How to find secondhand golf treasures
SCOTTSDALE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — David Steuben is the Thrift Golfer. “I started looking for golf clubs five years ago,” he said. From thrift stores to garage sales and secondhand shops, Steuben is always hunting for a bargain and has purchased thousands of clubs.
Steuben plays with a lot of the clubs he thrifts. He sells them, too. One of his first treasures was a collector’s edition Ben Hogan Wedge set. “They only made 1,500 sets of these wedges, and I had no idea,” he said. “This was when I first started, so I only picked up one of them, and I went home, and I looked it up, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to go back and try to find the other two.’ It was like an hour, two hours later, and they were still there, so that was how I really got started. I was like, ‘There’s no way this is possible you can actually find stuff at a Goodwill,’ and then I found that,’” he explained. It was a $6 purchase worth hundreds.
Goodwill’s Erin Gray says new golf gear is always being donated. “When you shop at Goodwill, it’s truly a treasure hunt,” she said. “A lot of these brand names are so affordable. We’ve got some golf clubs here for $3 and $4.”
We also found golf balls, clothes and hats for the course, and golf bags for about $15. “We get new items in our stores every single day,” Gray said. “But I know that a lot of people like to go through through their closets and donate on the weekend, so maybe Monday or Tuesday coming out and checking what’s in the stores.”
For Steuben, the treasure hunt takes a lot of research. “Japanese brands are really big,” he said. “A lot of forged clubs, signature clubs, or things that aren’t made anymore. Brands that have gone away are pretty popular.” The Thrift Golfer also relies on a little gut feeling. “If it looks good, I always just pick it up,” he said. “A lot of people I’ve sold to on eBay, I’ll get messages from them. They’re older, and they’re like, ‘I played this when I was in high school in 1960,’ and they want the same clubs that they had back then.”
The Goodwill golf game can be really rewarding, but there are also a lot of misses along the way. “There are a lot of times, I’ll spend three and not find anything, especially nowadays. There’s a lot more people doing what I’m doing,” Steuben said.
Though Steuben has found valuable clubs, there’s still one special club that has remained elusive. “I’ve not found the Scotty Cameron putter yet, but that is on my list,” he said. That means the Thrift Golfer has more thrifting to do.
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