The Golfdom Files: American Golf Hall of Fame elects first 15 golfers

Foxburg (Pa.) Country Club is one of the oldest golf courses in the country still open for play in 2023. The club is doubly unique in that it’s also home to the American Golf Hall of Fame. Look back on this October/November 1965 edition of Golfdom as the Hall of Fame inducts its first class of 15 golfers. Read the full article here.

Photo: Golfdom Staff

The American Golf Hall of Fame at Foxburg, Pa., recently held its first annual invitational tournament at the Foxburg CC and elected the first 15 giants of the game for installation in its shrine.

Those named were Francis Ouimet, Harry Vardon, J. H. Taylor, James Braid, Charles (Chick) Evans, Jr., Walter Hagen, Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., Henry Cotton, Joyce Weathered, Gene Sarazen, Tommy Armour, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Mildred (Babe) Didrikson Zaharias.

Among distinguished guests of the club for the occasion were Dr. R. Vensel, the first president of the Golf Hall of Fame and the man who secured its charter, along with Congressman Albert Johnson of Pennsylvania.

Photo: Golfdom Staff

Congressman Johnson presented Kenneth Christy with a copy of a Congressional resolution extending greetings and felicitations to the Golf Hall of Fame and mentioning the Foxburg Club as the oldest golf course in continuous use in the United States.

(The distinction is disputed. This is also claimed for the St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, N. Y. Both Foxburg and the Yonkers club were founded more than 75 years ago.)

Photo: Golfdom Staff

Lowell Thomas was chairman of the Fame nominating committee, which included noted golf course architect Robert Trent Jones; John P. Sawyer, a member of the Royal & Ancient G.C., St. Andrews, Scotland; George Ferrier, former PGA Seniors’ President; trick-shot artist Joe Kirkwood; Herb Graffis, executive editor of Golfdom, and Carl T. (Pat) Hogan of the Royal & Ancient.

Lew Worsham won the low pro trophy in the tournament with a 68. Seventy-three-year-old Lowell Thomas posted an outstanding 84. And he did not ride in a golf car as did some younger members.