Dick Harmon: Orem man has Tiger by the Top-Flite

Also in his collection, Dodson has autographed golf balls from famous athletes or movies stars. These include Julius Erving, Gale Sayers, Spud Webb, Alice Cooper, Mark Rypien, Kevin Sorbo (Hercules), "Charlie's Angels" star Cheryl Ladd, Jim McMahon, Ty Detmer, Steve Young, Karl Malone, Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan.

Morgan asked Dodson: “Don’t you have a baseball?”

“The ones that mean the most to me are those of the locals, the people I know, who I’ve looked into their eyes and have a relationship with. Those represent stories and people I’ve known for a long time. One of the most cherished is one from Karl Tucker. Another is Billy Casper.”

Dodson once had this collection of golf ball memorabilia on a wall in ball racks for display. But several years ago when he moved, he put them in shoe boxes and they are in his closet, hidden away.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with them. I don’t care if they are worth any money. I won’t ever sell them. I’ll probably just give them to my son and when I’m gone he can do what he wants with them. But it’s been fun.

“I was as big a fan as anyone out there and wanted to get a piece of it when I was younger. Now, after 22 years in the business, I don’t have as big of stars in my eyes. Seeing the stars of the game doesn’t mean as much as it once did. Maybe because I’m getting older, the legends of the game mean more to me than some of the new players. I’m not as active doing this as I used to be.”

So, that’s the story of one man’s closet and a conversation about a treasure stuffed in boxes away from the light of day.

“I have no exit strategy for them, I really don’t,” Dodson said.

I’d say he’s lucky to have that problem. Enjoy.

He’s got Tiger on a Top-Flite.

Somehow that makes me smile.

Dick Harmon, Deseret News sports columnist, can be found on Twitter as Harmonwrites and can be contacted at dharmon@desnews.com.