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Arnold Palmer believed in having the right tool for everything he might encounter on a golf course.
The Latrobe legend had a workshop at his home where he would putter around, making changes and playing with designs, according to Golf Digest. He collected them. He created them. He worked with designers to perfect them. At different points, he used MacGregor, Wilson, Callaway and other equipment. Golf.com put his private collection at more than 14,000 clubs and 2,500 putters.
Palmer would never be left out of the game because his one and only club disappeared.
That should be a lesson to the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, which operates Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.
On Tuesday, the authority announced a two-year agreement with Breeze Airways to fly out of the Unity airport two days a week. It will provide service to Myrtle Beach, S.C., starting in February and Orlando, Fla., starting in May.
That is welcome news after losing Spirit Airlines, the airport's only carrier, five months ago. It was a sudden stoppage -- leaving stranded travelers to make emergency pivots -- and the most slow-motion calamity possible. Spirit's financial problems were well publicized, with years of attempted mergers, bankruptcy and restructuring.
And yet the Breeze announcement comes only after Spirit's final departure, which took with it the Transportation Security Administration presence. That prompted Aliquippa-based charter company Preferred Casino Tours to end its regular Unity operations, pivoting to other airports.
Breeze may have offered the authority a wedge to propel itself out of the sand trap left by Spirit's demise, but that won't help in every rough spot.
It is imperative that the authority act like it is still in trouble -- because it is. A two-year agreement for one airline is not the solution to a problem that all but shuttered an airport that has just completed a $22 million renovation.
More carriers must be courted. So should charter companies. So should freight operations. John Murtha
Johnstown-Cambria County Airport has one-third of the passenger activity that Arnold Palmer Regional did last year but is home to one carrier, three charter companies, two aircraft rental operations and helicopter tours.
The presence of a commercial service airport in a community is a boon that can be married to other business opportunities. There are only 14 in Pennsylvania, and six are smaller than Westmoreland County's.
Breeze is a bright and shiny new driver in the airport's bag. Now it needs to pick up some more clubs to make it ready for anything else that could happen.
Arnold Palmer would never rely on just one putter. Neither should the airport that bears his name.