Remembering Arnold Blum

Arnold Blum was a golfing legend in Macon and the state of Georgia.

He passed away last week at the age of 94, just 16 days shy of his 95th birthday. I always have considered him to be Macon’s Arnold Palmer. In my mind, both Arnolds were gentleman golfers, competitive but humble. Palmer was on the national and international professional stage while Blum’s notoriety came as an amateur, primarily in the southeast, and the Peach State.

Today, Russell Henley is Macon’s shining light on the PGA Tour, having won three events in his four-plus years on the circuit. But there is little doubt that Blum could have made his mark in the professional ranks if he had decided to take that route. But he was an amateur golfer who also worked, running a successful mattress company business his father had started in 1930. No Georgia amateur golfer, outside of the legendary Bobby Jones, had as much success on the links as Blum.

While in high School at Lanier, he won the Georgia Interscholastic Association championship in both 1937 and 1939. After his prep days, it was on to Georgia, where he continued to excel in the sport winning the SEC individual championship in 1941. He also served as the Bulldogs team captain during his time in Athens.

Blum dominated Georgia amateur golf in the late 40s and early 50s, winning the state crown on five occasions and finishing as runner-up two other years. He captured his first in 1946, beating Dan Yates 2 and l at the Capital City Club in Atlanta. He won three state Amateurs in a row between 1950 and 1952, a feat that has not been accomplished since.

He also won the state amateur in 1956, with runner-up finishes in 1940 and 1953, ironically both at his home course, Idle Hour. None of his state amateur wins came at Idle Hour, but he did enjoy success at the par 70 layout. He won five of the first seven individual Peach Blossom titles. After it became a best-ball team event in 1954, he and George White won in 1960 and he and Alfred Sams took the crown in 1962.

Blum won the Macon city championship nine times.

He played in the Masters five years, making the cut three times with his best finish a tie for 24th in 1952 with a 302. Also at that same total was Byron Nelson. Blum won the Southeastern Amateur in 1939, 1941 and 1947. He also captured two Southern Amateur titles.

He was a member of the United States’ winning Walker Cup team in 1957 after being named first alternate two years earlier. In addition to all those remarkable feats, he qualified for the U.S. Amateur 16 times, advancing to the quarterfinals twice.

Seven-time PGA tour winner Gardner Dickinson, who like Blum was a Lanier graduate, wrote a book entitled “Let ‘Er Rip!: Gardner Dickinson on Golf” and he had a chapter about the top amateur players in Georgia in the 40s and 50s. From Atlanta came Luke Barnes, the Black brothers, Carling Dinkler, and Morton Bright, good players all. From Rome came Alvin Everett, a national left-handed champion, and Jennings Gordon. From Augusta came Frank Mulherin and Bill Zimmerman, both tough competitors. Good as those fellows were, though, I hesitate to say that any were better than Arnold Blum, because nobody was.

Blum is a member of the Georgia Golf, Southeastern Golf, Georgia and Macon sports halls of fame. In 2009, the Idle Hour Club named their golf learning center in his honor, against his will. Idle Hour director of golf Ray Cutright, who teaches at that center, said that Blum fought against that decision.

Cutright called Blum the most humble man that he has ever known.

This story was originally published April 10, 2017 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Remembering Arnold Blum."