The exponential rise in the popularity of golf, due primarily to the Tiger Woods phenomenon over the past decade, has also increased the demand for Tiger Woods signed memorabilia.  Note that although I reference Tiger often in this guide, it just as well applies to the other popular golfers, i.e. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, etc..

Although there are many areas to cover, I’ll stay with a few main thoughts.  Hopefully the information in this guide will help you to make a worthwhile purchase: 

BUY QUALITY :  If you are going to buy an autograph, why would you waste your hard earned money on signatures that are scribbled.  After all wouldn’t you prefer to display an item which has a crisp and clean signature of the athlete.  Think about it, would you hang up your own signature after the first check you signed or the 30th you signed in a few minutes.  Buying quality isn’t always a bargain, but the accolades you’ll receive displaying a nice item will be worth the investment.  The amazing part is people still pay hundreds on buying a few fake items instead of paying a reasonable premium for the real thing.  As long as there are buyers like this there will be sellers catering to them with their fake goods.

NEVER buy strictly based on a hologram or certificate of authenticity, COA.  Even if the COA is from one of the “Major” authentication service companies, don’t expect it to be 1000% authentic.  Most COA's aren't worth the paper they are written on.  The big authenticators do and have made mistakes, even their wording in the COA will state it’s only their opinion, so what is really accomplished with a COA?  In an ideal world, the provenance of a signature shouldn’t be determined by an outside certifier who didn’t obtain the signature, there are far better quality items on eBay without a COA than with one.  I’ve seen them not approve an item unless they are given absolute provenance, let’s think about that .. if there is absolute provenance – who needs to pay for their opinion.  There job should be to qualify an autograph based on what’s in front of them and not on who brought it in.  The fact is these companies offer a subjective opinion and are not very objective.  One “expert” won’t believe another differing “expert” opinion so what good is paying for their COA?  These comments pertain to what I’ve seen in Tiger autographs, so although they may be great at authenticating baseball or other memorabilia, IMO their authenticating expertise in this growing sport is limited.

NEVER buy based on whether the seller is certified with a collectors society.  Although there are some great sellers, you can’t exclusively use that as a reference in collecting autographs.  It’s inexpensive to get certified, one can join one of these group and then start selling using the group acronym as their expertise reference.

NEVER buy based on feedback.  A high feedback rating doesn’t guarantee authenticity.  In general, a seller with a lower feedback and selling higher priced quality items is a better source for signed items than one with a high feedback and cheaper items sold.  You can also search a sellers past sales on eBay, under "Advanced Search" at the top right of most eBay pages.  If the seller is selling the same autographs on different media, or consistent quantities, there is a good chance it’s fake.  The fact is a signature varies for everyone from one signing to the next, as slight as it might be, so you need to be cautious when you see the same autograph consistently from a seller.  Use eBay’s tools to do the research.  Some sellers have multiple selling id’s so it doesn’t look like they are selling too many of the same items.  You should check via eBay to see what State they are selling from, and if the signatures are similar from different sellers, but they are from the same State, there is a good chance the sellers are in collusion, are related or are the same person.

BE CAREFUL:  With the advent of local eBay drop off franchises that help you sell your item on eBay, it’s getting easier for some of these sellers to use these outlets to sell their fake goods.  They drop off their fake items to these stores and the stores sell them without thought because all they want is their commission.  The forger selling these goods doesn’t care about the commission, because they are selling a worthless item and getting a nice return on it without having to take responsibility for it nor prove its’ authenticity.   Some of these sellers already have multiple id’s to sell these forged goods, and are now sending even more fake items to these franchises to sell.  To make matters worse, some of these forgers are now bidding on their own items being sold through the franchise to prop up the prices.  When you do the research on these various sellers, you'll find some reliable patterns in the items they are selling, those sold as well as the similarities in their autographs from different sellers.  Why rush into buying a fake, invest some time before you invest your money.   Also be aware of sellers that pop up out of nowhere with an unlimited supply of signatures to sell -- regardless of feedback.  Beware of sellers that have a disproportionate amount of signed items from the big names.  You'll find that some of these sellers sell a lot of items in a short time and then they leave for months and the cycle continues under alternate id's.  Use eBay's Advanced Search feature to do your homework on these sellers.  Always be careful of any auction in which the seller ONLY accepts Paypal.  The reason being Paypal will not help you get the sellers address, or any other information, aside from an email.  Couple that with the false information these sellers use to open eBay account will make it practically impossible to get your money back.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE:  Look at the top of the auction to see where the item is listed under.  If is not listed under the autographs-original category (in small print above the item description) -- this should be a big RED FLAG.  Some sellers are intentionally selling preprints using words like signed, autographed, etc in the title but putting these preprints in their proper category.  BUYER BEWARE.  It's easy to be mislead with preprints so check the simple things first and then ask questions.  This simply eliminates another way for someone to infer its an authentic item when in fact it is not.  Other sellers knowingly put preprints in the autographs-original heading so always ask questions before assuming it's the real thing.  Sellers do make honest mistakes in the category listed for their item, just not that often so always be aware of these potential games that are played.

BY THE WAY:  Have you ever wondered how these sellers from outside the USA have unlimited number of Tiger Woods signed items?  Common sense would tell you that in order for them to get that many items signed then Tiger must have visited their country at least every day for a year, just to get the signatures these sellers sell weekly.  Let's face it,  these sellers are selling what must be a hand signed Tiger items that they hand signed for Tiger.  There is a reason why it's been proven that over 90% of autographs on ebay are fakes, and many of these international sellers with multiple id's, selling tons of items, definitely skews the numbers unfortunately.  It's just amazing these guys can sell this garbage day in day out and there isn't anything done by eBay mostly because they are based out of the country.  Consumers -- you have to be the police for yourselves and for others so be careful before buying internationally.

Will you still make a mistake in purchasing even though you’ve done all the research possible?  Odds are yes, but at least you will have minimized your error percentage and increased your odds of buying an authentic item.   Also keep in mind this applies to other recent golfing greats such as Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.  In general, if I had a choice to collect a multi signed item or one single signed item of Tiger Woods, I would prefer the latter unless the multi-signed item contains only other golfing greats.

Initially, I would recommend that you use the large card manufacturers’ autographed items for recent reference to a quality Tiger autograph.   In the case of Tiger Woods, he has a contract with Upper Deck to sign items since 2001.  You can go to the upperdeck.com, or check on eBay for Tiger Woods UD / UDA signed items, and use the variations you see in their items as a reference of how Tiger signed in 2001 and how he signs now.   Since his signing with UD, his signature has been a lot more consistent -- for those collecting recent autographs that would be a great reference.  Don’t be afraid to save pictures on your hard drive for future reference, it’s a great tool.  The only problem being if you save a bad autograph then you will think all that look like that are good.

Tiger’s 1990-1999 signature is quite different compared to his recent signature so do some research before assuming an autograph is real.  After all he was only 15 in 1990 and still finding his way, his first USGA Junior Amateur victory didn’t come until 1991.  In the end you can’t go wrong collecting a quality autograph whether recent or vintage, just do your research and reading these guides is a great start. Just look at my auctions for reference autographs from various years.
 
To all readers of my guides, if you do find any of this information useful a "YES" vote at the bottom is always appreciated.  If you don't, you can send me an email and tell me what would help to make this a better guide.  I'm sure some sellers will find this information offensive and leave me a negative review but it is intended to only edcuate the buyer and not offend the seller.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions about my items or another item you see on eBay.

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