Could Hilton Head Island have become Arnold Palmer’s winter home?

With a little bit of luck — and perhaps a little less inflexibility from outside forces — Hilton Head Island might have been the choice as Arnold Palmer’s winter headquarters instead of Florida.

That’s the possibility left open in a reminiscence told Monday by Lowcountry developer Jim Chaffin, whose nearly 50-year friendship with the golf icon, who died Sunday at age 87, stretches back to Palmer’s victory in the inaugural Heritage Classic.

Early in the week, Palmer mentioned that he’d like to know more about Sea Pines and maybe get a tour of the fledgling community. Chaffin, then a “rookie” with the resort’s sales team, got the assignment to show them around.

One problem, though: Palmer was hard to pin down as he prepared for the tournament, trying to figure out the new Harbour Town layout. His wife, Winnie, wound up taking the tour by herself.

Sea Pines made an impression, though.

“Winnie picked out an oceanfront lot on Oyster Catcher Road,” Chaffin recalled. “But she was getting a little frustrated with Arnold. She wanted him to look at the lot, but he was leading. And he was in a bit of a slump at the time.”

Palmer eventually claimed a three-shot win, his first PGA Tour victory in 14 months. Late that Sunday, Winnie finally got him to look at the lot. He approved.

“I was thrilled,” Chaffin said.

So what happened? As the purchase contract was being processed, Chaffin said, Sea Pines founder Charles Fraser got a call from Palmer’s agent, IMG founder Mark McCormack.

The onetime Yale Law School classmates got to serious wrangling over the purchase price.

“You had two strong personalities in Charles Fraser and Mark McCormack,” Chaffin recalled. In the end, the sale never went through.

Less than a year later, Palmer reached a deal to purchase Bay Hill Club & Lodge on the outskirts of Orlando. He’d become smitten with that course five years earlier, proclaiming it the “best club in Florida” after his initial visit.

Before long, Bay Hill had its own a PGA Tour event, now known as the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Palmer kept coming back to Hilton Head Island, too, continuing to play the Heritage for another dozen years. Later, he laid out the original design for the Sea Pines Country Club. He also did design work for Chaffin, first out west before taking on Spring Island’s Old Tabby Links.

Palmer’s portfolio later grew to include Crescent Pointe in Bluffton and a redesign of Wexford Plantation.

“I loved Hilton Head and really considered settling here,” Palmer told fans during Wexford’s 2011 reopening.

While Old Tabby Links was still under construction, Chaffin recalled, Palmer looked to the waterfront left of the 18th fairway and asked whether any lots would be there. Chaffin said there would.

“Pick me one, will you?” Chaffin heard back. “I’m not making that mistake again.”

The Palmers never built on the lot, Chaffin said, but stayed in a member cottage when they visited.

“They loved to be here,” Chaffin recalled, “Winnie especially loved to be here, enjoying nature with their children and grandchildren.”

This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Could Hilton Head Island have become Arnold Palmer’s winter home?."