PBA Galleries

Archive fills roughly 1 banker's box, and includes four inscribed original photographs, including a Pietzcker:

• 35.5x28 cm (14x11") photograph by Geo. S. Pietzcker. Inscribed by Hagen: "To Emma Haup with best Wishes. Walter Hagen."
• 30.5x23 cm (12x9") sepia tone photograph of Walter Hagen, inscribed by him "To my very good friend Tom Stevens with my best wishes always. Walter Hagen."
• 30.5x23 cm (12x9") original photograph of Walter Hagen golfing. Inscribed and signed "To Mrs. Emma Stevens The sweetest person in captivity. Sincerely 'Uncle' Walter Hagen."
• 35.5x28 cm (14x11") photograph inscribed: "To my good friend Pat 'Dae' Slaherty a good old mule. 'a real thoroughbred'. Golfingly Walter Hagen."

Plus lots of other interesting material:

• Die-cut advertising piece of a photograph of Walter Hagen displaying a golf club, mounted on cork board. 32.2 (12¾") tall. With a second piece, photograph of his Hagen golf clubs, mounted on cork board 19 (7½") tall. This is a replica of the larger life-size display that was available to retailers for display inside their store.
• 16x9 cm (6¼x3½") silverprint photograph of the Haig.
• 8¼x10" silverprint of the L.A. Young Company employees(?) at a brunch(?). Photography by MacGregor and Company, Detroit.
• Two 8¼x11" albumen silverprint photographs of the L.A. Young plant, and 1 of the 40,000 pounds of honey to be used in the making of Hagen Honey Center Balls - "just a portion of our 1935 requirements."
• 1935 sales manual: Typed pages plus albumen silverprint photograph plates illustrating the latest line from the L.A. Young Company. All housed in a 3-ring binder with dividers.
• Much of the 1934 sales manual including a few albumen silverprint photographs. Doesn't appear complete. In 3-ring binder and zipper case.
• The Walter Hagen Story. By the Haig, Himself. First Edition in original cloth binding. Simon and Schuster, 1956.
• 1965 Typed letter signed from Walter Hagen to Mr. & Mrs. Tom Stevens thanking them for their support while he was hospitalized. With mailing envelope.
• Typed list of Clubs & Pros in and Around Detroit, staple-bound.
• 8 pp. typed draft of an article titled "What Makes a Good Golf Shaft" along with a typed letter signed from the VP of The American Fork and Hoe Company to Tom Stevens. Dated 1940.
• A paper credit card issued to The L.A. Young Golf Company from The Texas Company. 1941.
• Two hand-made wooden boxes with hinged lids, for holding golf balls. Each with a golf design on lid. 1 box contains 4 Walter Hagen golf balls, plus a silver turf-hugger golf spike. (Golf balls fairly worn, 1 golf ball is split open.) Measure 6½x8½x2¼"
• 14 pp. interoffice memo from L.A. Young Golf Co. titled "The Lorythmic Golf Club Matching Scale. For the Accurate Comparison of Golf Clubs. Distributed by the Scarborough Motor Guide Company...Boston."
• Plus about a half dozen more interoffice memos from the L.A. Young Golf Co. mostly about Sales statistics and strategies. All from the archive of Tom Stevens, who was consistently a top seller, the New England representative for Hagen Products. All dating from the 1930s and early 1940s. Each is on blue paper, mimeographed, and staple-bound in top corner. The memo for the sales team dated 8/19/36 has an interesting tidbit on the last page: "Caddies at the Inglewood Golf Club in Seattle struck for privilege to smoke and gamble...especially on women's matches. Strike resulted in twenty-four leaders losing their jobs and being put on caddy black list..."
• 6 pp. interoffice memo for the sales team, dated 3/25/37. Mimeographed on blue paper (except the first leaf is white).
• 1931 4 pp. inter-office letter letter typed to A.C. Link from L.A. Young (rubberstamped signature) about sales of the Hagen Ball.
• Scrapbook, sparsely illustrated with a few things, 1 original photograph from the Tom Stevens family, plus newspaper clippings and a few interoffice memos about his success in sales with L.A. Young Co.

Plus several wrapper-bound booklets:

• Davis, Bob. The Way of a Caddie with a Man. 1926.
• Detroit Annual Golfer's Guide, 1931. A Directory of 113 Golf Courses...in and near Detroit... Complete with map at rear of location of all courses. Published by Patrick G. Jeakle Co.
• Hagen Ultra Fine Equipment. 1941.
• Hagen, Walter. Golf Clubs and How to Use Them. 1929.
• Hagen, Walter. The How and Why of Golf. c.1929.
• Cox, Wiffy. How to Cut Strokes off your Golf Score. 1960.

Archive of materials related to the second career of Walter Hagen, making and marketing golf clubs and balls (and as always, himself). He was a great golfer in the teens, twenties, and thirties. He transformed the sport of professional golf and helped create the golf celebrity, namely through his cockiness and late night activities. When he retired and used his famous persona to market several golf products including various sets of golf clubs. This archive is from the collection of Tom Stevens, of the L.A. Young Golf Company in Detroit, who was among the top sellers of Hagen and other Young Co. products. Four photographs are inscribed from Hagen to Stevens and his family.