The USGA Golf Museum and Library
In 1935, USGA Executive Committee member George W. Blossom Jr. suggested that the USGA establish a golf museum and library. However, there was little space to store or display artifacts in the Association’s New York City headquarters. When a new, sizeable location for USGA offices was found in January 1936, the Executive Committee formally voted to establish a museum and to collect and exhibit “implements, balls, etchings, photographs, literature and similar articles pertaining to the game of golf.” Soon, the humble hallway displays were filled with iconic artifacts donated by the game’s most celebrated players and administrators who wished to preserve their legacies and inspire future generations.
From that time on, the USGA Golf Museum and Library has been a prominent part of USGA headquarters, growing larger and more sophisticated with the ever-multiplying collection. The current state-of-the-art Museum in the historic John Russell Pope House has been expanded twice since the USGA’s 1972 relocation to Liberty Corner, N.J. with the addition of the Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History in 2008 and the Jack Nicklaus Room in 2015.
The World Golf Hall of Fame
The World Golf Hall of Fame was established in Pinehurst, N.C., in 1974. President Gerald Ford was among the luminaries on hand to welcome the Hall’s inaugural class of 13, which included Bob Jones, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Babe Zaharias.
In 1998, the Hall of Fame moved to St. Augustine, Fla. After a quarter-century at the World Golf Village, the Hall of Fame returned to Pinehurst in 2024 and opened its doors to a new building a few hundred yards from the Resort’s famed No. 2 Course.
The reimagined visitor experience includes nearly 3,000 artifacts housed within lockers celebrating the 170 Hall of Fame Members. It also features updated exhibits, videos, touchscreen interactives and trophies from all the men’s and women’s major championships.