Now on the Tee… The Racket of Scotty Cameron
The market for Scotty Cameron putters is pretty silly. Tour putters go for thousands of dollars on ebay, Facebook swap shop groups, and at gatherings. The market for Scotty headcovers? You have no idea.
First, let’s get our heads around just how many headcovers are floating around out there. Scotty started releasing headcovers back in 2002 for his Club Cameron members. Club Cameron is a fan club you can join, as long as you renew your membership every year for $99. Every year, there is a new “kit” you get for shacking up to sit at your computer so you can wait to buy socks so your putter stays nice and warm.
Scotty first started making headcovers with themes that essentially didn’t make any sense like the lobster cover from 2003. In 2004, he made the first cover in honor of one of the Majors (The Masters, US Open, British Open, and PGA Championship).
The 2004 “Road to Augusta” cover marked the beginning of a new collecting addiction for thousands of wealthy bored husbands. Scotty began a pretty steady flow of covers for the Majors as well as holidays like Halloween and Christmas. Later on, he also made covers for the PGA Tour’s start of the season in Hawaii and for PGA and Web.com (The minor league of pro golf) events in Las Vegas, Florida, and Louisiana. How many are made for each occasion? Usually the whatever the year is; for the Florida and Louisiana covers, 500 is more common. Oh, and did I mention he made Beanie Babies one time? They are shown in the picture at the top of this article. Those have, surprisingly, become valuable unlike any other Beanie Baby.
As of today, Scotty makes covers to celebrate the Majors, Hawaii, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day, The Web.com event in Louisiana, Cinco de Mayo, a Web.com event in Idaho??Good god that is terrifying, Web.com event in Florida, the Ryder Cup, Halloween, Las Vegas (Not for a tour event anymore, just for irony’s sake. To remind us he goes to Vegas with all our money we have given him. His way of saying ‘wow you guys are dumb’), and last but not least Christmas. 15 headcovers every year. This year, Scotty will make 27,221 covers.
Now, you may be thinking to yourself: I was just going to put a bunch of money in a big pile and light it on fire, but maybe I will buy these headcovers instead. Well, let’s talk prices. Material is a big factor in how much a cover will cost you. Basically, anything that isn’t leather or gator skin no I am serious ALLIGATOR SKIN will run around the $72 mark. For leather and god damn gator skin, you are looking at $120-$131. (Psst, that means the average cost is about $98, so Scotty makes $2,688,073 off covers alone)
Now, let me add that these are the prices if you are able to snipe one from Scotty’s website. If we enter the world of Scotty Cameron headcovers on third party sites, prices vary. A lot of the time, if the cover you are looking for is popular it will cost you a lot more than the original $72 or $125. I implore you to go to ebay, search “Scotty Cameron headcover” and sort the prices by most expensive first. Yeah it — oh my god are you kidding me.
Actually, that…tiffany blue… gator skin cover brings me to my next point. Scotty also makes one off covers for his gallery in Encinitas California. This shop is basically a boutique for all his products. That’s where $1,800 headcovers come from. I have personally made the journey to his golf Mecca, which is a story for another time.
The marketplace for Scotty Cameron headcovers can at any one time have over 2,000 pieces for sale on ebay alone. There is also a Facebook group called the Scotty Cameron Swap Shop, where more devout SC followers buy and trade their wares. I came to a point in my life and my collecting of Scotty merchandise that it didn’t make sense for me to have all these club socks sitting around in my closet. I can only use one at any given time, displaying them made me feel dumb, and they cost a lot of goddamn money. So I ventured into the lion’s den of the Scotty Cameron Swap Shop.
In total, I put up 21 covers for sale. Most were “gamed” or as I put it used for what they were friggin’ made for. Prices varied, but almost all were at least $70. For the most part, the experience of dealing with the clientele — read: older white guys, all with the same profile picture of them playing golf, no sign of their very much real spouse — was pretty easy, apart from the fact they had no idea what the covers were called; “How much for the uhhhh smiley balls one?” Oh you mean the Happy Holidays cover?
I sold most of my headcovers before my For Sale post drifted back into the vast blackness of old Facebook posts. Sooner or later I will get around to selling the rest.
As much of a cynical, bitter Scotty Cameron fanatic I am, my love for the brand and the putters and covers he makes hasn’t really wavered okay maybe a little bit that one time with the potato woman cover. No one else in golf makes the stuff Scotty does. The covers are of extremely high quality and the ideas he comes up with are always except for potato woman really cool. The prices are insane, but I am more of a “I’ll find the one cover I really want and buy that instead of having 100 different ones” kind of collector now. My Holy Grail? The 2008 US Open. If I ever find one, I will have bought my last cover. I will still be in need a new putter every few weeks though, can’t make a damn thing and I know it’s not MY FAULT.
