In 2000, the classic club collecting community finally located a golf club that had been "missing" for decades - Frank Sinatra's personal putter from the 1963 Frank Sinatra Invitational.

In 1963, the PGA sanctioned a one-time-only Frank Sinatra Invitational golf tournament. The tournament became the stuff of legend. And to collectors, the player gift from that tournament - a copper plated Macgregor putter designed by Toney Penna and bearing the likeness of Frank Sinatra - is considered perhaps the most desirable and valuable of all classic golf clubs. Only 150 of these putters are believed to have been produced and given to the golfers and Hollywood elite who participated in the 1963 Frank Sinatra Invitational. Of those 150, only two dozen have since been accounted for. At one point, the putters were selling for upwards of $30,000.

But offered here is not just any 1963 Frank Sinatra Invitational putter, but Sinatra's own personally-used copy of that rare putter. It is clear that this was not simply a keepsake for Sinatra, as the putter shows exceptional use. The top of the head and the flange are covered in black tape - surely to prevent the glare that could be expected from a shiny copper putter. This putter was given by Sinatra (along with an entire set of clubs and Sinatra's bag - offered elsewhere in this auction) to his landscaper in the late 1960s. The entire set of Sinatra's clubs was sold at auction in 2000.  

***UPDATE: Though original photographs from the 1963 Frank Sinatra Invitational can be difficult to find, we were finally able to locate two different images which allow us to photo-match Sinatra's bag offered elsewhere in this auction (Lot 15). This '63 Frank Sinatra Invitational putter was originally from that bag - and that original set Sinatra used in that historic tournament