During the 1950s and 60s Arnold Palmer was the most popular player in men’s professional golf. He had “an army” of followers in the USA and he earned enormous respect from golf fans on this side of the pond through his performances in, and respect for, The Open championship in the early 1960s.
Palmer won 62 times on the PGA Tour between 1955 and 1973. He won an incredible 95 tournaments overall in professional golf. Through the 1960s he finished in the top-10 in 25 of the 37 Majors in which he played – an astonishing record.
Palmer was known for his strength and was famous for his piercing, powerful long irons. He was also an excellent driver of the golf ball.
Unfortunately, when Palmer was playing in his prime the PGA Tour did not keep statistics like it does today. Now we have a huge amount of data showing how far and accurately each of the players on the main circuits hit the ball, not only with regards driving but from tee to cup. That information doesn’t exist for Palmer in his pomp, so we have to rely more on anecdotal evidence and a few specific examples to give us an idea of how far he hit the ball.
It’s difficult to make comparisons with modern players when you consider someone like Arnold Palmer. Modern equipment has changed the game drastically since the 1960s when a persimmon driver had a head the size of a tangerine. Advances in club and ball technology, together with player technique, conditioning, as well as course agronomy mean the top guys and girls on tour today hit the ball a good bit further than their predecessors.
Arnold Palmer was famed for his swashbuckling style
(Image credit: Getty Images)
But one example shows just how far Palmer could send the ball out there – In the 1960 US Open at Cherry Hills, Palmer famously began his final round by driving the first green – That hole measured 346 yards. No matter what the weather and course conditions, that is a phenomenally long hit. To demonstrate how impressive that shot was. Before the 2014 BMW PGA Championship at Cherry Hills, top pros of the day were given a persimmon driver to try and recreate Palmer’s feat. None of them got close. In fact, Rory McIlroy got the nearest…
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