About
Collecting Golf Photographs and golf memorabilia has been a life-long passion for Ron Watts. Now his incredible collection of Golf Photographs is available to the public!
* Ron Watts was, until recently, a part owner (co-founded along with his brother Edwin) of the largest retailer of Golf Equipment in the world, the Edwin Watts Golf Shops.
Historic Golf Photos is a collection of copyrighted photographs assembled by Ron Watts over his lifetime. This vast collection commemorates golf legends from before the turn of the 20th century to the present day.
In 1999 Ron Watts expanded his collection with the addition of 150,000+ images from the life work of renowned West Coast photographer Chuck Brenkus. In addition to shooting golfers on the courses, Chuck Brenkus also possessed the insight and the intense desire to explore the various golfers’ swings with the aid of high-speed photographic methods and techniques both innovative and progressive for the day. Using a specially modified high-speed camera he captured the swings of many of golf’s greats on film at the rate of 70 frames per second. Search category “Sequences”to see some examples or call us to see if we have swing sequences of the golfer you desire.
The photographs you find here on our website represent only a small portion of the history contained in the Ron Watts Collection which continues to grow every year. In all, this collection numbers over 500,000+ images (photos, slides & negatives) including St. Andrews pictures, Pebble Beach golf course pictures as well as many of Golf’s Greatest Players!
Please feel free to browse our website and enjoy finding photographs of golfers well known, and even those not so well known. Our website is only a taste of Ron Watts’ ever-growing collection. For 13,000+ framed golf pictures visit us online. And if you are looking for a specific photo of a golfer, feel free to contact us by phone or e-mail. (1-800-868-9155 or info@historicgolf.com)
One of our most popular golf pictures is commonly referred to as “The Lost Bet” which shows Arnold Palmer paying on a golfing bet to a young Jack Nicklaus in 1963. We also have a limited quantity of the famous Ben Hogan 1-iron shot at Merion.
We now carry an ever increasing number of golf course pictures from a variety of famous photographers.
In response to popular demand, we are now currently offering an option to have many of these photographs printed “Giclee” Process on Fine Art Paper. These golf course photos look fantastic printed this way! This printing method option looks particularly beautiful and the photos acquire and emit an aesthetic quality almost like a fine painting.
We are a member of the following groups: The Photo Marketing Association, The Professional Picture Framers Association, The Digital Image Marketing Association, The National Association of Photoshop Professionals, & The United States Golf Association.