Arnie’s spirit imbues the enduring Bay Hill Shootout
By James DODSON
One spring morning nearly 30 years ago, as Arnold Palmer and I were working on his much-anticipated memoir, I asked him to tell me about the famous Bay Hill Shootout. At his invitation, I’d played in it twice, found it to be loads of fun and even collected 50 bucks as Arnie’s playing partner in my second exposure to the event.
So, as we sat in his cozy Bay Hill workshop (as usual, Arnie was rewrapping a club), I asked him what the daily Shootout meant to him. Here’s what the King said:
“One of my great pleasures is playing in the Bay Hill Shootout. When I’m home from the road, that’s usually where you’ll find me after a morning’s work in the office and a quick lunch – preparing to tee it up with a bunch of golfing cutthroats, friendly rogues, old friends, and generally all-around good guys.”
Second Wind delivers stories like this to your inbox every two weeks — thoughtful, timeless, and worth your time.
As a feature of Bay Hill life, he explained, the Shootout preceded him, dating back to the club’s founding members. “They were a bunch of golf nuts who couldn’t wait to try and take each other’s pocket change each afternoon.” He added, “We’ve had a host of PGA [Tour] players over the years who just love the chance to be one of the guys.”
He also explained how the Shootout worked. On a typical day, eight to 10 foursomes (and occasionally fivesomes) were selected as “teams” composed of a range of golfers based on their handicaps – an “A” player, “B” player, “C” player, and so forth. Arnold noted that anyone who wanted to play and “plays reasonably well” can get into the daily Shootout.
In the early days of the Shootout, he continued, players put in 20 bucks, and if their team was good enough to win, “you could pocket a couple hundred dollars for buying drinks afterward in the men’s locker room. That doesn’t count all the side bets and private Nassaus and walk-in wagers flying around on an average day.”
At the time of our conversation in the late 1990s, the entry fee had risen to $30 and even $50 on special occasions. “On New Year’s Eve,” he added, “we play what’s called the Grand Shootout, which attracts more than two hundred players and has a pretty impressive pot.
“Everyone who plays in the Shootout has a great memory from playing in it, including me,” the King allowed with a chuckle, his big blacksmith shoulder hopping. “Mine was very special.”