Robert Alvarez holding a golf club

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Robert Alvarez, who has a master’s degree in history from Rutgers–Camden, is responsible for the conservation and display of the United States Golf Association museum’s vast trove of golf-related artifacts—tens of thousands of clubs, tees, paintings, medals, photographs, books, and posters.

Photography: 
Nick Romanenko

Robert Alvarez grew up near a golf course and started playing the game when he was in grade school. So when he saw a job posting for the collections manager at the United States Golf Association museum, he didn’t hesitate. “You’d be hard-pressed to find something that’s a better fit,” says Alvarez GSC’08, who earned a master’s degree in history at Rutgers-Camden. “The USGA is the governing body of the game of golf. The game is shaped by people who do things here. I feel special that I’m part of that in some little way.”

Alvarez is responsible for the conservation and display of the museum’s vast trove of golf-related artifacts—tens of thousands of clubs, tees, paintings, medals, photographs, books, posters, and more. The museum is a therapeutic distraction during the long winter months when golfers are forced to bide their time until the first signs of spring point the way to the first tee. Based at USGA headquarters in Bernards Township, New Jersey, the collection includes such iconic holdings as the putter, famously nicknamed Calamity Jane, that Bobby Jones used while winning the Grand Slam in 1930 and the makeshift driver that Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard wielded to hit two (some claim three) golf balls on the moon in 1971. “Basically,” Alvarez says, “I just do everything I can to make sure everything we have now survives into the future.”

Alvarez also helps prepare the museum’s galleries, including the room devoted to Mickey Wright, widely considered the greatest female golfer ever. Alvarez is especially drawn to the more personal objects in the collection, such as the mandolin that Wright played while traveling on the pro tour and the typewriter she used to write her newspaper columns.

Alvarez says the Hall of Champions, where glass cases display the trophies for the USGA’s 13 individual championships, has never lost its appeal. “For a golf guy,” he says, “to come in and walk by the U.S. Open trophy every day is very cool.”