Over the past few years the prices of certain flags have gone through the roof, more specifically flags from the 1st two majors that Tiger Woods has won - the 1997 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club (ANGC) and the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club.  As a quick reference both flags typically sell for a few hundred dollars unsigned.  Taking into account these could have been purchased at the course for under $50, it has made for a nice return on the investment over the past decade as Tiger assaults the record books every tournament.

Let's address the 1997 Masters flag first.  This flag is undated, so how does one identify this as being a 1997? .. it's pretty easy, just look at the center of the flag, in 1997 ANGC issued these nylon flags with the center of the USA logo COMPLETELY embroidered in gold colored yarn.  Why would they do such a thing?, mostly to help the autograph seekers get better autographs in the center on a richer looking flag.  When and Why did they stop making this flag? because they found that when you try and sign the center of these flags the pen or marker tends to get stuck in that medium and the autographs skipped, smudged or were not as nice as one would expect.  As a result they were only manufactured for that one year, 1997.  The great thing for the collectors is that Tiger won his first major that year and the rest is history.  There are sellers selling other nylon Masters undated flags but definitely look at the embroidery, if only the outline and flag of the logo is embroidered but the center looks just like the main field of the flag then it's just another undated Masters flag.  These regular undated flags were issued from 1998 and sold until 2002, they themselves are hard to find and have also increased in value considerably, although not as well as the true 1997 Masters flag.

The 1999 Medinah flag -- these are very hard to find and sometimes actually sell for more than the 1997 Masters flag.  The easiest way to identify the real flag from the fakes is to look at the left edge of the flag and the size of the metal grommets - if the grommets are about equal to the area of the edge / stiching than it's a fake, the real ones leave about 3/8" on either side of the grommet and it is double stiched all the way around.  The second thing to look for is what is referred to as the Pinny (the manufacturer) logo - think of this as the block letter "Y" that is tipped over 90 degrees to the right.  This logo is located at the top left of the southeast corner of the flag, i.e. at the bottom right of the main logo in the center.  It's hard to describe the logo, and sometimes hard to see, but you are welcomed to email me about a flag you see and I'll do my best to tell you if it's authentic.  The main thing to look for in the fake flag is that one of the "arms" of the Pinny logo is incomplete or the color of the logo is completely different than the main area of the flag and stands out considerably .  There are a few other things that would identify a replica with the real thing but these few things should help you eliminate most of the fakes sold occasionally online and give you some extra money to buy the real thing. 

NOTE:   There were two versions of this flag that was manufactured by Pinny -- both were made of nylon except that one of the flags was made of a lighter weight, slightly transparent, nylon material and did not come with the Pinny tag on the back of the flag.  This lighter nylon flag did however have the Pinny logo stiched on the front.   Aside from the differenece mentioned above, both flags were exactly alike is overall apperance, including logo, stiching, grommets, color and size.

FAKE FLAGS:  As a result of these rare flags there are a few sellers selling replica flags from tournaments, more specifically majors, in which Tiger Woods has won.  Be careful of closeup pictures of flags, unless you can see the whole flags there is a good chance it's a fake.  There is one seller I've seen regularly selling fakes under 3 or 4 different id's (based in Georgia).  This guy takes turns selling under the different id's so people don't always realize it's the same seller.  If you take a look at this sellers feelback you'll see it's less than pristine, and definitely look at the number of ratings mutually withdrawn.  This particular seller has about 10% of his feedback mutually withdrawn.  All this means is that if someone leaves him a negative, he retaliates by leaving a negative for the buyer and they both mutually withdraw because no one wants to have a negative on their account.  The problem becomes the sellers negatives don't show up and people believe he is a good seller.  ALWAYS CHECK the number of withdrawn comments, if it's a good percentage of their feedback be very careful.

The final rare Tiger Woods majors flag would have to be the 2000 100th US Open Pebble Beach flag made with the beige / tan canvas material and has a completely embroidered logo.  There are also white canvas versions of this flag available but the tan is the more difficult one to find.  There are the silk screened flags from the various years but they are very common.  These flags rarely come up for auction.

In the end, it's one thing to pay a premium on an authetic flag but why would you want to pay a premium on a fake.  By not doing your homework and paying that premium price on the replica, all it does is fuel the desire of the seller to obtain more cheap flags and turn it over for a nice margin. 

I have tried to add pics to this and my other guides but the ebay system isn't cooperating.   

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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