Hall of Fame building nears reality

Some day, when men and women are elected as members of the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame, they will be inducted into a building and properly recognized.

Three more members went into the hall during the 17th annual Georgia Golf Hall of Fame Induction Banquet on Jan. 8, bringing the number in the hall to 68.

But where did they exactly go?

There's no building at the hall's headquarters at One 11th Street in downtown Augusta, just the land that it will be built on.

After the concept of the hall was created in 1982 and members were enshrined each year, I would annually write that they were inducted into a "mythical" hall of fame.

That's not the right word now. Mythical means imaginary and not based on fact. A better phrase would be soon-to-be-built.

"It will happen; there are too many people who believe in it," said Mark Darnell, the executive director of the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.

Darnell said ground breaking for the hall's building will happen within two years, and maybe sooner.

"We're in negotiations with a couple of developers, which could facilitate us getting the building for the golf hall of fame," Darnell said.

Under the original plan, work would have started on the hall's Augusta Golf & Gardens, "and while they were maturing, they would be building the building," Darnell said.

The Augusta Golf & Gardens opened in March 2001. It consists of nine acres of botanical gardens and six statues of golfing legends.

The land for the hall sits nearby.

The construction of the hall "has been slowed by the economy, that's what it boils down to," Darnell said.

Darnell said about $14 million has been invested in the project, with $2 million of that in reserve for the building.

Another $4 million is needed to complete the building project, Darnell said.

"The actual building is not going to cost that much money, but when you start to finish off the inside of a museum building, the per square foot cost basis is very expensive," he said.

About half of the $6 million would be set aside as an endowment to help maintain the gardens and hall, Darnell said.

"You have to create some kind of endowment," Darnell said. "The chance of getting enough people coming through admissions ... I can't think of any place where admissions take care of expenses, so you have to create some form of endowment."

Darnell, and Georgia Golf Hall of Fame chairman Dr. John Reynolds continue their work on the fund-raising trail.

"It's an ongoing search; there is only so much money out there that is available nowadays," Darnell said. "Most of the foundations don't have as much money to give out as they used to. And the general economy has made fund raising very difficult, especially for the non-profits, which basically we are."

Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.