World Golf Hall of Fame - St. Augustine

We spent three great days in St Augustine last week and spent Friday we went to the World Golf Hall of Fame.  It is a very large building with displays, memorabilia and interesting things to do and learn.

The grounds are very well kept and they have Hall of Famer's Walk of Champions.  Here they have names such as Mickey Wright (Women's Hall of Fame) carved in granite on the sidewalk.  The tower is the signature architecture piece on the property and we made our way over to it and the beginning of the tour.

The tour is a self guided one with lots of information and short videos.  We began with an explanation of how one can become eligible for the Hall of Fame:  member of PGA for 10 years, 40 years old, winner of ten tournaments or two majors.

This year's inductees include Hollis Stacy, Sandy Lyle and Phil Michelson.  There is a very large display and area devoted to Bob Hope.  He was a lifelong advocate of golf, had a tournament named after him and at one time was a 4 handicapper.

 There are some very unique displays on how and when the game of golf began.  Also, we looked at early versions of hickory shafted golf clubs, the featherie (filled with goose or chicken feathers and hand sewn) and the gutta-percha golf ball (covered with the rubber sap of a Malaysian tree).

We took the elevator to the top floor of the tower where the trophy display was located.  Wow - there must have been 30 trophies on display.  First the Claret jug, given to the winner of the British Open.

Then the U.S. Open, Masters and the PGA Tournament (Wannamaker trophy) were there in all their glory.  It was pretty neat to see the those trophies.

From the tower, we could see out to the grounds and the island green for the Challenge Hole in the middle of the lake.  Off to the left is the tee box to the green.  This is where you can buy chances to hit the green.  As we waited our turn, the guy in front of us actually hit a hole in one!  ~First hole in one I have ever personally seen.  That was pretty cool.

Now back to the museum and some more displays.  Some of the Hall of Fame inductees had their own sections and memorabilia.  Johnny Miller was a favorite of mine during the 1970's and we saw the scorecard from his record 63 (-8 under par) in the final round of the 1973 U.S. Open.  And I always admired Tom Kite.  I remember watching on TV when he finally won a major with the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Then there was Nancy Lopez.  I followed her great career from its early beginnings in New Mexico.  As a 14 year old she was the Ladies state champion.  She was from Roswell and I grew up in Santa Fe and it seemed as if she was always making headlines.  Her display was one of the more extensive ones in the building.

Our time at the World Golf Hall of Fame was a lot of fun and well worth the time.  We spent a couple of  hours there, had lunch and then came back for more.  If you are a golf enthusiast like we are, you may find this to be a good stop.

That is all for now.  Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...