ST. AUGUSTINE (Fla.) — I worked for the World Golf Hall of Fame for more than six year. I worked at the World Golf Hall of Fame for more than six years.
The World Golf Hall will close its doors at World Golf Village after 25 years and relocate to Pinehurst, N.C. where it was first established in 1974.
I had not been in since COVID-19 so I wanted to go inside one last time. The admission was free, and it was packed late Friday afternoon. There was a huge collection of golf memorabilia there that I had forgotten about. My former colleague, who was with me at “last call”, compared the situation to the ending scene of “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, where all the trinkets and souvenirs from the Hall of Fame will be boxed up in a warehouse. The new facility should only have 3,500 square foot of exhibit space. In a gallows humour, one of the employees of the Hall said: “I was officially laid off five minutes ago.” He also noted that staff from the USGA will be visiting the Pinehurst facility soon to see what they want. The USGA will soon be visiting Pinehurst to determine what items they want.
See the photos for some of the exhibits, from the replica of Alan Shepard’s 6-iron that he used to hit the ball on the Moon to Sam Snead’s lunchbox to Lloyd Mangrum’s Purple Heart to the bronze plaques.
