Pittsburgh is poised to christen new facilities at the Bob O’Connor Golf Course in Schenley Park after Latrobe golf legend Arnold Palmer.
Pittsburgh Councilman Corey O’Connor, son of the late mayor for whom the course is named, introduced a resolution Tuesday that would name the clubhouse and learning center after Palmer, who died in 2016 at 87.
The city last year demolished the century-old clubhouse at the Schenley Park golf course. Contractors are scheduled to begin work on the new building this month, O’Connor said. The project is estimated to cost $5 million, with about $3 million of the funding coming through private donations, he said.
“I actually feel kind of honored that the names are going to be together,” O’Connor said. “I think that’s something that if you asked my dad, he’d say, ‘Arnold Palmer’s a Western Pennsylvania icon and now he’s attached to the golf course. I think that’s pretty good.’ The golf course still remains the Bob O’Connor Golf Course, so nothing’s changing there.”
First Tee of Pittsburgh leases the course from the city and offers golf lessons along with life skills and leadership classes to city youths. The new clubhouse will include a learning center with simulators and other equipment for teaching golf and classrooms for other programming, according to O’Connor.
Palmer’s name is attached to lot of facilities and products across the globe, including an airport in Latrobe, a hospital in Orlando, a mixed non-alcoholic drink of half-lemonade and half-iced tea and numerous pieces of golf equipment and accessories. O’Connor said this is the first time for a learning center.
“We’re excited that the first Arnold Palmer learning center with the First Tee is going to be at the Bob O’Connor Golf Course,” he said.
