25 OCT 2017: “Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated,” Arnold Palmer once remarked. “It satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening—and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind ever invented.”
If you share Palmer’s sentiments, you must make a pilgrimage to golf mecca—the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum, just north of Saint Augustine, Florida in World Golf Village. This billion-dollar baby, opened in 1998, is to golfers what a candy store is to a child. In a word, the ultimate destination for any golf fanatic.
World Golf Village is a multifaceted complex with accommodations, shops, restaurants, two designer golf courses, IMAX theatre and the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum.
Ode to the Game
Various exhibits show and tell the history of the game from its roots in Scotland to its growth around the world. Playing St. Andrews may still be a fantasy but you can stroll across a life-size replica of the Swilcan Burn Bridge on the 18th fairway of the Old Course. Test your short game on an 1880s-style green using a replica wood-shafted putter and brown gutta-percha ball from that era. Newsreels and old photographs will put you in a nostalgic mood.
A museum-wide audio tour, Voices from the Hall, offers exclusive content from more than 35 Hall of Fame members, highlighting their personal stories and anecdotes. From Arnold Palmer recounting stories of “Ike,” the late Byron Nelson on turning professional, Karrie Webb on picking up the game at age four and Ben Crenshaw on Harvey Penick and his emotional second Masters win, the tour enhances each guest’s encounter with the game’s historical moments.
Care to take a swing on some of the planet’s most famous tracts? Step up to the Golf Simulator and find out how well you’d do on the Old Course at St. Andrews or The Plantation at Kapalua.
Fame
The Hall of Fame honours more than 155 of the world’s golf greats. In 2017 Henry Longhurst, Davis Love III, Meg Mallon, Lorena Ochoa Reyes and Ian Woosnam were inducted. Each inductee is given a locker in which you’ll find some artifacts each has donated. Love’s locker contains some Dunlop irons that belonged to his dad, several favourite books, his Titleist golf hat and Presidents Cup golf bag. Amongst other things, Ochoa has donated a Mexican flag, a Superman head cover and a trophy from her first LPGA.
As you visit the various exhibits you might discover Jack Nicklaus’ fly-fishing rod, Babe Zaharias’ harmonica, Sam Snead’s utilitarian black lunch pail and Nancy Lopez’s Barbie Doll. All add a personal dimension to these Hall of Famers.
Take the elevator to the Tower Shrine and you’ll have a panoramic view of World Golf Village and its two stellar courses: the King & Bear, a design collaboration between Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer and the Slammer & Squire, named in honour of Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen.
Outside, the Walk of Champions encircles Kelly Lake and links the various attractions of World Golf Village. Paved with commemorative bricks, the Walk features Hall of Famers’ signatures engraved in granite; for posterity you can purchase a brick with your name on it. Beside the Walk is an 18-hole grass putting course and the par three Challenge hole, reminiscent of the famous 17th island green at the Stadium course at nearby Sawgrass. Guests can compete for a monthly closest-to-the-pin contest.
What would a golf mecca be without the ultimate emporium? The PGA Tour Stop offers more golf garb, gadgets and gizmos than you can imagine.
Hit the Links
By now, you’ll be keen to hit the links. And you won’t have far to go. World Golf Village is built around the Slammer & Squire and the King and The Bear. So beautifully tended are the greens and fairways you’d swear minions trim them with manicure scissors in the middle of the night.
Admission to the Hall of Fame ($21 US for adults) includes entrance to the Museum (valid for the day of purchase and the subsequent day), one round on the 18-hole, natural-grass putting course and one shot on the Hall of Fame Challenge Hole. For the month of November, kids under 12 get free entrance.
This fall’s Stay & Play package, starting at $247 US per golfer per night, includes two rounds of championship golf on Slammer & Squire and King & Bear, admission to the World Golf Hall of Fame and three nights at the Renaissance Resort.