World Golf Hall of Fame

Just a short seven miles north of St Augustine is the Golf Center of the Universe. With such famous courses as TPC Sawgrass, Slammer & Squire (named for the designers, Sam "The Slammer" Snead and Gene "The Squire" Saracen), and King and Bear (a design collaboration between Arnold "The King" Palmer and Jack "The Bear" Nicklaus) all nearby, along with the World Golf Hall of Fame and a complete resort complex, this is the "it" place for golfers!

The Hall of Fame and the adjacent Tower of Trophy can be seen from nearby I-95.

 The walkway from the parking lot to the HoF is paved with the signatures of many well known golfers etched in granite.

The first exhibit room the visitor enters is called "Shanks for the Memories". A tribute to Bob Hope, who made golf both a passion and a joke for seventy years.

Hope's observation on Shepard's drive hit very close to home for me!

Hope's first USO performance for the troops was on May 6, 1941, at March Field, California, and continued on well after his seventy fifth birthday.

The world came to depend on Hope's USO specials during the Vietnam War, both crying with the troops watching him on location, and laughing at Hope and his compadres doing their thing to provide a small bit of humor in an otherwise dismal environment. He was able to provide a poignant counterpoint to the protests and demonstrations that seemed to occupy the evening news. A flash of American Patriotism and one-of-a-kind humor seemed to offset thousands of demonstrating "hippies".

As time passed, Bob Hope spent most of his time in Palm Springs, playing golf with Presidents and hob-knobbing with the rich and famous. Here he is with Tip O'Neil, President Gerald Ford, and Lee Trevino.

Born in 1903, Bob Hope lived to two months past his 100th birthday. As usual, he poked fun at himself along the way.

At one o'clock, we sent to the IMax presentation of A Beautiful Planet, Mostly shot from the International Space Station, this 3-D film was absolutely stunning in it's photography of our planet Earth. Views of deserts, tropical forests, ice caps and Earth after dark were breathtaking. A somewhat plain blue, brown, and white daytime Earth becomes a shining jewel after dark. From the megacities of London, Los Angeles, New York and Moscow to the small green lights shining on the masts of fishing boats in the South China Sea, our small planet seemingly lights up the entire galaxy. Speaking of that, astronomers have discovered Kepler 186, an Earth-like planet at exactly the right distance from it's star, and it's only five hundred light years away! Anybody up for a Sunday drive?

After a light sandwich in the Fairway Cafe, we returned to the HoF to finish our tour. From the wall of the Cafe, we were reminded of Greg Norman's advice: "If you can't hit a driver....Don't". Good advice from The Shark.

After another rollicking stroll through Shanks for the Memories, we went into the HoF itself. The self-guided tour took us through the origins of the game, from Kolf, played in the 13th century, to a game similar in every respect played in Chile.

Scattered along the way are several interactive areas. In the "Long Nose" putter display, Donna decided that she liked the game, as she sank putts even with the handicap of a handbag!

A display of many clubs tried over the years was fascinating. Seems you could till a cornfield with this one on off days!

An exceptional display about famous golf courses was very interesting. In the Masters section, the scoreboard had been slightly altered to reflect the latest (and official) results.

Fifty years ago (why did I bring this up?) I went to high school with the sister of Donna Caponi, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001. Winner of a number of LPGA tournaments, it was a stroll down memory lane to see her plaque on the inductees wall!

The view from the Trophy Tower is stunning. Golf courses and resorts as far as you can see. The Tower is 190 feet high, and it would seem you can see all of Florida from the top.

The HoF admission also includes a free shot over the water to a green 132 yards away. The marshall told us that there are roughly a half million balls in the water due to the fact that an error in concrete placement at the nearby hotel, and the jackhammer out of said error resulted in a huge amount of concrete rubble under the water. Donna kindly gave me her complimentary attempt, and I will only say that one ball landed about six feet from the pin, and the other found it's way to the concrete graveyard.....

A spiral glass art piece decorates the skylight on the tower.

On our way out of the World Golf Hall of Fame complex, we briefly stopped at the Caddy Shack, a nod to the famous movie. We didn't go in because of the huge cracks in the building facade...

This is one of our last days in St Augustine, with only a cleaning/errand day left to us tomorrow. We'll soon drive out of Florida, with many happy memories of things we've seen and people we've met. We've been in Florida since April 15th, so it seems that it's time to move on. Wish us luck!