Latrobe CC (private)
Latrobe, PA
T&L Golf, 3/06
World Golf, 9/08
Golf Digest, 2008
In Arnieland
Visitors can now play and stay at Latrobe Country Club, Arnold Palmer's lifelong home.
FROM T&L GOLF MAR 2006
by James Deacon
Call it a living-history museum. Starting this spring, Latrobe Country Club, the old course in the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania where Arnold Palmer grew up and learned the game from his father, Deacon, the longtime superintendent and pro, will open to limited public play. Not only that, you can stay overnight in one of the club's charming cottages, the largest of which was appointed by Palmer's wife, Winnie. "We're not advertising it," says Jerry Palmer, the club's general manager and Arnie's younger brother, "but we're trying to accommodate some of the requests we get to see the place." Arnie has residences in Florida and California, but Latrobe remains his home from late spring through early fall—meaning your chances of seeing him are pretty good. He typically spends mornings attending to business, heads to the memorabilia-filled grillroom for lunch and then tees it up with pals.
Trip Planner
Latrobe Country Club
Arnold Palmer Drive, Latrobe, Pennsylvania
724-539-8585
PLAYING YARDAGE: 6,407. PAR: 72. SLOPE: 142. ARCHITECTS: Dutch Loeffler and John McGlynn, 1920; John Harrison and Ferdinand Garbin, 1964. GREENS FEE: $116.
STAYING COTTAGE ROOMS: $189.
Best Bar Nearby: The grill room at Latrobe CC was named to Golf Digest's 2008 50 Best 19th Holes. "Only here can you get the full Arnold Palmer experience. Feels like walking downstairs in a split-level house to a sunken living room; 'like Arnie's basement'; Palmer memorabilia everywhere; with luck, you might even sip an 'Arnold Palmer' next to the King himself. "
What To Drink: When in Rome... order an Arnold Palmer: 1/2 iced tea, 1/2 lemonade. Personally, Fat Guy likes a harder twist on the Palmer, called a John Daly: A double shot of Firefly Sweet Tea vodka and lemonade.
Fat Guy Note: When I came of an age that I could by my own beer legally and actually afford something other than the cheapest case they had, I always ended up buying one of two beers: Rolling Rock (made at Latrobe Brewing Company) or Iron City Light (made at Pittsburgh Brewing Company). Hey, I grew up in Western PA, and watching all the steel mills close down in the '80's actually made the phrase "Buy American" mean something when your buddy's Dad got laid off. So I always bought local, so that the guys who worked in those breweries had a job. However, even after Rolling Rock became one of the best marketed regional brews during the 1990's to grow into a nationally distrubuted brand, Latrobe Brewing sold out to Anheuser-Busch a few years ago. A-B promptly closed the brewery in Latrobe and started making Rock in New Jersey, of all places. 200 guys out of a job. I haven't bought or drank a Rolling Rock since. To be honest, the stuff always had this oddly minty, almost-Skoal-Wintergreen after taste, and I don't miss it much.
Where To Grub: Ralph's Roadmap Of Wings recommends Sharky's Cafe (201 U.S. 30) for good wings in Latrobe.
World Golf Review
September 8, 2008
Latrobe Country Club: Where Arnold Palmer became golf's King
By Tim McDonald,
National Golf Editor
LATROBE, Penn. - If a man - not a stalker or any other kind of wacko - had a certain kind of man-crush on Arnold Palmer, he could do worse than going to Latrobe and doing a stay-and-play at the Latrobe Country Club.
Latrobe, of course, is where Palmer was born and reared, right smack in the middle of Pennsylvania farm country, and the club's golf course is where young Arnold strode the fairways like a young prince, before he became the King.
The country club is a laid-back, little place, set back discreetly off Arnold Palmer Drive. No big billboards advertise its presence. In fact, if you didn't know where you were going, you'd have a hard time finding it.
But, once you get inside, it's all Arnie, all the time.
Hundreds of photos adorn the walls: Arnie doing this, Arnie doing that, Arnie winning this, Arnie winning that. Arnie as a young man, Arnie as an older man. Arnie with golf greats, dignitaries, politicians, us common folk.
The country club guest houses are more of the same. Every kind of Arnold Palmer memorabilia, including Arnold Palmer salt and pepper shakers. Jerry Palmer, the general manager, is the golf great's brother.
This is a little different from the rest of Latrobe. Oh, they love Arnold here, they just want you to know he isn't all that Latrobe has produced. On the city's Web page, for example, Palmer is lumped in with other Latrobe luminaries, like Mr. Rogers.
They also filmed part of "Night of the Living Dead" here, which has nothing to do with Arnold Palmer.
And everyone has his or her own Arnie story.
He's just like a regular guy," said Ron Schuster, outside a convenience store where he had just bought an Arnold Palmer beer. "You hear that a lot about other people, but with him, it's really true. He doesn't act like some big hero or anything. You'd never know he is who he is."
"When people talk about the King to me, I say 'are you talking music or golf?'" said Jesse Horner, head professional at Old Stonewall Golf Club in Ellwood City. "If you're talking music, it's Elvis. If you're talking golf, it's Arnold Palmer."
The country club is a private club, 40 miles east of Pittsburgh, up in the Laurel Highlands. Again, it's a low-key club, befitting Palmer's rather humble personality and the rest of this part of rural western Pennsylvania: No scampering ball boys, no GPS in the carts, no big bronze statues. Unlike many other country clubs, it isn't overflowing with houses around the fairway perimeters. Just a good golf course in a pretty, small-town setting.
It's a hilly layout, very green and lush with elevated, bentgrass greens and tight, tight, tight fairways. This is where Palmer learned his accuracy.
In fact, though the golf course is only 6,500 yards from the back tees, it has a slope rating of 142, very high considering its length. That's partly because of the elevation changes, the many trees that lie just off the narrow fairways and the fast, tricky greens.
Latrobe Country Club: The verdict
Latrobe Country Club is a course that will not let you escape Palmer. You find yourself constantly thinking: What would Arnold do on this hole, from this spot? I wonder how he would have pulled off this shot? Sometimes, you find yourself doing your Arnold Palmer imitations.
Still, it's a fun course in its own right, even if the Palmer family name weren't stamped all over it. The elevation makes for more than a few blind shots, especially off the tee, like on Nos. 6, 8, 15 and 17.
The club also has tennis courts, a heated swimming pool and bathhouse, locker rooms and dining and entertainment facilities.
Latrobe lodging
The Latrobe Country Club has four deluxe guest houses, all close to the golf course, available for the club's guests and non-resident members. They are all well-appointed with Arnold Palmer memorabilia.
The Hauser House overlooks the golf course. The others are: The cottage, which Palmer built in the 1970s, the newly remodeled Stader House and the Barnhart House. All of the houses are adult only and include a country-style, freshly prepared breakfast.