

Palmer played the back nine a Prospector followed by a miniature version of “Arnie’s Army.” The 10th hole is a par-4 of over 400 yards that, with its elevated tee, seems to encompass the entire Cascade Mountain range. Arnie nailed his tee shot over 260 yards to the center of the fairway. My fears of his waning game vanished with just one shot. Over the next nine holes he would hit every fairway with tee shots as long as 270 yards, make two birdies and shoot an unofficial 38 from the back tees that measure over 7,100 yards. All of this taking place as he winked and flirted with gallery.

Palmer’s passion for the game of golf was evident as he was constantly tinkering with a couple of different drivers and hitting second balls when he was not happy with a shot. Nearly 76 old now, he is still truly an inspiration to golfers as he plays with such grace and elegance. I am already looking forward to watching Arnie play again – I just hope the wait won’t be another 10 years.