World Golf Hall of Fame
The World Golf Hall of Fame is located in St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports Halls of Fame in that a single site serves both men and women. It is controlled by a consortium of 26 golf organisations from all over the world. [1]
The Hall of Fame museum features a permanent exhibition which not only has galleries focusing on Hall of Famers, but all provides broad coverage of the history of golf. There is also a rolling program of temporary exhibitions.
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[edit] History
The World Golf Hall of Fame was originally located in Pinehurst, North Carolina, and was privately operated by Diamondhead Corp., then owners of the Pinehurst Resort. It opened in September 1974 with an initial class of 13 members. [2] To start with it was a local project, but the PGA of America took over management in 1983 and acquired full ownership in 1986.
Two other halls of fame have been merged into the World Golf Hall of Fame. The PGA of America established one in 1940, which was merged into the Pinehurst Hall in the 1980s. The Hall of Fame of Women's Golf was established by the LPGA in 1951, with four charter members: Patty Berg, Betty Jameson, Louise Suggs, and Babe Zaharias. It was inactive for some years, but in 1967 it moved into its first physical premises, which were in Augusta, Georgia and was renamed the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame. In 1998 it merged into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
In 1994 the global golf industry established a non-profit making body called the World Golf Foundation to promote the sport, with the creation of an enhanced Hall of Fame as one of its main objectives. Construction at the new site in St. Augustine began in 1996 and the new facility opened on May 19, 1998.
[edit] Membership
New members are inducted each October, and by October 2005 there were 109 members. Each year a number of inductees are selected from the eligible individuals by an annual ballot. Individuals become eligible based on a wide range of criteria focused mainly on multiple tournament victories. The results of the annual ballot are announced each April.
In practice most of the elected members are men because there is a separate procedure by which members of the LPGA tour can gain entry without going through the election process. Before 1999, players had to win 30 tournaments, including two majors; 35 tournaments with one major; or 40 tournaments in all to automatically qualify. At one time, players had to win two different majors to qualify with 30 wins, but this was changed earlier in the 1990s. Since 1999, the automatic qualification criteria for LPGA members are:
- Must have made at least 10 starts in each of 10 years on the LPGA tour.
- Must have either won or been awarded:
- A major championship,
- The Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, or
- The Rolex Player of the Year Award.
- Must accumulate 27 points, acquired as follows:
- 2 points for each major championship win
- 1 point for each other official LPGA tournament win
- 1 point for each Vare Trophy
- 1 point for each Player of the Year award
There is also a "lifetime achievement" category through which anyone who has made a major contribution to the organisation or promotion of the sport may be selected, for example, Bob Hope. These members are chosen by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors. Naturally they all played golf, in some cases with some competitive success, but it wasn't their play with won them a place in the Hall of Fame.
[edit] Men
Unless stated otherwise these men were inducted mainly for their on the course success. The exceptions mostly correspond with the life time achievement category, but not quite. For example Charlie Sifford was notable as a player but was inducted for lifetime achievement.
- (1974) Walter Hagen
- (1974) Ben Hogan
- (1974) Bobby Jones
- (1974) Byron Nelson
- (1974) Jack Nicklaus
- (1974) Francis Ouimet
- (1974) Arnold Palmer
- (1974) Gary Player
- (1974) Gene Sarazen
- (1974) Sam Snead
- (1974) Harry Vardon
- (1975) Willie Anderson
- (1975) Fred Corcoran - many-faceted promoter and administrator
- (1975) Joseph Dey - executive director of the USGA and the first commissioner of the PGA Tour
- (1975) Chick Evans
- (1975) Young Tom Morris
- (1975) John Henry Taylor
- (1976) Tommy Armour
- (1976) James Braid
- (1976) Old Tom Morris
- (1976) Jerome Travers
- (1977) Bobby Locke
- (1977) John Ball
- (1977) Herb Graffis - golf writer and founder of the U.S. National Golf Foundation
- (1977) Donald Ross - golf course architect
- (1978) Billy Casper
- (1978) Harold Hilton
- (1978) Bing Crosby - celebrity friend of golf who founded his own PGA Tour event
- (1978) Clifford Roberts - co-founder of the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament
- (1979) Walter Travis
- (1980) Sir Henry Cotton
- (1980) Lawson Little
- (1981) Ralph Guldahl
- (1981) Lee Trevino
- (1982) Julius Boros
- (1983) Jimmy Demaret
- (1983) Bob Hope - celebrity friend of golf who founded his own PGA Tour event
- (1986) Cary Middlecoff
- (1987) Robert Trent Jones, Sr. - golf course architect
- (1988) Bob Harlow - promoter who played a key role in the early development of the PGA Tour
- (1988) Peter Thomson
- (1988) Tom Watson
- (1989) Jim Barnes
- (1989) Roberto De Vicenzo
- (1989) Raymond Floyd
- (1990) William C. Campbell - two-time President of the USGA
- (1990) Gene Littler
- (1990) Paul Runyan
- (1990) Horton Smith
- (1992) Harry Cooper
- (1992) Hale Irwin
- (1992) Chi Chi Rodriguez
- (1992) Richard Tufts - ran Pinehurst and served as President of the USGA
- (1996) Johnny Miller
- (1997) Seve Ballesteros
- (1997) Nick Faldo
- (1998) Lloyd Mangrum
- (2000) Jack Burke, Jr.
- (2000) Deane Beman - Commissioner of the PGA Tour 1974-1994
- (2000) Sir Michael Bonallack - British golf administrator
- (2000) Neil Coles first chairman of the PGA European Tour.
- (2000) John Jacobs - first Tournament Director of the European Tour
- (2001) Greg Norman
- (2001) Payne Stewart
- (2001) Bernhard Langer
- (2001) Allan Robertson
- (2001) Karsten Solheim - golf equipment manufacturer and founder of the Solheim Cup
- (2002) Ben Crenshaw
- (2002) Tony Jacklin
- (2002) Tommy Bolt
- (2002) Harvey Penick - golf instructor
- (2003) Nick Price
- (2003) Leo Diegel
- (2004) Charlie Sifford
- (2004) Isao Aoki
- (2004) Tom Kite
- (2005) Bernard Darwin - golf writer
- (2005) Alister MacKenzie - golf course architect
- (2005) Willie Park, Sr.
Future inductees:
- Vijay Singh - elected in 2005, to be inducted in October 2006.
- Larry Nelson - elected April 2006, to be inducted in October 2006.
- Henry Picard - elected April 2006, to be inducted in October 2006.
- Mark McCormack - elected July 2006, to be inducted in October 2006. Sports agent.
[edit] Women
The first five women on this list were grandfathered in from the Hall of Fame of Women's Golf, which was founded in 1951, via the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame, which was inaugurated in 1967. The list shows the years when they were originally inducted into the Hall of Fame of Women's Golf. Unless stated otherwise the women on the list were inducted primarily for their on course achievements.
- (1951) Betty Jameson
- (1951) Patty Berg
- (1951) Louise Suggs
- (1951) Babe Zaharias
- (1964) Mickey Wright
- (1975) Glenna Collett-Vare
- (1975) Joyce Wethered
- (1976) Mickey Wright
- (1977) Sandra Haynie
- (1977) Carol Mann
- (1978) Dorothy Campbell Hurd Howe
- (1982) Kathy Whitworth
- (1985) JoAnne Carner
- (1987) Betsy Rawls
- (1989) Nancy Lopez
- (1991) Pat Bradley
- (1993) Patty Sheehan
- (1994) Dinah Shore - celebrity friend of the LPGA; founded a tournament that eventually became a major
- (1995) Betsy King
- (1999) Amy Alcott
- (1999) Beth Daniel
- (2000) Juli Inkster
- (2000) Judy Rankin
- (2001) Donna Caponi
- (2001) Judy Bell - administrator; first female President of the USGA
- (2002) Marlene Bauer Hagge
- (2003) Hisako "Chako" Higuchi
- (2003) Annika Sörenstam
- (2004) Marlene Stewart Streit
- (2005) Ayako Okamoto
- (2005) Karrie Webb
Future inductees:
- (2006) Marilynn Smith
- (2007) Se Ri Pak - already qualified, but cannot be inducted until she has made 10 starts in each of 10 seasons on the LPGA tour.
