Chapter 14 in my book titled Hooked on Autographs, I cite some of the "tricks of the trade" in collecting famous signatures on golf balls.  As a salesman at one time in my business career, I learned how to handle rejections. I was taught how to convert rejections into sales. Here's a good example of a triumph that could have gone awry.

Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, named after the twenty-ninth president of the United States, hosted the American Express World Golf…

I landed a quadruple at the 2012 U.S. Figure Skating Championships held last week in San Jose, California. Not literally, but I did score well by bringing home four autographed golf balls from some of the great legends of the sport -- Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan, and Charlie Tickner.

Scott Hamilton won four consecutive U.S. figure skating championships, four consecutive World Championships, and a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics. He was inducted into the U.S. Figure…

The older I become, the better I get to acquiring signed golf balls for my unique collection. I had a field day getting PGA Champions Tour players to sign golf balls for me at the recent year-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship held at the TPC Harding Park Golf Club in San Francisco. Tom Lehman held on to win the cup and the $1 million annuity. Tom signed a ball for me at the 1998 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.  I was surprised to bump into golf instructor Hank Haney at the event.…