19th Hole
Golf balls dating back to 1840 create bidding war at auction
Enthusiasts will pay for the chance to own and collect part of their love, and golf die-hards are no different.
Earlier this year, GolfWRX reported on an auction of clubs used at the ‘Tiger Slam’ and, at the end of August, Golf Digest covered the sale of “some of the rarest, most valuable and historic balls ever produced.”
So said golf historian Jeff Ellis about the auction of over 75 antique golf balls, in a bidding war open to anyone until September 17th.
Listed as part of the Desert Mountain Collection, notable collector and auctioneer Ellis told Golf Digest, “I’ve not seen a collection of historic golf balls like this come out to the market in one shot in a long time,” and with seven of the series already shooting past the $1000 opening bid, the publicity is sure to keep the price moving in one direction.
Currently, number one in the bidding is Lot #11, the ‘Globe Map of the World Ball’ from 1908. Listed as, “made as a miniature globe, complete with labeled continents, oceans, and a few other places such as the North Pole, New Zealand, Britain, and Japan.” Indeed, “when this ball was introduced by J. P. Cochrane in 1908, it was so creative that it was immediately seen as destined for museums.”
As I write, Lot #11 is at $5053, whilst just behind are Lot #3 and Lot #1, both illustrating the work and bearing the names of their legendary makers – Allan Robertson and Tom Morris.
The Robertson ‘Featherball’ dates from circa 1840, and has never been used, still bearing the maker’s stamp and reference number – 29 – the weight and size.
Ellis told the publication that, “To find a mint ball like this is a real treasure,” before adding that the owner “just had an appreciation of the game of golf and its equipment as it was played early in the 19th century and before.”
At just under $3800, Lot #1 may seem a relative bargain, especially given the circumstances in which it came into production.
The auction site state that, “After years of working with Allan Robertson and perfecting the intricate art of making feather balls, he [Morris] successfully navigated their eventual demise by embracing the gutta-percha ball in both work and play.”
The ball is hand-hammered with details from the pen of Morris himself and, “all things considered, this ball is dripping with history, in outstanding original condition with the name stamp clearly visible, and would be a cornerstone addition to any golf collection anywhere in the world. No name from the 19th century is bigger than that of Old Tom Morris, and Morris-stamped balls are far more rare than Morris-stamped clubs.”
Ellis added a human side to the obvious sales pitch.
“It’s dang rare,” he said. “Its imperfections are authentic. The imperfections are what makes it real. What’s remarkable about this ball is its condition. You can find others that might have that T.MORRIS stamping but some of the letters are missing. The character of the ball, everything about it, has great age.”To put the lot into context with its market rival, Ellis explained:
“There are a lot more Allan Robertson feather balls out there than there are Tom Morris hand-hammered gutta percha balls. So that is going to be the defining motivation for the bids, its rarity.”
There is plenty more on offer, from putters to medals, from irons to tees, and currently there are 25 lots without a bid.
Get along to Jeff Ellis Auctions to grab yourself a piece of golf history.
19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish
An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.
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