Oh What to Do with a Vintage Golf Club Collection?

If you are a collector, at some point you are going to ask yourself, “Now, what do I do with all of these golf clubs?” At the peak of my collecting, I was hovering around 500 golf clubs from the classic era of golf, plus hickories. I know that some of you look at that number and are tempted to call someone about my hoarding, but there is another group of you out there who smirk at the novice amount. No matter which side of the fence you fall on, it was time for me to make a decision.

Decision Time

When I first started collecting, I limited myself to buying only clubs that I could play either off the shelf or make playable. That limit quickly reached its breaking point as I began to think realize that I could make anything playable. The other issue I ran into was my friends…and the family members of those friends. Once the word got out about my passion for old golf clubs, I was picking up clubs all over the Panhandle of Texas.

Overnight, my organized corner struck a strong resemblance to my belt struggling to hold my gut back after Thanksgiving. There were too many projects, too many incomplete sets, and not enough time to turn them all into complete and playable sets.

On an overcast Saturday, I backed my truck up and loaded the bed full of 300 golf clubs and seven golf bags. I took the stroll to our local Goodwill and I slowly started unloading box after box while still in a state of mourning. The dock worker helping me joked, “so, do you like golf?”

Ok, deep breath.

I had done enough to give myself some breathing room. I whittled my collection down to a manageable situation, but now I had to make some hard decisions. It’s easy to give away clubs when they aren’t your favorites. Now, I am down to the sets I liked the most, and for my sanity I needed to find something to do with them.

A Perfectly Timed Introduction

A few months after the purge, I was still contemplating what to do with what remained. It wasn’t on my mind very often, mainly because I didn’t want it to be. The one thing I did know is that wherever they went, I wanted them to be used, not sitting in another garage corner.

On a Saturday in June, I attended our local Juneteenth celebration. It was a complete coincidence that I was there. My wife, Monica, works part time for a community initiative and wanted me to bring the kids. Once we arrived, I wandered off and I noticed someone who I worked with at the time. I’m not sure if my wife was able to get her work done with the kids hanging on her and wrestling with each other, but I had a great time!

During my conversation with my co-worker, they introduced me to a person who may have changed the course of my life, Mr. RJ Soleyjacks. He was introduced to me as the new principal at Hamlet Elementary. I, however, was introduced to him as the guy with all of the golf clubs.

That small detail is important because it started a conversation which evolved into RJ mentioning that he wanted to start a golf club at Hamlet to introduce kids to the game and a possible life outside of the typical sports to which kids are drawn. After a 20 minute conversation, I knew exactly where my remaining collection was headed.

The Hamlet Tiger Flight Golf Club is Born

In the weeks following Juneteenth, RJ and I met to work out how the club would work, and Monica was jumping for joy as I told her I was going to be donating the remaining sets to get the club started.

One of the things I have enjoyed while being a part of my Facebook collector groups is the graciousness. Every week I see posts from individuals loading their vehicles with clubs being donated to their local youth golf programs. This was encouraging to me, and really defined the direction I was going to take with the Hamlet Tiger Flight Golf Club.

When we first put the idea together, I did a little research to see if there were other organizations with golf programs. I wasn’t surprised to find out that the only programs we have nearby are at the private clubs, and there is one public program which only runs during the summer. I got busy putting a program together to become the first year-round golf program for kids in Amarillo.

The Program

One of the cool dynamics of Hamlet’s daily schedule is that each grade has one “RTI” hour during the day where students have access to tutoring for specific subjects. RJ was kind enough to include the Golf Club as an option during the RTI period. This provided the perfect context for introducing kids to the game of golf.

I was blown away by the excitement and support of everyone at Hamlet. When I dressed in my Plus-4s and brought my hickories for the back to school bash, I thought I would get several strange looks and have maybe one kid sign up. I was wrong.

I have 30 kids in the Golf Club, and for one hour a week I have the opportunity to build a relationship, encourage, and support each one of them. Oh, and I get to teach them the basics of golf. Walking into the school brings instant excitement and joy. Last week I was walking in as my 3rd graders were loading up on the school bus for a field trip. They looked at me and said, “Coach Justin, do we get to have golf today?!?”

I said, “Not today, y’all have a field trip planned.”

“Oh man! Can we golf instead?”

It was an amazing moment for me. I couldn’t get them out of a field trip, but the fact that within a month of starting they were already disappointed if they missed golf showed how quickly we can engage and build relationships. Not to mention, during my first month I have had several teachers tell me that they started playing again after a long time of putting the clubs on the shelf, and I have non-expertly helped a couple of the tutors with their swings.

Standing at the Entrance

I am only beginning this journey and I am learning on a daily basis. For instance, I have five golfers who are left handed. I originally thought I would have one, maybe two. I had to spend some time in the garage fitting junior shafts to the one set of lefty clubs I had, but for learning purposes it has worked out so far!

Our first weather day came around a couple of weeks ago. It was raining early in the morning and was a chilly 40 degrees. Luckily, it cleared up and we were still able to get outside. But, it made me realize that we needed to have an indoor option. We will also need nets, hitting mats, and putting greens.

To this point, each kid is learning with one club, so the two junior sets I have are sufficient. The day is fast approaching when I will need more in order for each kid to practice with different clubs.

Our 10,000 foot view of the program is to start with Hamlet Elementary, and expand to each elementary and middle school within the district. Each additional school provides more opportunities to encourage and empower kids through the game of golf.

So, what do you do with your golf club collection? Take a look around you and see if there are any youth programs, and if there aren’t…start your own.

Written by Justin Thompson, vintage golf club fanatic. Stay tuned for more vintage golf equipment posts from Justin on DrivingRangeHeroes.com.