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Arnie and Jack and Charlie Former LPGA Commissioner Charlie Mechem ’52 shares personal stories about his close friends and golfing legends Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus Asking Charlie Mechem ’52 to choose his
favorite story about his buddies Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus is like making him pick the greatest golfer of all time. He can’t do it. So when Mechem tells a few from his new book, Arnie and Jack — more than 40 personal stories that have never been published before — he obliges only after emphasizing that he loves them all equally. He then recalls an anecdote he heard from Arnold’s wife, Kit, about when she and Arnie were married in 2005 in Hawaii while Arnie was playing in a tournament. “They found a justice of the peace way out in the wilds of Hawaii,” said Mechem, who was a close adviser to Palmer for over 20 years. “She was a little lady, and as they were going into her tiny home, Kit says she said to Arnie, ‘Now Arnie, remember, we’re in the middle of nowhere, and she’s not going to know who you are, so don’t be offended.’ Anyway, nothing happened, and she married them. As they walked out the door, the justice of the peace said, ‘Lady, do you know how lucky you are?’ ” Mechem is discussing his third book from the La Quinta, California, home he and Marilyn ’54, his wife of almost 70 years, built at Tradition Golf Club, a course Arnie designed. The Palmers’ house is next door.
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He actually met Nicklaus before Palmer while head of Taft Broadcasting, when it commissioned Jack to build a public course north of Cincinnati across I-71 from Taft’s Kings Island. Nicklaus was just getting started with his course design efforts. When Nicklaus, now affectionately called the Golden Bear, joined the pros in 1962 and began challenging Palmer, Arnold’s fans, aka Arnie’s Army, hurled far less flattering nicknames at him. Because of that “ugly” time, Mechem is often asked if the two were truly friends. “Many people will be surprised to learn how warm and close these two men were,” he said. One of Mechem’s favorite stories happened when he was asked to become commissioner of the LPGA. He wanted to find out if Nicklaus thought he should accept. “ ‘Jack,’ I said, ‘the LPGA has asked me to be its commissioner. I’m inclined to do it, but what do you think?’ Jack said, ‘You better damn well do it. I recommended you.’ ”
Jack Nicklaus wrote in Arnie and Jack: “I can say with complete conviction that there isn’t a person, past or present, who knows more about Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, and the stories that took place between the two of us — and individually — than Charlie Mechem.”