ballmarkercollectorsclub.com

Classic Opens, Classic Markers

Real collectors items are Winners sets produced  around  the millennium to commemorate winners of Opens held at a number of venues on the rota.  The example above is from Royal Troon 1997, the one below is from Muirfield  the venue in 2002 of the previous Open win by Ernie Els.

Some sets like Musselburgh are still produced, others crop up from time to time though normally as single items.  Royal Birkdale (8) and Carnoustie (5+1 x 150yr )  being good sets to acquire, the St Andrews one is for obvious reasons larger than the others. 

 
Whilst we can show the Muirfield set and Ernie's 2002 winners marker.  The scene of his Open victory in 2012 Royal Lytham St Annes we have just four Winners markers from the set produced in 2001. 

UPDATE: 16/11/2012 Thanks to the power of the internet and the cooperation of new members we are now able to show the complete RLSA  set. If you have winners markers or a set we haven't featured or mentioned, we would love to hear from you. Kinghamphil@aol.com 
 

 Mondomark, Vegas, Clam Shell, Duo, Pocket are names applied to these  2 in 1  markers. they are becoming more popular and quite addictive in collecting terms.

It has been suggested that the BMCC comes up with a generic and definitive term to describe these, argue ably the aristocrats of all ball markers.

IDEAS please to the usual address:

2 in 1 Medallion Markers the current favourite suggestion! 

The Home of Stableford (Wallasey) marker is surely a 'classic' and a must for every golfer/serious collector!

The Stableford scoring system was the brain child of Dr Frank Stableford a member of Wallasey where the first competition was held using Stableford points on 16th May 1932

'Home of bogey' . Bogey originally mean't an overall par score, starting at Gt Yarmouth GC in 1890, based on a popular music hall song 'Here comes the bogey man'. Nationally players completed against Bogey and this in turn gave the title of  a WW1 marching tune.

 Over the years Gosport & Stokes Bay  golf club has had many famous associations not the least with the famed Colonel Bogey.  In the clubroom a framed page from"Golf Illustrated of the 17th November 1905 tells the story of his christening.  In 1890  Coventry GC , in order to provide a change from the usual match play introduced a form of competition in which members played against what was called "the ground score", the number of strokes a first class golfer, playing steadily, would be expected to take at each hole. The idea was adopted by a few other clubs,and one in particular,Great Yarmouth, was enthusiastic about this.  At the time the music hall song "Hush, Hush,Here Comes The Bogey Man" was all the rage,and the ground score came to be known as the Bogey Man at Yarmouth. In the spring of 1892 the Secretary of Great Yarmouth  GC, Dr. Thomas Browne, R.N. came to Alverstoke and played at U.S.G.C. (now Stokes Bay). He introduced the Bogey Man to the Hon.Sec., Capt.Seeley Vidal, R.E. ,and they worked out a ground score for the course. Together with Dr.W.Reid,R .N., they set out to play against the imaginary opponent, but just as they were starting Capt.Vidal said "Stop! We must proceed in a proper service way. Every member of this Club has a service rank and as our new invisible member never makes a mistake, he must surely be a Commanding officer.  He must be a Colonel. "Colonel Bogey, said he, saluting, delighted to find you on the links Sir".  Captain Vidal was so attracted to Bogey idea that he wrote to the Field and Golf magazines describing the system of playing against the mythical Colonel Bogey and the idea caught on and within a few years every course had its official score.

 Phillip 224 Hants

Golfers at Royal Aberdeen, were clearly a meticulous group of gentlemen for in 1783 they became the first to introduce the five minute limit on searching for golf balls. As shown on this doublesider! 

Do you have any like these?

A number of members and visitors have recently mentioned that they are keen to acquire unusual markers. All of these are stemmed markers, yet look far too ornate to be anything other than a pin badge. If you have some others we would like to display them on this page. So please get in touch. 

Childwall GC -Spot the differences 

What's the difference between these two markers? The clue of course was in the title. The one on the right is the Centenary issue, yet it doesn't say Centenary or even the years 1912-2012. But, the designer (some would say- 'sales prevention officer')  found room to include the word Established 1912!  This  frustrating practise was used alot some years ago (see Scottish section on the MORE MARKERS page for earlier examples). If you are new to collecting Centenaries get in touch and the BMCC will provide details of other such markers to be aware of.

Markers from Royal clubs have always been numbered amongst my favourites as they were some of my earliest purchases. Shown below are a number of examples from clubs with Royal Patronage.

A stunning marker, that my scanner cannot do justice to. It appears silver, but is actually gold finish and slightly larger, much higher quality marker to those being sold to the public at the event and with the important lettering 'EUROPEAN TEAM '10'. Issued by Monty to the team members, caddies and vice captains.  Get one if you can, you won't be disappointed!

Another European team marker  (ie those issued to players, caddies at the matches) is shown below for 2008. If you have any others I would be delighted to receive a photo/ try to buy them off you. Please use the contact form at the bottom of the SPECIALS page to make contact.