Lifelong collector of 'stuff' who's himself the stuff of legend

MEMORABILIA AND COLLECTIBLES PART 12:Alistair Smith still has the first ball his father gave him 55 years ago. Gary Moranvisited the champion collector and doyen of golf historians

EVER SINCE I started research for these columns and chatting to some of the coterie of people in Ireland who consider themselves to be even semi-serious golf collectors, the name of one man kept cropping up.

His collection was said to be so awesome and his knowledge so vast that when I went to visit Alistair Smith earlier this month, I almost expected to be disappointed. It was hard to believe the meeting could live up to the advance publicity. It did.

Smith is a Scot in his 60s who took up the game at the age of five. Golf ran in the family and he still has the first club and the first ball that his father gave him.

Playing as well as collecting got him in thrall at an early age and never let go. He was once off scratch and is now off five, but in collecting he is a serious plus man.

That first ball and its insides, long since oozed through the skin, are mounted on a small wooden base. If that gives an impression that Smith's collection is a lot of beaten-up, insignificant junk then nothing could be further from the truth.

He has clubs beautifully restored in his own workshop, historic photographs and prints tastefully framed and rare books lining the shelves of the room he had to build on to his house to accommodate just a fraction of his collection.

It's as good as walking into a museum, and in fact the Golfing Union of Ireland recently met with Smith for ideas on setting up their own exhibits at their Carton House headquarters.

Smith has a near-40-year headstart on them; having come to Ireland on a six-month work assignment in 1970, he has lived here ever since and immersed himself in the history of Irish golf.

He has on his shelves copies of The Golfing Handbook for every year from 1909 to 1989. He has the best-known, though not complete, collection of The Irish Golfer magazine, which was published from 1899 to 1905.

It is an invaluable source on the history of Irish golf, and Smith has helped several clubs with centenary publications - he knows things about clubs they don't know themselves; he discovered, for instance, that several clubs celebrated centenaries in the wrong year.

He also has the extremely rare Irish Golfer's Guide from 1910 and 1912, photographs of every Irish Amateur Open winner since 1892 except CA Palmer in 1913 and TA Torrance in 1925, photographs of every Close winner since 1893 except AH Craig in 1912 (please let us know if you can plug those gaps) and photographs of the winners of all 62 championships played at Portmarnock, where he helps with the club archives - that's like having Tiger Woods help with your game.

His club collection includes a Wilson 8802 putter with a beautiful full-length cover and over 400 hickory-shafted clubs fashioned by some of the most revered clubmakers of times past, including Forgan of Scotland.

There are rut irons and cleeks, long-nose woods and lofting irons and several Sunday clubs that looked like walking sticks but could be turned around to hit a few balls when nobody was looking in the days when golf was banned on the Sabbath.

Many are valuable and beautiful to look at and hold, though Smith admits he accumulated plenty of junk before becoming more focused on quality rather than quantity.

Compared to other collectors he has a very broad range, the historical book collection being particularly good and cherished.

When the golf historian Richard Donovan and the USGA museum director Rand Jerris authored the two-volume reference Game of Golf and the Printed Word 1566-2005, their aim was to list every golf book ever published. Smith has three books that are not listed.

The only Irish set of golfing cigarette cards (Churchman's Jovial Cards) was listed in the reference books as containing 72 cards. Smith collected the lot and found a 73rd - the reference books had to be changed.

He has a Harry Bradshaw bubblegum card, old footage of Jimmy Bruen playing, golf-themed drinks coasters and whiskeys, golf balls made from chocolate, golf balls that sing, light up, float or dispense salt and pepper. (On the serious side he has a feather and several gutta-percha balls). He has golf spoons and scorecards, ceramics and bronzes, stamps and postcards, tees and markers.

He has traced the winner's medal from the first Irish Professional championship to Florida and hopes to acquire it for Portmarnock, where the tournament was played in 1908.

In general though, he doesn't have to spend his days looking.

"People phone me now and tell me there's stuff," he says matter-of-factly. And if they give him or sell him the "stuff", it has assuredly gone to a fitting home.

This column welcomes emails from readers concerning golf memorabilia and collectibles but cannot guarantee to provide valuations. If you have an interesting story or item, email collectgolf@gmail.com