Golf trading cards have been available since 1900 and were quite popular in the United Kingdom during the late 1920's when several Bobby Jones tobacco cards were produced. In 1933 the Goudey Gum Company produced the true rookie cards of Jones, Walter Hagan, and Gene Sarazen in their Sport Kings set. It wasn't until 1981 when Donruss produced a set featuring the official rookie card of Jack Nicklaus. It wasn't until Tiger Woods came into the sport that golf cards became a hot commodity. Tiger Woods can be credited with single-handedly creating a surge of interest for golf trading cards. In 2001 Upper Deck signed a 5 year deal to produce the first rookie cards of players such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam, and Natalie Gulbis.

 

The most influential golf trading card of all-time has to be the 1996 Sports Illustrated for Kids Tiger Woods. This was Tiger's first mainstream trading card and it shocked the collecting world when a PSA 10 example sold for $100,000.00 in 2001.