Editor’s note: This is the second of three stories on the USGA Museum in Far Hills, NJ. 

FAR HILLS, NJ –  On a random day, you can find a meeting of a state golf association, an average golfer and his wife from California who made a side trip, and even members of the “Red Hat Society” walking the halls of the USGA Museum.

“Our trip started out real small and it just grew and grew and grew,” said Clara Farris, who is not a golfer. “He took me golfing one time and I did divots all over the golf course and said ‘that’s it.’”

 Clara and husband Jack of Fullerton, CA were planning their first-ever trip to New York City and it expanded – to Philadelphia, Lancaster, Gettysburg and the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Jack was in the Air Force.  Since Jack pays his dues to the USGA each year, he suggested they make a trip to the new Museum and they spent the day.

When he hit old-time, hickory-shafted clubs, for example, he said, “You’ve got to give those old-timers a lot of credit.”

You are invited to view John’s photo album: USGA Museum

Meantime, Andrew Blau of Pittsfield, MA and other rules officials from the Massachusetts Golf Association came for some meetings, a reception, some putting on the putting green and some history.

“It’s terrific,” Blau said.

Visitors like them came to see the added Hall of Champions and all the artifacts on display.

WOODS, JONES AND THOMPSON

It begins with a five-minute video display detailing the history of the USGA and its championships.  Before you even get to the newest wing, there’s Rocco Mediate’s hat from the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines plus the scorecard from the 19-hole playoff with eventual champion Tiger Woods.

“We don’t want to ask people to give away their things but it’s very gratifying to us that when we say to a player ‘we’d really like to have a piece of what you’ve just accomplished to commemorate in the USGA Museum and Arnold Palmer Center,’” said the USGA’s Beth Murrison, our tour guide. “More often than not they’re very flattered and they’re very, very generous with what they give us.”

The newest wing is the Hall of Champions which houses the trophies and the names of 580 Champions.  Tiger Woods’ name first appeared on a panel in 1991 and ran for six consecutive panels. There are three straight U.S. Juniors (1991-93), three straight U.S. Amateurs (1994-1996) and three U.S. Opens (2000, 2002 and 2008).  Woods and Bobby Jones are now tied with the most, nine.  Carol Semple Thompson has seven women’s titles.

SIX ICONIC MOMENTS

The museum is divided into six iconic moments in history and how they coincide with the game of golf.  There are 2,000 artifacts on display, 70,000 in the USGA’s collection, spread among the Dawn of American Golf; Golden Age after WWI; Depression and WWII; Comeback Age; Superpowers; and the Global Game.

“We have quite a lot of things that you do not see but we do a lot of traveling exhibits,” Murrison said.

They even bring in outside consultants to help determine what truly is part of the game and what a visitor might find interesting. Some things they keep and others they simply send back.

There’s Sam Snead’s Stetson Cocoanut Hat, Johnny Miller’s shoes and ball from the 1973 U.S. Open when he shot 63 in the final round at Oakmont, a list of temporary rules from 1941 at the Richmond Golf Club in London, England that read: “Players are asked to collect the bomb and shrapnel splinters” because they could damage mowers. Also, “A player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball. Penalty one stroke.”

The Dawn of American Golf: The major mark was 1913 when golf made the front page of “The New York Times” for the first time as Francis Ouimet shocked the world by winning the U.S. Open.

Golden Age after WWI: Prosperity boomed and Bobby Jones won the Grand Slam in 1930. Also on display, Gene Sarazen’s “bent” sand wedge. He bent a regular wedge because he wasn’t a good sand player, Murrison said. Sarazen hid it in his bag and after he won he said, “by the way, I have this,” and it was deemed to conform, she said.

“He truly is the creator of the sand wedge that we use today,” Murrison said.

Depression and WWII: Public golf came to the forefront. The American Red Cross would get clubs to soldiers and they would make balls from the leather of their shoes.

Comeback Age: During the rebuilding of America, there was also Ben Hogan’s horrific car-bus accident and Babe Didrikson-Zaharias had cancer. Barbara Romack, who won the 1954 U.S. Women’s Amateur and was on the ’56 Curtis Cup, was the first woman golfer on Sports Illustrated (April 16, 1956).

Ages of Superpowers 60’s-80’s: Great rivalries like the U.S. and U.S.S.R., Lakers-Celtics, Ali-Frazier and Nicklaus, Palmer and Player.

The Global Game: Murrison personally acquired a ball from Michelle Wie, who chipped in during a U.S. Open qualifier at Canoe Brook, NJ, while trying to qualify. Murrison turned and pointed to a picture of Tiger Woods, “When this gentleman won the 1997 Masters it was the watershed moment when golf just exploded in the international consciousness.”

TWO LARGE PROJECTS

The USGA just finished a video scrapbook for Arnold Palmer’s 80th birthday, asking people to send in stories and pictures of the way the King touched their lives.

Besides a climate-controlled library with rows and rows of paperwork and photos, the video archivist has a state-of-the-art editing suite that keeps him very busy. Currently, he is working on a visual scrapbook from 1991-2008 of Tiger Woods.

“What we’re really trying to do is tell the story of golf in the United States,” Murrison said. “We’ve dedicated a lot of resources.

“We want to do A-to-Z but it’s just not possible. But we have a huge wish list.”

The website goes back to 2003 with photos, adding more and more all the time.

GREAT ROOMS: HOGAN, JONES

The Ben Hogan Room was dedicated in the late 1990’s and it’s where the Massachusetts Golf Association was having their meeting and reception.  They would visit and nosh surrounded by medals, pins, his original locker from Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth, TX (simple name plate, monogrammed shirt) and one of only two green jackets from the Masters not at Augusta.

“We have permission so that’s something quite special for us to have,” Murrison said. Gary Player is believed to have snuck his out too.

There’s also a signed original script from the biopic “Follow the Sun.”

“When we closed the museum and were in the planning stages for the new facility, this was one of the things we knew we wanted to maintain,” Murrison said. “So they pretty much fancied the room up and did the climate control environment. Everything is almost entirely as it was when it opened originally.”

In The Bobby Jones Room, which is just to the left when you walk in the main door, there are paintings and trophies, leather couches that make you feel like Jones might sit down next to you. One special item is a painting of the 16th hole at Augusta done by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in May, 1958 and presented to Jones in April, 1959.

PYNES PUTTING COURSE

The visit is not complete until you grab an old fashioned wooden shafted putter from the corner and head out to the nine-hole putting course called “The Pynes.” Pronounced pines, the 16,000 square foot course is modeled after the Himalaya Course at St. Andrews. Jack Farris, my father and I took our turn. I used a replica “bramble ball” to make my way around.

“Any golfer who loves golf, needs to come here and actually see what they have here,” Farris said. “Not only the ball testing and all that kind of stuff but the museum with all the great, great players. It’s really a thrill for us.”

Next: The USGA Testing Center 

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