Old Any any any
Many of us are golf collectors without even knowing it. Who hasn’t got a few hickory shafted clubs or old golf books, and who doesn’t squirrel away little reminders of golfing trips and events: items like scorecards, ball markers, programmes, even that set of irons you first played with and just can’t throw away? Artefacts like these can be the
foundation of a collection which, for many people, becomes not just an individual hobby, but also a way of helping to preserve and curate the history of the game we love. The British Golf Collectors’ Society
was formed in 1987 with the aims of reflecting the history and traditions of
Those old clubs in the loft could be the start of a collection
Now has Never beeN a better time to start a collectioN of golfiNg memorabilia, says PhiliP truett, PresideNt of the british golf collectors’ society.
Irons
they played. In the wind, especially at places like Hoylake, that meant the deployment of very substantial and sturdy pins. So I formed a collection of them which, in their own small way, related to the history of golf and also opened up the wider social history of the time. Searching through old postcards
Above: The Badminton Magazine was a sister publication to the Badminton Library and was first published in 1895
Below: Harold Janion immortalised on a postcard
Passion is the best reason to collect. While artefacts sometimes have remarkable stories they can tell you
golf and gathering together of items that comment upon the game’s past. Today there are 800 members with varied tastes who collect anything and everything, but a shared passion is the glue that keeps everyone together. Passion is the best reason to collect. It
is true that there are still items of great value to be found, but this isn’t a reason to start. You have to do it because you love it, and because you enjoy the journeys on which artefacts can take you and the sometimes remarkable stories they can tell.
For forty years, my own mission has
been to acquire every golf book published pre 1920, together with those that interest me after that date. However, there is a huge range of golf collectables that can be pursued, some of which can be quite unusual. For instance, in my early collecting days I came across very long hat pins mounted with silver club heads and discovered that at the turn of the 20th century women golfers were obliged to wear hats while
ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB 2 014 MAGAZINE
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and collecting any related to golf also proved fruitful. There was a time a century and more ago when the Royal Mail managed 5 postal deliveries a day. The postcard was the equivalent of an e-mail or text message and local photographers would churn out images to satisfy their customers’ desire to send cards that reflected their lives and were topical. Finding such a card allowed me to identify the building that served as the original Clubhouse at Hayling Golf Club, established in 1883. Until then its location had been a mystery. Another, of a man chalking on a board while dressed
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