State golf association buys rights to golf hall

Joanna Capo, a spokeswoman for GSGA, did not know how much the group paid for the golf hall rights and memorabilia. Representatives for the state could not be reached for comment.

The hall's fate became a point of interest in the 2010 legislative session as state leaders sought to get Georgia out of the money-losing museum business, including extricating state funding from the Georgia Music and Sports halls of fame in Macon.

The board of the hall was abolished on the last day of the session as part of Senate Bill 449.

Once thought of as a way to capitalize on the Masters golf tournament, the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame was never constructed, despite $6 million in 20-year bonds the state secured in 1996 for that purpose. The land later became a botanical gardens, but it had limited visitation.

Founded in 1916, the Marietta-based GSGA promotes amateur golf across the state. It has 350 member clubs and 85,000 individual members.

Capo said she did not know the size of the golf hall's collection of memorabilia. The GSGA is doing an inventory of the artifacts to determine what the group now owns and from what state golfers.

She said the group would announce soon the next class of inductees into the hall. The last class was inducted in January 2009 and included Larry Hinson of Douglas, Johnny Paulk of Jekyll Island, Perry Adair of Atlanta and Darwin White of Key Biscayne, Fla.

"We plan to host an annual banquet to induct a new class each year," she said.

In a separate agreement, the six statues of famous golfers owned by the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame will go to the Augusta Museum of History. They are on display in the rotunda of the museum.