Golf art
is more collectible than most people realize. Unlike team sports, where
superstar athletes regularly ink deals that include them signing
memorabilia items, such as jerseys and game balls, golf art and golf
pictures tend to be far less a big business and far more a matter of
individual tastes. You won’t often see a green Master’s jacket go up for
bid at a golf collectibles auction, for example, but it’s not unusual
for Super Bowl championship rings to show up at pawn shops around the
United States. For a lot of reasons – including the relative scarcity of
golf autographs and golf collectibles, collecting golf pictures can be
both more challenging and more profitable than collection other types of
sports memorabilia.
Legends of Golf Collectibles
As
with any other sport, the most collectible golf pictures are those that
feature one or more of the many legends of golf. Autographed photos of
Arnold Palmer, Robert “Bobby” Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are
surefire collectible items, and many of them can be expected to increase
in value. Every once in a while, previously unknown golf pictures crop
up and make an unexpectedly big splash in the sports collectibles world.
Not many years ago, for example, a sports photographer released a
previously unpublished photograph of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer
settling up after a bet on one of the holes they played. “The Lost Bet”
has become one of the most popular golf pictures of all time, and hangs
in some of the best known golf club dining rooms.
Golf Course Art
Of
course, not all the legends of golf are human. Anyone who has ever
faced Augusta #12, Golden Bell, on a windy day, can tell you in no
uncertain detail exactly why that particular hole is one that golfers
dread facing. Photographs of Augusta #12 don’t do it justice, but a few
golf painters have managed to capture that hole in all its glory and
treachery. It’s not the only hole to be captured by painters Linda
Hartough and Marci Rule, who have painted some of the most beautiful
golf course art available on the market.
In most cases, Hartough’s and Rule’s pieces are available as prints in
limited, signed editions. Some are numbered in a series, while others
are more widely available to collectors of golf memorabilia.
Whether you’re drawn to a stunning golf landscape or prefer the focus and concentration on the face of one of golf’s greats, golf pictures
are a great way to enhance your home décor while accumulating a golf
arts collection that could become quite valuable in the future.
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