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 supported by a consortium of 26 golf organizations 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.

Contents

History

Membership categories

PGA Tour/Champions Tour ballot

LPGA point system

International ballot

Lifetime Achievement category

Veteran's category

Membership

Men

Women

Notes and references

External links

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.

Membership categories

Members are inducted into the Hall of Fame in one of five categories: PGA Tour/Champions Tour, LPGA Tour, International, Lifetime Achievement, and Veterans.

PGA Tour/Champions Tour ballot

Current and former PGA Tour and Champions Tour players are eligible for this ballot if they meet the following requirements (beginning with 1996 election):

★ PGA Tour

★
★ Minimum of 40 years old

★
★ PGA Tour member for 10 years

★
★ 10 PGA Tour wins or two wins in the majors or Players Championship

★ Champions Tour

★
★ Champions Tour member for five years

★
★ 20 wins between PGA Tour and Champions Tour or five wins in the majors (regular or senior) or Players Championship
Election requirements:

Years	% of returned ballots needed for election
1996-2000	75%
2001-2003	65%
2004-	65%, in the event that no candidate receives 65%, the nominee receiving the most votes with at least 50% is elected

Voters may vote for up to 30% of the players on the ballot. If a player is named on less than 5% of the ballots for two consecutive years, they are dropped from the ballot. Players not elected can remain on the ballot for up to 15 years (prior to 2007 the limit was 10 years).^[3]

LPGA point system

LPGA Tour golfers are eligible through a point system. Since 1999, LPGA members automatically qualify for World Golf Hall of Fame membership when they meet these three criteria:
#Must be/have been an "active" LPGA Tour member for 10 years.
#Must have won/been awarded at least one of the following - an LPGA major championship, the Vare Trophy or Player of the Year honors; and
#Must have accumulated a total of 27 points, which are awarded as follows - one point for each LPGA official tournament win, two points for each LPGA major tournament win and one point for each Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year honor earned.
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.

International ballot

Men and women golfers not fully eligible for PGA/Champions Tour ballot or the LPGA Tour point system are eligible for the International ballot if they meet the following requirements^[4] (beginning with the 1996 election):

★ Minimum of 40 years old

★ Cumulative 50 points earned as follows:

★
★ Men

★
★
★ 6 points – Major victories

★
★
★ 4 points – Players Championship win

★
★
★ 3 points – Other PGA Tour win, European Tour win

★
★
★ 2 points – Japan Golf Tour, Sunshine Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia, Champions Tour win

★
★
★ 1 point – Other national championship win; Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup participation

★
★ Women

★
★
★ 6 points – Major^[5] victories

★
★
★ 4 points – Other LPGA Tour win, Women's British Open win prior to 2001^[6]

★
★
★ 2 points – LPGA of Japan Tour win, Ladies European Tour win

★
★
★ 1 point – Other national championship win, Solheim Cup participation
Election requirements: same as PGA Tour ballot.

Lifetime Achievement category

There is also a "lifetime achievement" category through which anyone who has made a major contribution to the organization 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 which won them a place in the Hall of Fame.

Veteran's category

The last category was created to honor professional or amateur players whose career concluded at least 30 years ago. These members are also chosen by the Hall of Fame's Board of Directors.

Membership

New members are inducted each October or November, and by October 2006 there were 114 members. The results of the annual ballots are announced each April. New entrants in the Lifetime Achievement and Veterans categories are announced at irregular intervals.

Men

Unless stated otherwise these men were inducted mainly for their on-course success. The exceptions mostly correspond with the lifetime 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.

★ 2006 Vijay Singh

★ 2006 Larry Nelson

★ 2006 Henry Picard

★ 2006 Mark McCormack - sports agent
Future inductees:

★ 2007 Joe Carr

★ 2007 Hubert Green

★ 2007 Charles B. Macdonald - inaugural U.S. Amateur champion, founding Vice-President of the USGA and "Father of American Golf Architecture"

★ 2007 Kel Nagle

★ 2007 Curtis Strange

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

★ 1960 Betsy Rawls

★ 1964 Mickey Wright

★ 1975 Glenna Collett-Vare

★ 1975 Joyce Wethered

★ 1975 Kathy Whitworth

★ 1977 Sandra Haynie

★ 1977 Carol Mann

★ 1978 Dorothy Campbell Hurd Howe

★ 1982 JoAnne Carner

★ 1987 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

★ 2000 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

★ 2006 Marilynn Smith
Future inductee:

★ 2007 Se Ri Pak

Notes and references

1. World Golf Hall of Fame Supporting Organizations
2. World Golf Hall of Fame History
3. About the PGA Tour Ballot
4. About the International Ballot
5. This specifically refers to events recognized as majors by the U.S. LPGA. The three richest women's tours each recognize a different set of majors, although the U.S. LPGA set is by far the most significant on a global scale. See women's major golf championships for a fuller discussion.
6. The Women's British Open was first recognized as a U.S. LPGA major in 2001.

External links

★ World Golf Hall of Fame Official Web Site