| TRIBUTE TO THE WORLD'S
HARDEST GAME: THE WORLD GOLF HALL OF FAME, FLORIDA |
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 It's all there. Astronaut Alan Shepard's Wilson 6-iron from the Apollo 14 mission and the three balls he whacked 1500 yards on the moon. President Ford's golf bag. Eisenhower's golf cart. One of Bing Crosby's woods. A Schenectady putter and a Bulger driver. Leather balls called "featheries" from the 17th century. |
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A club crafted in Scotland by Hendrie Milne in 1690. Clubs dating from 1770 to 1970 made by six generations of McEwan, in the Auchterlonie Collection, "the Crown Jewels of Golf." And favorite clubs of many of the greats who brought glory to this marvelous game of golf, players sometimes fighting impossible weather, inaccessible terrain, even physical handicap to hole out, win through and make their name in the greatest game invented by man. |
 
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"But it's more than a game," says Andy Hunold, Director of Exhibits and Collections at the World Golf Hall of Fame near St. Augustine, Florida (904-940-4123 www.wgv.com)."It's a way of life. It's about integrity, dignity and respect. And honesty: it's the only game where you blow the whistle on yourself." |
| It's also probably the most infuriating game in the world: this odd endeavor to knock a tiny white ball into a little hole. It is a weird pastime. Even in Scotland, where it all started, there are still some who say, "Golf ruins a good walk!" | |
  
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The Hall of Fame is laid out like a golf course with the history of the game shown on the front nine. Visitors will find the beginnings of the game in Scotland clearly displayed on the walls where footnotes show how alarmed the Scottish kings were by their subjects practicing golf rather than archery. Fearing skills at golf would not be enough to keep English invaders off their border the Scottish crown tried to outlaw the game for more than a century. |
Yet golf caught on. By 1603, James VI of Scotland had appointed a royal club maker. Indeed, the King's mother -- the ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots was probably the first woman golfer, learning to play the game in the long exile before her execution. The history buffs can spend happy hours here because no game goes so far back in time, yet has remained in its same form for so long -- virtually since the 15th century. |
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