Editing Arnold Palmer (section)

==Early life==
[[File:ArnoldPalmerCoastGuard1953.jpg|180px|thumb|Palmer in 1953]]
Arnold Daniel Palmer was born on September 10, 1929, to Doris (née Morrison) and Milfred Jerome "Deacon" Palmer<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1976/02/07/archives/arnold-palmers-father-dies.html |title=Arnold Palmer's Father Dies |date= February 7, 1976 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=December 26, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> in [[Latrobe, Pennsylvania]], a working-class [[steel mill]] town.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.golfchannel.com/news/mercer-baggs/arnie-palmers-father-imposing-lasting-figure/ |title=Arnie: Palmer's father an imposing, lasting figure |work=Golf Channel |first=Mercer |last= Baggs |date=September 10, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jcs-group.com/golf/arnold/backyard.html |title=A Country Club As His Backyard}}</ref> He learned golf from his father, who had suffered from [[Poliomyelitis|polio]] at a young age and was head [[golf pro|professional]] and [[greenskeeper]] at [[Latrobe Country Club]], which allowed young Palmer to accompany his father as he maintained the course.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Gigantic Book of Golf Quotations |editor=Stewart, Wayne |year=2007 |publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-60239-072-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Arnold Palmer Biography and Interview |website=achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/#interview}}</ref>

Palmer attended [[Wake Forest College]]<!--Became "University" in 1967.--> on a golf [[Athletic scholarship|scholarship]].<ref name=golfweek/> He left upon the death of close friend Bud Worsham and enlisted in the [[United States Coast Guard|U.S. Coast Guard]], where he served for three years, 1951–1954. At the [[United States Coast Guard Training Center Cape May|Coast Guard Training Center]] in [[Cape May, New Jersey]], he built a nine-hole course and had some time to continue to hone his golf skills.<ref>{{cite web| last1=Yun| first1=Hunki |title=Part I: Golf And The Military| url= https://www.usga.org/articles/2011/08/part-i-golf-and-the-military-21474842287.html |work=[[United States Golf Association]] |access-date=20 October 2024 |date=August 30, 2011}}</ref> After Palmer's enlistment term ended, he returned to college and competitive golf.<ref name="nytime-death"/>

Palmer won the 1954 U.S. Amateur in [[Detroit]] and made the decision to turn pro in November of that year.<ref name=golfweek/> "That victory was the turning point in my life," he said. "It gave me confidence I could compete at the highest level of the game."<ref name=golfweek/> When reporters there asked [[Gene Littler]] who the young golfer was that was cracking balls on the practice tee, Littler said: "That's Arnold Palmer. He's going to be a great player some day. When he hits the ball, the earth shakes."<ref name=golfweek/>

After winning that match, Palmer quit his job selling paint and played in the Waite Memorial tournament in [[Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pennsylvania]]. There, he met his future wife, Winifred Walzer, and they remained married for 45 years until her death in 1999.<ref name=golfweek/>

On November 17, 1954, Palmer announced his intentions to turn pro.<ref name=golfweek/> "What other people find in poetry, I find in the flight of a good drive," Palmer said.<ref name=golfweek/>