Homepage of The Jackdaws
Golf ballmarkers on the web.
Links to other sites - and a warning
Why not - once you have finished looking here - look at some of our favourite sites? But before you go, sign our guestbook, or leave a few words on our forum. The buttons are above. Do have a look on our forum, if nowhere else, as we use that to notify you of trips we intend to make, so if you need any particular markers for your collection, the forum may tell you when one of us may be able to pick some up for you.
NEW SITE WITH LOADS OF PICS OF BALL MARKERS http://ballmarkercollectorsclub.viviti.com
We now have a second site - not as dedicated as this one to ballmarkers, but full of golfing trivia, quirks and oddities. And some of it may even be true. The Jackdaws' Nest is where you will find all sorts of goodies. Click here to go there.
You can access the Britsh Golf Museum's site by clicking here.
For updates on the PGA Tour, click here
Find the latest news on the European Tour here
And the news from the Ladies' Tour, the LPGA, is here
For the latest golf news from the BBC, and links to other sites from there, click here
Welcome...
Hello and welcome to the homepage of The Jackdaws, a band of trustworthy souls dedicated to the gentle pursuit of collecting golf ballmarkers. We sincerely hope that you enjoy your time here, and you are more than welcome to seek to join our motley but happy crew. It was one of our former number who first described us as The Jackdaws, due to our habit of collecting all things shiny.
STOP PRESS Jackdaws GOLF & Marker SWAP MEET 2/3 September
Who are we?
Just a few chaps who have something in common, namely that we all collect golf ballmarkers. We meet up now and again to have chat, swap markers and play a game of golf to work up a thirst for drinking beer. To prove we are not too abnormal, we have put some photos on this site, and you can access them by using the button above.
We are all club golfers, of various standards, and enthusiastic collectors who are keen to hear from you whether you are an established collector yourself or totally new to the hobby. We are happy to exchange markers with you on a one-off basis, or more regularly. Even if you have just a few markers from courses local to you, they could well form the basis of a fruitful relationship. Likewise if your work takes you to various parts of the country, so that you might be able to call into certain golf clubs to pick up a marker or two.
By all means get in touch and see what we can offer each other. E-mail to mark.oakley9@btinternet.com and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
Thus far we are a few in number. We are;
Arthur is our man in Nottinghamshire. He lives on the borders of Notts., Lincs and Yorkshire and has played golf for 40 years, attaining a handicap of 4 for many years. He was captain of his club - Serlby Park - in 1995 and now plays off 7. Arthur's wife also plays golf off a handicap of 11. He also likes fishing and birdwatching. He started collecting markers from courses which he had played amounting to more than 500, both home and abroad. He would like to collect markers from all over the world, especially small brass ones which he prefers to the modern markers.
Brian lives in Southampton. He has been retired for about 2 years. He started collecting ballmarkers about 4 1/2 years ago, but went through a period about a year ago when he nearly gave it up. There was not much happening in the way of new collectors or much in the way of markers for 'auction'. He put some markers on eBay to sell when he was contacted by Phil, who asked if he was interested in joining the group to give another outlet in both directions. Brian gave it a go and got the interest back. His collection is made up from all counties. He has a good collection of Irish and Scottish markers, and also has collections of Centenary and Royal markers. US Masters, and general Bitish ones.
Mark is our Norfolk representative, who started collecting in 2007 mainly to try to keep his son, Sam, interested in golf. Sam's interest in golf has, of late, taken a back seat while he chases girls, though he still keeps his interest in markers and eagerly looks forward to getting new ones. Mark has however now been bitten by the bug himself, and he and Sam collect not only GB markers, but foreign ones as well. Mark is a keen golfer, his current handicap being 11. Mark's home club is Wensum Valley, which hosts one of the Europro Tour events each year. Other interests include darts and motor cycling. Mark retired from the legal profession in 1999.
Martin is a Lincolnshire man. He is retired (but not yet retiring age). He plays his golf at Kenwick Park which is a fine golf course just outside Louth in Lincolnshire. Kenwick Park is a relatively new golf course as it was opened in 1992 and stands on the eastern side of the Lincolnshire Wolds in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is a tight golf course with tree lined fairways and many water hazards. Martin started to collect golf ball markers about three years ago and has just over 2000 markers. Just over 1000 of these markers are from different golf clubs in England, with 120 from Ireland, 60 from Wales, but the pride of his collection is the 409 different golf club markers he has from Scotland. Scotland is the home of golf and Martin tries to make at least a couple of trips every year to play different courses. He believes there to be about 530 courses of nine holes or longer in Scotland and currently there are over 100 that don't have their own ball marker so there are not many more to collect. The rest of Martin's collection is made up of markers for the four "majors".
Mick lives in Kettering. He taught RMT (Woodwork/Metalwork etc.) in Corby for 35 years, before he took early retirement in 1998 but he is still teaching 3 days a week in a special needs school in Wellingborough. He teaches 3 days a week and play golf 2 days a week (not bad). Mick took up golf in the late 60’s, and was a member of Royal Cromer, but gave up golf in the late 70’s when his second child arrived. He has played on and off ever since, but very irregularly. He started playing regularly again in about 2006. He is a member of Pytchley Lodge Golf Club (handicap 25), but play mainly at Priors Hall, Corby. He plays each month with a golfing society called Pitchmark, playing courses mainly in the Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Northants area. Like most of us, Mick used to collect ballmarkers as mementos of courses he had played, and started buying off E-bay concentrating on courses he had played but did not have markers for, Royal courses and Ryder Cup markers. Having bought a number of markers from Phil, he got an e-mail suggesting he was a bit of a “Jackdaw”. After initially declining the invitation to join, he attended the meet at Abbotsley, enjoyed the company and the event and have taken it from there.
Phil's home patch is Cambridgeshire though his home is St Neots close to the A1 North/South or the A428 East/West, so he gets about and can pick up a number of markers within 30 minutes or so. Beds/Cambs/Northants/West Herts. He is semi retired and when he does work he makes sure he passes/stops at a few golf courses to pick up markers! His golf game/handicap is currently in the doldrums 13.6 though it was down to 11, quite recently. Phil is an ex Captain of a local club. Despite his poor golf of late, he loves the game & also loves collecting ball markers from GB&I, plus Spain, France, Portugal and Myrtle Beach. He is particularly keen on Centenaries at present, though if it's 'bright and shiny', he is always interested.
If you are interested in joining us, on whatever type of basis, send a message to one of the links above.
ARE YOU LOOKING FOR ANY PARTICULAR MARKERS?
If so, contact us, and we may well be able to help you. As you will have seen from the above, we cover great parts of the country, so can often pick up odd markers for people who need them. Also, try looking on our forum, as we will be posting notices there in advance of trips to different parts of the country and different courses.
Centenary Review
Highly Recommended:
Most Cherished/ Hardest to Acquire:
Least Favourite/Could & should do better:
bravenet.com