Golf Digest's Money package in the October issue included "Playing for Keeps," Guy Yocom's essay on collecting golf memorabilia, including, but in Guys' case, not limited to, golf balls. One of eight editors who were given $500 to enhance their enjoyment of the game, Guy went for the collectibles--and prompted this letter from a Dallas reader. Guy's reply follows.... Guy:
I have a box of a dozen Titleists commemorating the Ryder Cup at the Belfry from 10 years ago. Unfortunately, there is no indication on the box, the sleeves, or the balls themselves as to the date of that Ryder Cup….but I do have the cash register receipt (kinda faded) dated Dec '01.
That Ryder Cup of course was postponed until the following year due to the 9/11 attacks.
Are these worth keeping around?
Will Cornell, Dallas, TX
Dear Will,
You ask whether these balls are worth keeping around. In my case, allcollectibles are worth keeping around, which is why my basement is a slightly disturbing montage of Hoarders, Storage Wars and Pawn Stars. It's sort of a poor man's museum, a few neat things but a little forlorn and pack-ratty. When my enthusiasm wanes, I commit to diluting it. But diluting takes effort, and the urge to actually put it up for sale somewhere passes. So it sits.
Anyway, keep the balls around, for for as long as space and other denizens of your home allow.
Whether the balls have monetary value--that's really your question--is another matter. The main sticking point is provenance, the highbrow term you see tossed around on everything from Antiques Road Show to online auction sites. For an item have tractable value, there must be demonstrable proof as to its authenticity. The box of Titleists from that aborted 2001 Ryder Cup surely are authentic, since you know where you got them and how much you paid for them. But when a curious buyer one day expresses interest in the balls, the faded sales receipt may not be proof enough that they're the real deal. The provenance is weak. It would be much better if the PGA of America had taken the trouble to have the logo from that Ryder Cup stamped on the balls, or had Titleist prepare special edition packaging.
Beyond the provenance, I'm not sure this item is one that would capture the imagination of collectors of this type of thing. The balls may be somewhat rare, but they aren't particularly old. Nor, in my opinion, do they have a particularly special cache historically. If the balls were from the very first Ryder Cup, or even one from the 1970s, someone on eBay might be eager to snap them up. If you had the single ball Tony Jacklin was using when Jack Nicklaus conceded his Cup-tieing putt in 1969—and the ball had Jacklin’s signature—now we’re talking. But your aren’t game-used and don’t carry a link to an individual or telling moment. They’re from a pro shop. What would a collector do with your balls once he acquired them?
Display them in his dining room and make desperate overtures to a golf-fanatic guest that, "They're really from 2001, honest!" I don't quite see it. I also don't think the balls will increase in value. Who would buy them, and for how much, and why and what for?
I have a money clip I bought from the Augusta National pro shop back in (I think) 1998. I intended to give it as a gift, but it turned out none of my golf buddies use money clips. There it sits, gleaming but sterile, with no place to go. It seems to me your Ryder Cup balls are similar to the money clip. Nice to have around, but not particularly marketable.
Guy Yocom
Posted by Bob Carney
Illustration by Mark Matcho
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