Sandhills Hall of Fame
By Lee Pace
The World Golf Hall of Fame arrives this spring for its second rendition in the Sandhills.
The museum was conceived by Pinehurst management in the early 1970s, opened in 1974, floundered from an operational and financial standpoint, moved to St. Augustine, Fla., and now has morphed into a new facility as part of the USGA Golf House Pinehurst.
As its name suggests, the hall of fame encompasses the entire universe of golf. Scotsmen Old Tom and Young Tom Morris, South African Gary Player, Argentine Roberto De Vicenzo, Spaniard Seve Ballesteros and Englishman Nick Faldo are among the inductees.
There is no Sandhills Golf Hall of Fame. But what if there were? Who might comprise the inaugural class of honorees? A dozen of must-haves could be found here:
Pinehurst founder James W. Tufts was not a golfer, but he did have the sense to recognize the potential of the game in 1897 when some guests brought rudimentary clubs and balls and were hitting them around the dairy fields. Tufts built nine holes in 1898 and during the next decade Pinehurst evolved from the original vision as a wintertime resort for New Englanders of frail health into the nation’s first concentration of golf courses.
Lee Pace is a freelance golf writer who has written about Sandhills area golf for four decades and is the author of club histories about Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Mid Pines, Pine Needles and Forest Creek.
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World Golf Hall Of Fame3 Carolina Vista Dr
Pinehurst, NC 28374