Signed Major Flags? Featherie Balls? Tiger Card? See Auction

Whether you are a gift giver – Mom’s Day and Dad’s Day are coming up – or a collector, you’ll want to check the current Pure Golf Auction site. It has a fascinating assortment of things to whet your appetite.

It’s an eBay for golfers and golf collectors.

In fact, for The Golf Show 2.0, we recently interviewed two golf collectors, one of whom has every Masters badge starting in 1934. Now, that’s a collection!

While it’s always been tough to find something new for the golfer on your gift list, it’s certainly easier now in the era of PGA Tour Superstore and other retailers.

But if your giftee is particularly hard to please, or if you are just looking for an unusual golf gift, auctions offer a different variety.  Some of the items only have a few days or even hours left on the bidding, so time may be of the essence.

Just by accident, I found a British Open flag signed by Phil Mickelson. It’s from the 2013 tournament, played at Muirfield, which Mickelson won by a shot over Henrik Stenson. The minimum bid, which hasn’t been met yet, is $300.  It was Mickelson’s fifth major.

The PGA Championship, of course, was his most recent, and likely his last, although with Mickelson, you never know for sure.

If you prefer a U.S. Open winner-signed flag, there’s one available with Justin Rose’s signature, the winner at historic Merion Golf Club. The starting bid on this flag is just $75.

There’s what’s called an Ocobo-style gutty golf ball. The surface pattern has a grid all over it. The ask is just $150, and so far, no bids.

If you or your giftee is really a golf collector…

Then he/she/you probably want to own a featherie.  That’s the golf ball that is stuffed with a top hat full of feathers. The asking on this one is $1000. Much higher than a sleeve of Titleists, but let’s face it, this ball has history.

The current owner believes this particular one was made in about 1840, although featheries were made and used for probably 300 years before that. Can you carbon date a featherie? I suppose.

Clubs are tons of fun for collecting or just owning. Think how great a couple of the more unusual ones would look framed on the wall of the office.

One of the most distinctive is the rut iron, which was designed specifically for hitting the ball out of wagon ruts. (And you complain when the greens are aerated!)  This one is estimated to be an early 1800s vintage and supposedly was made by a blacksmith, which at the time, is likely to have been the case. The asking on this particular rut iron is $750.

If you like collecting from specific events, like the Masters, how about the Masters commemorative putter from 2003, the year Mike Weir won. 

It comes with a certificate of authenticity, and, according to the owner, has never been used.  The current owner suggests doing a regrip on it, but if you ever watched Antiques Roadshow, you already know that changing a collectible that way may affect its value negatively. So, modify with care. Starting bid is $300.

If you want a historic Masters flag, how about one signed by Byron Nelson, Gene Sarazen, and Sam Snead? The trio were all Masters champions and became honorary starters later in life.

The bidding on this one started at $300, and it’s now up to $439. Unless you have connections on the other side, there’s no way in the world to get an autograph from any of these late and legendary former champs.

Sarazen won the second Masters in 1935 during which he hit the “shot heard ‘round the world,” the double eagle on the 15th hole.  According to Augusta National, those who saw it, no more than a dozen people, included Bobby Jones, watching by the green, Walter Hagen, paired with Sarazen that day, and Byron Nelson, who was playing the 17th, which parallels the 15th.

Nelson won the Masters in 1937 and 1942. Snead won three times, in 1949, 1952, and 1954.  Snead was the first to receive a green jacket for winning.

And if your game is so bad you are ready for historic instruction, maybe there’s none better than a magazine from the 1930s called Bobby Jones on Golf. The starting bid is just $150.

What will surely go over its starting bid of $450 is the Tiger Woods 1997 Masters limited edition commemorative card by Upper Deck with protective case and leather folder.

You could literally spend an hour or two browsing through the items, from golf balls with squares or crescent moons instead of dimples, to old trophies, to buttons from tournaments to old tees.

My personal favorite? Masters wine glasses, six for $100.