I am not a golfer, and up until the past year or so, I really didn’t “look in” on the sport that much when I peruse the pages of my daily newspaper. I glanced at the tournament results agate most of the time, but I don't have a favorite golfer anymore, so I don’t make a point to study golf minutia like I used to study the voluminous Major League Baseball batting averages when I was a young boy and teen.
Now, I do appreciate the lush landscape of Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club that is shown during the annual television coverage of the men’s tour Masters tournament. The Masters is the first men’s major golf tournament each year, and the prestige of winning that competition — other than it being a grand slam event — is enhanced not only by the fact that it's first grand slam event on the tour schedule, but also because its winner earns a coveted “green jacket” ... and the fact that it is golf’s only grand slam tournament anchored at the same course.
The three other slams — the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA — move to different courses every year, although some return to courses from time to time (this is especially true of the British Open, whose pool of major-caliber courses is much small than those in the United States).
Lee Ann and I stayed at on this trip to Florida in 2018 was located in the World Gold Village, a massive residential and commercial community in Florida about 15 miles northwest of St. Augustine. The village, since 1998, had been home to the World Golf Hall of Fame, which honors both male and female golfers and is supported by 26 golf organizations worldwide.
We had only two nights in St. Augustine on our itinerary, so because of my relative indifference to golf, I almost blew off grabbing any pictures of the hall of fame property. Alas, sentiment set in as we departed on check-out day, and we made a spontaneous stop at the complex. I didn’t even bother to grab my Canon 6D; I used my iPhone to take the pictures you see here. When I got home and saw what I had, I do wish I had taken more time — and used the 6D — to do the shoot. Hindsight ...
As of late July 2026, the Hall of Fame sits empty near a large pond with fountains, and across from the pond are a series of shops and stores. You see some of those in the third image below. St. Johns County is trying to figure out what to do with the former HOF property.
Lee Ann and I stayed at on this trip to Florida in 2018 was located in the World Gold Village, a massive residential and commercial community in Florida about 15 miles northwest of St. Augustine. The village, since 1998, had been home to the World Golf Hall of Fame, which honors both male and female golfers and is supported by 26 golf organizations worldwide.
We had only two nights in St. Augustine on our itinerary, so because of my relative indifference to golf, I almost blew off grabbing any pictures of the hall of fame property. Alas, sentiment set in as we departed on check-out day, and we made a spontaneous stop at the complex. I didn’t even bother to grab my Canon 6D; I used my iPhone to take the pictures you see here. When I got home and saw what I had, I do wish I had taken more time — and used the 6D — to do the shoot. Hindsight ...
As of late July 2026, the Hall of Fame sits empty near a large pond with fountains, and across from the pond are a series of shops and stores. You see some of those in the third image below. St. Johns County is trying to figure out what to do with the former HOF property.
I also took some pictures of the sunset skies and trees lining two of the major thoroughfares leading to or inside the complex — International Golf Parkway and World Golf Village Boulevard. Some examples appear at the bottom of this post. For those pictures, I used my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di PZD VC lens.
A note about the very last picture below — I was amazed at how well this shot turned out, considering that I was sitting in the passenger's seat of the car (so it was through the windshield), the scene was to my left (on the driver's side of the car), and I caught it while the car was moving at a normal clip. And yes, that orange sphere in the bottom of the image is the sun. The settings for that image were f/6.3, 1/1600 and ISO 640; the lens focal length was 161mm.
To view a larger and sharper version of any image here, just click on the photo. To see a full gallery of images from my visit to the former World Golf Village and World Golf Hall of Fame, follow the link in this sentence.
A note about the very last picture below — I was amazed at how well this shot turned out, considering that I was sitting in the passenger's seat of the car (so it was through the windshield), the scene was to my left (on the driver's side of the car), and I caught it while the car was moving at a normal clip. And yes, that orange sphere in the bottom of the image is the sun. The settings for that image were f/6.3, 1/1600 and ISO 640; the lens focal length was 161mm.
To view a larger and sharper version of any image here, just click on the photo. To see a full gallery of images from my visit to the former World Golf Village and World Golf Hall of Fame, follow the link in this sentence.
Coming up next: St. Augustine Dining and Winery
Previously in FLORIDA:
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