Tennessee Golf Foundation

Dr. Callicott is honoring his father, Joe Callicott Sr. who was President of the Tennessee Golf Association in 1945, and was a golf book collector for many years. The collection includes about 250 rare books and book collection expert Mike Green, PGA, has spent nearly 100 hours cataloging and valuing the collection.

  "The Callicott Collection is one of the best private collections I have ever seen. The TGF clearly has the most preeminent collection of any state or regional association. A number of the books are over 100 years old and some have signatures that increase the value significantly. I have valued the collection conservatively in excess of $40,000 but believe if some of these were ever placed in a collector's auction, the value might be at least three times more."

Joe Callicott Sr. was a leader and active championship player in Tennessee golf. Joe Callicott was President of the Nashville District Golf Association in 1943, 1944 and 1945. As President of Richland Country Club in 1945, he was dedicated to junior golf long before it was in vogue. He instituted full club memberships at Richland for selected promising high school golfers and had the club provide free instruction and support for local tournament play.

He served as the Chairman for the creation of a practice facility at the Thayer VA Hospital for returning World War II veterans. In 1944 Joe served as chairman of the committee that brought the PGA Tour to Nashville to benefit the Thayer VA Hospital. The total prize money for this event was $10,000 and Byron Nelson won the championship hosted by Richland Country Club. He was also an avid supporter of tournament golf- regularly competing in the Nashville City Championships and himself a winner of the Richland Club Championship.

The Callicott Book Collection was dedicated on April 20, 2009 at Golf House Tennessee in a small reception honoring Joe Callicott Sr. and his contributions to Tennessee Golf. A special thanks to Dr. Joe Callicott for this marvelous gift, and to Connie Pearce and Mike Green, PGA for their help and support in memorializing this collection.

The Callicott Collection is now on display and is located at Golf House Tennessee at 400 Franklin Road, Franklin TN.

Contact:

Connie Pearce

Tennessee Golf Foundation

Phone: (615) 790-7600

Email: cpearce@pgahq.com

www.golfhousetennessee.com