By Bobby Grace
The Golf, Autumn 2023
Four and a half decades ago when I first started hunting and trading for collectible classic clubs I was fortunate to have a few mentors who were very well educated on these clubs and were very focused on the best items to collect. One of my best friends to this day, Bobby McKee from Clearwater, Fla., back in 1975 recommended that I focus only on drivers, wedges, and putters. He said that these were the Tour player’s “Money Clubs.” In other words the Tour players, mini-your players and great amateurs all valued these clubs more than any others be- cause they were clubs they grew very fond of and were usually irreplaceable. I used this knowledge to build a very successful business in the mid-1980s as did other well knowncollectors and dealers such as Randy Jensen, Bob Kent, Bobby Farino, R.H. Sykes, Jim Butler and a few others.
This is not to say a set of irons is not worth collecting. I saw an incredible set of 1969 Wilson Staff Bullet Backs from a fel- lowcollector in California that definitely turned the prop on my beanie. These had “GEORGE ARCHER” stamped in the back of them and the sweet spot was literally worn out on almost every iron. If you know your Masters history, George Archer won the Masters in 1969 so that very set of irons was most definitely in his bag for that win. That’s a gamechanger. Turns a regular set of irons into a Museum piece and almost priceless.
Obviously I am very fond of putters and have personally owned more than 850 Wilson Palmers and over 500 original 8802s and have sold them to plenty of Tour players in the 1980s and 1990s. The famous Tour players who loved putting with the Palmers and 8802s were Gary Koch, who was one of the best putters on Tour (20+ years with his Palmer). Others were Greg Norman, BenCrenshaw, and Larry Mize, who won the Masters with his 8802.
In this and future columns I’ll feature some of my favorite collectibles that I find worthy of stashing under the bed.
One of the most widely sought after classic putters is the George Low Wizard 600 Bristol and Sportsman models that Jack Nicklaus made famous by winning most of his professional victories while using these. Every classic club collector on the globe was hunting high and low to get their hands one. To this day they still command big money. Pictured above is the ultra-rare George Low “Sideways Stamped Sportsman” Wizard 600. This was one of the very few prototype Sportsmans stamped sideways. Next are three Bristol Wizard 600s, which are still sought after to this day.
