"I find Arnold to be the most accommodating public figure I've ever known," Merrins said. "It's a good thing he's not a girl because he doesn't know how to say no."
Merrins married his wife, Lisa, in 1961 and continued to play professional golf. He's proud of his accomplishments as a player, which include competing in eight U.S. Opens, a win in the Long Island Open and a fourth place finish at the Beaumont Texas Open (his best finish in a pro tournament). But he discovered teaching when he took a job as a pro at Merion Golf Club outside Philadelphia in 1957. He spent his three years at Merion like a Rhodes Scholar, and the East Course was his Oxford.
"Merion is a citadel for golf," Merrins said. "If you can't pick up something there, then you're numb to the world of golf."
At Merion, Merrins studied Ben Hogan's just published book, Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf and started doing his own research into the nature of the swing. He also found his calling. Helping people play better gave him a satisfaction he never found as a player.
"Teaching means more to me than any tournament because I've helped that person to help himself or herself," Merrins said. "Playing is for personal satisfaction, but teaching is a labor of love."
While beginning his teaching career, Merrins also had the insight that would lead him to develop his "swing the handle" philosophy that became his most lasting contribution to golf instruction.
Asked to explain how exactly "swing the handle" works, Merrins told a story about the 1978 British Open at St. Andrews. He was on the practice tee with Tom Kite, and Jack Nicklaus approached. They exchanged pleasantries and then Jack got right to the point.
"He looked at me and said, 'You believe in swing the handle, don't you? Explain it to me,'" Merrins remembered. "Out of the blue, a mental image came to me. I said, 'Jack, you're a tennis player. Swing the handle means the golf swing is just like a two-armed tennis stroke.'"
Merrins said Nicklaus took it all in with a completely neutral look and went back to his bucket of balls.
"And then, don't you know, he won the tournament," Merrins said. "I'm not saying it had anything to do with me, but you never know ... "
Merrins kept playing in tournaments while at Merion and later when he took club jobs at Westchester Country Club and Rockaway Hunting Club in New York. He said he was "living the life of an itinerant preacher." Then he got a call from Bel-Air Country Club while he was at an event in Michigan.
The favorite haunt of golfing movie stars like Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby needed a head pro. Would Merrins be interested? He and his wife went to Southern California for the weekend, and he stayed for the next 45 years as the swing consigliere to the Hollywood A-List.
