Big Play

"In 2002 there was one drive over 400 yards on Tour. This year there have been 24. I wonder if the extra distance is only from equipment?"

HOT ITEMS

Last week, the Jeffery B. Ellis Antique Golf Club Collection was sold at auction by Sotheby's for $2,166,210, the highest total for a golf memorabilia collection. Ellis, 55, a golf historian from Oak Harbor, Wash., and runner-up in the 1982 U.S. Mid-Amateur, was a full-time collector for 30 years and gathered almost 800 items spanning four centuries, from the 1600s to the end of the hickory shaft era in the 1930s. Why sell? "It's been so much stress to maintain," he says. "When I'd leave home, I used to wonder if there'd be a fire." Ellis described seven of his favorite items for GOLF PLUS.

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

GOLF MAGAZINE TOP 100
TEACHERS POLL

Which Cup is your favorite?

Presidents .......................6%

Ryder ............................. 94%

"The events should be combined so it's the U.S. against the World. Nobody wants to play every year."
-- MARK WOOD, CORNERSTONE CLUB