| TRIBUTE TO THE WORLD'S
HARDEST GAME: THE WORLD GOLF HALL OF FAME, FLORIDA |
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 The back nine attempts to bring the game to life through interactive displays and information on current inductees. A current exhibit on Ben Crenshaw includes his Master's Trophy but Tiger Woods doesn't qualify for inclusion as he's been on the PGA Tour for less than 10 years and is under the age of 40. Between the two nines a display of all the male and female members of the Hall of Fame includes not only their golf career achievements but presents in glass cabinets some of the personal artifacts of their lives, Sam Snead's lunch box, Arnold Palmer's toy airplane and Jack Nicklaus' fly fishing rod. |
The back nine attempts to bring the game to life through interactive displays and information on current inductees. A current exhibit on Ben Crenshaw includes his Master's Trophy but Tiger Woods doesn't qualify for inclusion as he's been on the PGA Tour for less than 10 years and is under the age of 40. Between the two nines a display of all the male and female members of the Hall of Fame includes not only their golf career achievements but presents in glass cabinets some of the personal artifacts of their lives, Sam Snead's lunch box, Arnold Palmer's toy airplane and Jack Nicklaus' fly fishing rod. |
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This new tribute to golf opened in 1998 as part of the Wolf Golf Village complex created 30 minutes south of Jacksonville. It's a sprawling 75,000 square-foot facility with soaring ceilings and wide windows and lots of light that tries in a high tech way to give exposure to a game often played under gray skies with rules from the Middle Ages. It is not so cozy and homey as the former hall of fame was at Pinehurst and it doesn't show visitors many of the great names in golf as much as it honors the game itself. That issue is being addressed - I felt it didn't make the giants of the game come alive but a recent special exhibit successfully celebrates the great Ben Hogan's contribution to the game he loved and dominated 50 years ago. |
Adjoining the hall is a 60 story-high IMAX theater with its 80 foot-wide screen. A Renaissance Resort lies conveniently next-door and one of the dining options on the complex is Sam Snead's restaurant that has many artifacts of the game on display. And as you walk away your feet tread on one of the most famous signatures in golf, the flourish of Donald Ross whose hands created some of the most famous golf courses in America. |
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