The driver that Sam Snead used in more than 100 tournament victories between 1936 and 1953 is the headliner in Heritage Auctions’ Sports Collectibles Golf Catalog auction, Sept. 25-26. It is expected to sell for more than $250,000 according to the auction house.
The auction will take place online only, with sessions closing via an extended bid format.
“This is the very driver that Snead used, his most trusted weapon, as he steamrolled his way to the greatest professional tournament record in golf history,” said Mike Gutierrez, Consignment Director for Sports Collectibles at Heritage. “It’s arguably the most significant article of golf memorabilia that exists, the constant, faithful companion of a man whose record of PGA Tour success is unmatched in the history of the sport.”
The club was finally put out to pasture after 17 years of service, following the United States victory in the 1953 Ryder Cup.
Further treasures from the Snead Collection offered in the auction include his 1952 Masters Tournament championship trophy, when he was able to fend off a furious charge from Jack Burke late on Sunday that year.
Snead’s 1942 PGA Championship Wannamaker Trophy, estimated at $75,000+, won by the golfer at Seaview Country Club in Galloway Township, NJ, will also be offered as well as the putter he used in the 1946 British Open, his first and only victory in that event. It is expected to sell for $40,000 or more.
The auction also includes The Bob Burkett Collection of Early Golf Memorabilia. Burkett, who spent nearly three decades in the hobby, started collecting at decades ago, with the infancy of the game itself as his focus. The top item in his collection is a 1916 Cherokee Country Club Invitational Tournament Trophy Won by Bobby Jones, the only Jones trophy in private hand and the earliest Jones trophy to ever cross the block, estimated at $100,000+.
“Bobby Jones was just 14 years old and a virtual unknown when he won this tournament in dominant fashion,” said Gutierrez. “By the end of the next 14 years he would have won Golf’s Grand Slam and assured himself a place as the most revered golfer of all time. It all started with this trophy, making this one of the greatest Jones-related artifacts that there is.”
Further highlights from The Burkett Collection include a 1906 Shinnecock Hills Invitational Trophy Won by Jerome Travers (estimate: $10,000+), an 1857 Pau Golf Club Presentation Medal, from Pau Golf Club, the oldest club in continental Europe and was founded in 1856 (estimate: $10,000+), a 1900 Atlantic City Country Club Trophy Won By Walter Travis (estimate: $10,000+), an early 1900s miniature of the first President’s Golf Perpetual Trophy from the Ekwanok Country Club (estimate: $8,000+), a 1914 Royal St. George’s Large Sterling Memento of the Champion Challenge Cup (estimate: $8,000+).
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