Card of the Day: Johnny Miller 1981 Donruss Golf #30

Advertisements

Card of the Day: Sergio Garcia 2001 Upper Deck Golf #3

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Arnold Palmer’s Multi-Colored Golf Umbrella Logo Pin

Arnold Palmer’s multi-colored golf umbrella is one of the most recognized logos in the world.  Throughout the 50’s and 60’s his golf career really began to take off.  From a business point of view, it made sense to setup Arnold Palmer Enterprises, Inc.  After much discussion and legal consultation, they landed on using a multi-colored golf umbrella as the company’s logo.  You could easily say that Arnold Palmer was the first globally known golfer.  His brand stands for pure excellence.

You can find the classic umbrella logo on all kinds of merchandise.  Among all of the items, simple lapel pins are the most popular.  Its not uncommon for employees of ‘APE’ to carry pins in their pockets to hand out during events.  Even Arnold Palmer himself use to throw a few in his golf bag to giveaway.  You would think that his official shop would have pins for sale, but I don’t see any.  I believe the pins are used for promotional purposes.  They usually come affixed to a black piece of cardboard.  Underneath the pin it says “With Compliments” followed by an Arnold Palmer facsimile signature.

Mr. Palmer was a true classy guy.  He enjoyed interacting with his fans “Arnie’s Army” as much as possible.  When signing his autograph, he always made sure it was legible.  Many other professional athletes could learn a lesson or two from him.

Card of the Day: Ben Crenshaw 1982 Donruss Golf #20

Flashback Product of the Week: 2001 Upper Deck Golf

Golf cards have come a long way since Upper Deck brought them back in 2001.  Who would have thought that golf collectors would have been given the Exquisite treatment last year?  It was deserved, but I didn’t think it would ever come.

I don’t think any card company could get away today with what Upper Deck did with it’s premiere edition golf set.  Boxes of 2001 Upper Deck Golf do not come with any specific amounts of game-used or autographed cards.  You could very easily open a box and only pull base cards and inserts.  That’s probably why boxes of this stuff sell for next to nothing.  Its the total opposite of the Exquisite brand.  You could say that Upper Deck was slowly making it’s way into golf cards.

Tiger Woods was the poster child for this product when it came out.  He has more cards in here than anybody.  Even though this product features the first cards for a lot of golfers, most have cards in older products.  Many cards are considered rookies simply because its the first time Upper Deck made a card of them.  When I think of a Tiger Woods rookie card, Upper Deck doesn’t even come to mind right away.  I think about his Sports Illustrated for Kids rookie first.

Relic cards and autographs are quite difficult to pull.  I believe relics fall 1:12 boxes and the autographs are even harder to find.  Despite the fall from grace Tiger Woods has had, his stuff is still in high demand.  2001 Upper Deck Golf  is the lowest form of a golf product that Upper Deck has made.

2014 Upper Deck SP Game Used Edition Golf Box Break

I’ve been wanting to open some Upper Deck golf products for awhile.  While attending the National I decided to rip into a box of 2014 Upper Deck SP Game Used Edition Golf.  Here is what I got.  Upper Deck sure does make some nice looking cards.

Auto/Relic

• Patrick Cantlay First Tee Rookies Shirt/Auto #’ed/399

Auto

• Luke Guthrie Auto #’ed/25
• D.H. Lee Board Letter Marks Auto #’ed/35

Relics

• Colin Montgomerie Tour Gear Dual Shirt
• Craig Stadler/Kevin Stadler Tour Gear Combos Shirt
• Nick Faldo/Ernie Els Front 9 Dual Swatch Combos Shirt/Cap #’ed/25

Golf Collectors Feast Your Eyes On 2014 Upper Deck Exquisite Golf

The very high-end brand from Upper Deck known as Exquisite has covered basketball, baseball, football, hockey, and now golf.  Feast your eyes on these awesome looking, museum quality cards that I’m sure will make fantastic centerpieces to anyone’s golf collection.  On-card autographs, shadowboxes, multi-colored swatches, and booklets just scratch the surface as to what this product has in store.  I highly doubt that there is a single bad box.  That unfortunately does come with a cost.  And in the case of Exquisite Golf its a significant one.  Boxes are currently pre-selling  online for almost $700.00.  I know there are a lot of hardcore golf collectors out there, but whether or not they want to spend that much on a box is another question.  Upper Deck will be giving away a few boxes during the National this year.