Golfing with Celebrities--
-And Their Terrific Treasures

By: Robert Reed

As seen in The Antique Shoppe Newspaper, August, 2005

So you're ready for a day of golfing. You're wearing your Arnold Palmer pants, Bobby Jones jacket, Jack Nicklaus cap, and shouldering a golf bag once owned by Sam Snead himself.

All the great celebrity gear might slow your game a bit, but such treasures are available today in the giddy world of celebrity golf collectibles.

The sports world in general has long had a fondness for so-called 'game worn' gear from Jack Dempsey's boxing gloves to Babe Ruth's baseball bat. However such specifically used equipment has been somewhat less common with golfing collectibles.

In recent years a major auction house, Leland's in New York City, has offered a "tournament used" putter that belong to golfing legend Bobby Jones. Reportedly the gorgeous wood-handled masterpiece had been presented by Jones to admiring golf amateur Peter Raap at the Medinah Country Club in Illinois. The hand-forged piece, made in Scotland, bore the initials R. T. J. for Robert Tyre Jones, Jr. Various newspaper accounts and photographs helped document the putter along with a letter from the surviving daughter of the original owner. Bidding on the Jones putter began at $10,000.

Perhaps even more remarkable was Leland's sale of  the original Master's jacket once owned and wore by Jones. At the time it was described as "perhaps the single finest golfing collectible ever offered at auction." The green wool jacket, 100 percent original and authentic, bore a Robert T. Jones nametag and a 1937 date. The size 38 had two brass buttons, plus the initials R. T. J. stitched in yellow thread on the right breast pocket.

At the Augusta National "most members must leave their jackets in the clubhouse when they leave the premises," according to the auction house. "It was probably only due to Jones' legendary status that he was able to skirt this strictly enforced rule." Rule or not the grand green jacket with its remarkable past began with a reserve of  $35,000.

In recent years a replica of a green Master's jacket with the signature of Arnold Palmer has been auctioned in the marketplace, along with a pair of pants reportedly worn by Palmer in the early 1980s. The slacks, five-pocket khakis, bore a tag from the clothier Hamilton of Cincinnati saying they were "custom tailored for Arnold Palmer."

The world of sports memorabilia has also seen a Jack Nicklaus tournament worn cap. Leland's noted that it was offered for auction by the widow of the man who had been given the cap directly from the sweaty brow of Nicklaus in 1974. The cap with a golden bear patch on the mesh front was also signed by the famed player.

There have been golf shoes too. A pair of Niklaus signed golf shoes sold for several hundred dollars in recent years. The brown suede Rockport shoes with tan top stitching and plastic spikes were side nine and a half. They were singed by Nicklaus himself. A single shoe, this time signed by Nicklaus, Fred Couples, Craig Stadler and a dozen other professional players also sold at auction for several hundred dollars. It was originally acquired by a fan during a tournament at the Westchester Country Club.

Another prized 'player used' item once offered by Leland's  was a leather Wilson golf bag which served Sam Snead some years ago on the Senior Tour links. The players name was printed in black letters on the red and white front. The bag also included a typed luggage tag with Snead's name and an Jekyll Island, Georgia address.

Also auctioned was a glove used by the late Payne Stewart. The glove was worn during the U.S. Open in 1999. Stewart died in a plane crash just a few months after winning his second U.S. Open championship. The white leather glove was given to a fellow alumnus of Southern Methodist University and was signed, "Payne Stewart, Go Mustangs."

Celebrity golfing collectibles don't have to be just once owned or used by professional golfers. They can also have been the property of other famous persons.

In 2000 an auction house sold a set of four driver golf clubs once owned by movie star Peter Lawford. The clubs had been a gift from John Kennedy in the early 1950s, long before Kennedy became president of the United States. Lawford was, for a time, married to Kennedy's sister and is also credited with introducing Kennedy to movie actress Marilyn Monroe. The MacGregor Tourney brand clubs in wonderful condition were acquired from Lawford's widow of a later marriage and came with a letter of certification from her.

During the late 1990s the full golf bag and gear of  baseball great Mickey Mantle was the subject of a major auction. The full set of Calloway Big Bertha clubs and Harbor club was described as "one of the great pieces of sports memorabilia" at the time. The bag's contents included five pieces of Mantle's favorite butterscotch hard candy, 27 coins, and even a bottle of extra strength Tylenol. The outfit also came with a photograph of Mantle in golfing attire standing next to it.

Additionally there are books written by famous golfers, along their autographs on their books are elsewhere.

Autographed editions of the Bobby Jones book, Golf Is My Game are especially prized. Jones won 13 major championships and was the only play to win all four majors, a 'grand slam' in the same year. The book was published in 1960, long after Jones had retired from the sport at age 28. Female golfing champion Mildred "Babe" Didrickson Zaharias also signed copies of her autobiography, Championship Golf, which are quite collectible today.

Additional titles by golf greats, which potentially may have been signed by the authors themselves, include Power Golf by Ben Hogan, My Game and Yours by Arnold Palmer, and My 55 Ways To Lower Your Golf Score by Jack Nicklaus.

Other treasured golf-related autographs include those of Ben Hogan, Nancy Lopez, Byron Nelson, Gary Player, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Gene Sarazen, Jan Stephenson, Lee Trevino, and Tom Watson. Collectors generally prefer signed photographs first, followed by personal documents, and finally just the simple signature.

Further paper memorabilia relating to golf celebrities can range from canceled checks signed by Ben Hogan to the 1947 Latrobe High School yearbook of Arnold Palmer. Palmer and other champion golfers sometimes endorsed products which created advertising images of them. Top notch items would include a cardboard sign of Hogan and "action-free comfort" Ben Hogan slacks, or a die-cut standee of Payne Stewart advertising Top Flite golf clubs.

Golf balls themselves can also be celebrity related. In 1931 a 12-year-old boy acquired a golf ball on a North Carolina golf course, which had been signed by Bobby Jones. According to the story Jones warned the youngster that the ink would not stay, so the boy carefully packed it away in a cotton-filled matchbox. Nearly 68 years later it became "one of the rarest items ever handled" at Leland's. The item included a letter of documentation from the 80-year-old man who had carefully kept it for generations.

On occasion the presidential seal appears on collectible golf balls. Examples with the embossed facsimile signatures of John Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan have appeared in the marketplace from time to time.

Additional golf celebrity-related items have included boxed games, fishing reels, magazine covers, celluloid pin-back buttons, trophies, and vintage artwork.

Today the ambitious collector need not exactly walk with the famous on the fairways to indirectly enjoy their company.