{"id":23363,"date":"2024-07-08T22:13:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T02:13:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/columbiaclosings.com\/wordpress\/?p=23363"},"modified":"2024-07-12T09:39:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T13:39:44","slug":"world-golf-hall-of-fame-1-world-golf-place-saint-augustine-23-september-2023-moved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/columbiaclosings.com\/wordpress\/?p=23363","title":{"rendered":"World Golf Hall Of Fame, 1 World Golf Place (Saint Augustine): 23 September 2023 (Moved)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hope your summer is going well and that nobody you know has melted. Posting will most likely continue to be erratic for the rest of High Summer...<\/p>\n

I first became aware of the World Golf Hall Of Fame<\/i> in Saint Augustine because of the attached IMAX<\/a> theater, which I have made part of my trips to Florida over the last decade or more. I'm not clear if it is still a \"real\" 70mm IMAX, unlike many auditoriums carrying the branding nowdays (some call them Liemax<\/i>...), but at the time it definitely was. I recall in particular seeing one of the Christopher Nolan Batman<\/i> films, with a sequence shot with real IMAX cameras there, and it was just amazing when that scene started. The whole house gave an audible gasp! I also saw The Force Awakens<\/a> there and was really blown away. I know that in retropect, the movie hasn't aged well, but in my defense a) I thought they had a plan & b) I didn't believe Han was dead (remember they had established the Maz character as important and having something to do with The Force -- I figured somehow she had shifted him away. The more fool me, I suppose). Please do follow that link for some nice night-time shots that complement the ones below. (Especially as the ones below were shot on an overcast day).<\/p>\n

Anyway, that is to say my interactions with the World Golf Hall Of Fame<\/i> complex did not actually involve the actual HOF, being more centered on the IMAX and Caddyshack<\/i>. Nonetheless, I did form an impression of the place: It was a very nice, green and tranquil oasis just off the busy I-95 corridor. I even considered that it might be nice to just stop there sometime, stroll the grass and lake boardwalk and maybe read for a while in one of the pavilions along the water.<\/p>\n

All that sounds, and is, very nice, but if you think about it, silence & tranquility away from the tourist crowds is not exactly what a going tourist attraction aims for, and indeed, I noticed from the first time I visited that the upscale strip-mall housing Caddyshack<\/i> was having trouble keeping anything else. Even the golf course which to me (a non-golfer) looks very nice, rarely had any players on it that I could see, and the Publix which should have served all the condos of the World Golf Village<\/i> (which remain) closed some years ago as well.<\/p>\n

So I should not have been surprised (though in fact I was) that the HOF closed last September to be relocated to Pinehurst NC. Here<\/a> is a story from The Florida Times Union<\/i>, and here<\/a> is a Golf Week<\/i> story.<\/p>\n

So far, the IMAX is remaining open, but it has reverted to your typical IMAX \"Sharks & Dinosaurs\" format and has, at least for now, dropped first-run movies, and most operating hours. It appears that the the local county has taken it, and the rest of the grounds over<\/a> and will attempt to exercise control over the re-development of the site. I guess that is good at some level, but it would appear, at least, that St. John's County<\/i> has no particular expertise in running a theater. I have not seen anything suggesting Caddyshack<\/i>, the best known remaining tenant, will close, but frankly it's not a great eatery, so I'm not sure how it will draw without theater audiences and what tourists came through. We will see. In the meantime, this exit off I-95 will probably be known henceforward as The Buccee's Exit<\/i>...<\/p>\n

(As a side note, I drove through Pinehurst once while I was living in Fayetteville, and my impression was that there was nothing there. Now maybe I just missed it all, but it did not strike me at all as a place you would put a tourist attraction.)<\/p>\n

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The I-95 \"Attraction\" sign is now blank<\/b><\/p>\n

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The \"Challange Hole\" is now the \"Goose Poop Hole<\/b><\/p>\n

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This was the Publix complex. Looks like the Post Office has taken part of it<\/b><\/p>\n

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