I'm on a boat: Floating golf museum sets sail in Asia
Golf Culture

I’m on a boat: Floating golf museum sets sail in Asia

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Usually you want to avoid the water when you're playing golf, but an Asian company now hopes you'll be drawn to it.

Malaysian developer Reignwood Group unveiled Tuesday what it has dubbed the continent's first golf museum. And it's on a boat. The luxury liner Sea Bear will be a floating museum, charting a course through the region to promote the game.

As you might imagine, the name is a tribute to Jack Nicklaus. The tribute doesn't stop with the name, however, with the inside of the boat displaying many of Nicklaus' trophies, some of his equipment and art Nicklaus has collected during his career. Nicklaus and wife Barbara hand-selected 36 items from the Jack Nicklaus museum on the campus of the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, to go on board.

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However, the centerpiece is a 50-by-36-inch piece of cherry with bas-reliefs of the four major championship trophies, as well the U.S. Amateur trophy.

Additional pieces include:

  • Sterling silver plates listing the years, venues and scores associated with each of Nicklaus' 20 major victories
  • A center plaque with an overview of Nicklaus' career printed on parchment paper
  • The White Fang putter Nicklaus used to win the '67 U.S. Open
  • The original MacGregor Tommy Armour SS1 “Diamond Back” irons (1I-PW) used by Jack Nicklaus to win five majors and the '61 U.S. Amateur in a span from 1961-66
  • The original 1967 MacGregor “VIP by Nicklaus” irons Nicklaus used to win seven major championships from 1967-75
  • “The Full Swing,” a sculpture depicting the five stages of the Golden Bear’s famed driving motion that was commissioned by the Franklin Mint after Nicklaus was named "Golfer of the Century" in 1988
  • A flag from the 2007 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal signed by all 24 players in the competition, as well as Nicklaus and opposing captain Gary Player

The 130-foot-long boat, finished in 2005, also has four bedrooms, all of which have been named after the four major championships. Each has photographs chronicling Nicklaus' finest moments in each.

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Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is a scratch golfer...sometimes.

Ballengee can be reached by email at ryan[at]thegolfnewsnet.com

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