Ben Hogan
Bobby Jones On the Basic Golf Swing
(Rare "Last Book" Autograph)
THE BOBBY JONES COLLECTION
In 2005, the
World Golf Hall of Fame held arguably its most famous exhibition in history
when it celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the Grand Slam with
the exhibit Bobby Jones: A Salute to the Grand Slam. That exhibit
featured memorabilia from the expected places: the USGA, the Royal &
Ancient, Augusta National Golf Club, Merion Golf Club, as well as items
owned by the Hall of Fame itself. But the golf world was abuzz with chatter
about another source of much of the rare and one-of-a-kind Bobby Jones
memorabilia on display – a previously unknown private collector.
We have the
great privilege of offering that famed, yet mysterious, Bobby Jones
collection in this auction. The collection was assembled by a very private
Midwest collector over the past three decades. In the golf collecting
community, and with today’s internet world, it is virtually impossible to
keep collections quiet; but this is an extreme exception. When the World
Golf Hall of Fame sent out its press release announcing the Bobby Jones
exhibit in 2005, it specifically highlighted the fact that many of the items
in this private collection “will be on display to the public for the first
time.” And aside from that brief loan to the Hall of Fame, almost all of
this memorabilia was obtained in private transactions and has never been
seen publicly – until now.
Bobby Jones On the
Basic Golf Swing (Rare Last Book Autograph)
This is a rare autographed copy of the last book from the great Bobby Jones
before his death. This 1969 1st edition of Bobby Jones On the Basic Golf Swing
contains an original, shaky late-in-life signature of Jones. Though admittedly
not as aesthetically pleasing as Bobby Jones' earlier signatures, this autograph
is actually far more significant than almost all others. As you can see, signing
was no longer easy for Bobby Jones as his health failed. Because of that fact,
very few autographed copies of this book exist. Quite impressively, our
consignor had a custom clamshell case produced for this rare book.
Letter of Authenticity from Green Jacket Auctions (GJA).