GOLF TREASURES:
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Dale can you help? I am a Golf Professional and unfortunatley a fellow colleague recently died. I have been left with the task of maximising his estate for his widow. Over the years he collected a bit of old golf equipment. This covers golf clubs, original wrapped mesh golf balls and display boxes. If you have no objections, as I collate these could I forward descriptions to you for valution. I do have a posiible purchaser but if there is anything that might be of real value could you give me guidelines of how to dispose of these. The first Club is as follows: Stamped Backspin mashie - guaranteed hand forged with the name Tom Clarke Kansas City an L is to the left of the makers name. The Club has five very large grooves ( approx 1/4 inch wide) Hickory shaft and original grip. I know that this was seen by a collector around 10-15 years ago who said it was quite rare at that time. 2nd Club F Warland - Colwyn Bay Golf Club - Gold Medal Mashie no 5 - Groove face - hickory shaft - leather grip. 3rd Club Hickory Putter T Stuart St Andrews - Hand forged -Clay pipe makers mark with words -ORD putter special - leather grip 4th Club Putter Geetee special putter - warranted forged - hickory shaft with original leather grip. 5th Club Putter DG Spalding Bros - hand forged with a X as makers stamp with the words Gold Medal - Hickory shaft - leather grip. If you can assist, his wife and I would be very grateful.
Alistair Mckay

Dale Concannon writes:

First the bad news. Despite what you may have heard about vast sums being paid at auction for antique golf clubs, less than 10% of all wooden-shafted clubs are worth more than £10! The reason is simple — Like today, most clubs were produced in huge numbers to cater for the golfing boom of the early 1900's. And while the vast majority of them have disappeared over the years, there are still countless hickory shafted golf clubs still in existence.

Today, the vast majority of hickory clubs made between 1900 and 1930 are only worth between £5-£10 for irons and £10-£20 for woods. Of course, similar clubs are offered for sale at vastly inflated prices in antique shops etc. but this is the figure most collectors would pay for them at auction. As for those early steel-shafted clubs dating from the 1930's and 1940's with shafts made to look like 'cane' or 'wood' they currently have little value above £5. Therefore, the simple truth is that most 'antique' clubs found gathering dust in the attic or picked up at flea market or boot fairs are sadly, not going to make your fortune. That said, there are always exceptions.

So how can you tell if your club/s are in the common bracket? Made between 1900 and 1932, this usually applies to any golf club that:

• Has any marking on the striking face such as lines, dots or dashes. (Pre-1900 clubs had no face markings to impart spin.)

• Has a symbol or 'cleek 'mark denoting the company who made it stamped on the back of the head like an anvil or star for example.

• Has metal-caps at the end of the grip or thin Black leather grips.

• Has yardage ranges stamped on the back (80-125-yds for example).

• Has a stainless steel or chromed head stamped 'rustless.' or 'matched set.'

• Has a metal or aluminium shaft that is coated or painted to look like 'cane' or 'wood'.

As for your particular golf club/s:

As you have probably realised by now, most of the hickory clubs you describe are not uncommon. Made between 1910 and 1930, the most notable exception is the Ladies (L) Backspin mashie with the deep grooves on its striking face. For reference, it was considered quite a rare club a decade ago (like all deep-groove irons) but with more and more turning up at auction, its value has reduced from £200 per club to about half that figure today depending on condition.

As for the remaining clubs, (assuming that they have no exceptional or unusual design that I am unaware of,) they would sell for around £10-£15 each at auction.

Regarding the rest of the collection: Wrapped mesh golf balls from the late twenties, along with boxes etc. can be worth quite a bit to the right collector. However, it all depends on what make of ball you are talking about.