In order to clue you in on the potential costs involved. At an auction in England a single programme for the 1951 Portrush Open Championship (the only Open Championship held outside mainland Britian) sold for Stg1,375. Only a few months later three of these programmes one of which had been signed by the eventual winner Max Faulkner plus a number of other desirable open championship programmes sold for Ir£2.500. 

The latter had a guide price of Ir£40-Ir£50 on all these programmes they could have expected between Stg£4000-Stg5000 if the they were sold separately. The Portrush programme is a particularly rare programme for a collector of the Open Championship memorabilia and you are unlikely to see another for some time unless the high bidder in the above auction puts them back up for auction. If you decided you wanted to get your hand on Fred Daly's open programme from Hoylake 1947 again you can expect to pay Stg£500-Stg£600.

One of the oldest programmes in existence is actually an Irish Amateur Open programme from 1900 which was played over the Newcastle Royal County Down links and won by Harold Hilton. This programme has been professional appraised at between $1000-$2000 and is probably the rarest piece of Irish golf programme to come up for auction, it eventually sold for EUR650.

In July 1995 Sotheby's listed Max Faulkner's Open Championship medal for sale but it was withdrawn with a Guide Price of Stg20,000-Stg30,000.

"An Open Championship Cased Medal hallmarked Sheffield 1950 Walker and Hall in original case, won by Max Faulkner with a score of 285 in the Open Championship at the Royal Portrush Golf Club Co Antrim Northern Ireland - the only time in history that the Open Championship has been played off the mainland. Max was known as the 'Clown Prince' of golfers and one of the first players to wear exotic colours, his favourite being Canary yellow. 1 5/8ths ins (4cm)"   

                                            Sotheby's 1995

When Bobby Locke's collection was sold off by Christies in 1993 one of the lots contained his 1938 Irish Open Championship medal which eventually sold for Stg£2,070.

The Golfing Union of Ireland Open Championship 1938, gold and enamel winner's medal , 1 5/8in (3cm) wide in original blue leather fitted case. The Irish Open of 1938 was played at Portmarnock, in difficult conditions, with the final round to play Henry Cotton was leading by five strokes from Locke but a finish by Locke of four consecutive birdies gave him a final round of 70 and a total of 292 to win from Cotton by two strokes. 

                                            Christies 1993

Golf Art is also much sought after and early pictures of the Irish Golf courses are no less treasured. One of the main exponents of this in the early years was James Michael Brown (1853-1947) a land and seascape artist whose passion for Golf was transposed to his art.

J Michael Brown Original Artwork for the LIFE ASSOCIATION OF SCOTLAND Calender 1914, ROYAL COUNTY DOWN G.C. 1913 signed Michael Brown , watercolour and pencil 12.5"x19.5" (32x50cm). It shows the Rt Hon The Earl Ormealey, Col. Robert H Wallace CBE. Mr Lionel C Munn and Mr Harold Reader driving with the town of Newcastle Co Down and the Mourne Mountains in the background.

                                                        Sotheby's 1995

Early Golf Balls and clubs were made in Ireland however there are very few examples of these today. Fred Smyth who operated out of the Royal Dublin Golf Club engraved some of his hickory shafted golf clubs but there have been very few significant finds relating to Irish Golf. Similarily with Golf Balls the rarest of which is probably the 'Portrush Lily' which was made by John Veitch Aitken the Portrush golfer who named his golf ball after his daughter.   

Autographs are not generally as sought after by the Irish Collectors as it would be by their foreign counterparts. Obviously Fred Daly would be one of our more sought after autographs but this would obviously not be as rare as the earlier golfers which would command even higher prices. Gilchrist's guide to golf collectibles estimates the value of autographs and included in this very extensive list are Rhona Adair ($75), Fred Daly ($50), Harry Bradshaw ($20), Jimmy Bruen ($45), Joe Carr ($25), Philomena Garvey ($10), May Hezlet ($100) and Himself ($20). These prices would increase if the signature was on a item of significance eg programme, book etc which would make it more historically significant. The most unusual piece of Irish autographed golfiana came up for auction in 2000, it was a menu from the Grand Central Hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland signed by Walter Hagen, Joe Kirkwood and Walter Smith (Hagen's caddie) these signatures were obtained in person on 14th September 1937 by a Mrs Denning, an employee of the Hotel. Mrs Denning collected autographs of all the noteable personalities of the 1930s, both in Sport and Entertainment, who stayed at the Grand Central in Belfast. It sold for $138 at auction.

The earlier Irish Golf Magazines are also rare finds and do not often appear under the auctioneers gavel. The earliest of these magazines is 'The Irish Golfer' which began publication in September 1898? (the Rev John Kerr aka The Sporting Padre assembled a collection of Golfiana for a Glasgow exhibition and the catalogue suggests the Irish Golfer began in 1898) and another magazine 'Irish Golf' which began in 1927.

Just bear in mind everything has a value in the world of golf memorabilia and there will always be some individual who will thinks there a a big void in their life unless they have got that particular item which commemorates an event, golfer, course etc. although you may have to be patient to find out who it is. Whether it be a photograph, marker, badge, scorecard just think twice about discarding it as it might pay part of your next green fee or all of your next holiday. Alternatively your first instincts may have been correct and it is in fact worthless.