The ArT of Golf - Society of Hickory Golfers

Newsletter of the Society of Hickory Golfers • Spring 2012 • www.hickorygolfers.com
The ArT of Golf
An exhibition at the high Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga.
Also in this issue:
hickory Golf – The Modern Game
The Aussie Who Came to Play

Down the
Fairway...
from the
President
With winter behind us, we are looking
forward to a great season of hickory golf.
We hope you’ll participate in as many tournaments
as your schedules allow. The first
tournament of the Championship Series, Tad
Moore’s Southern 4-Ball, has its largest field
of players ever. The winning trophy has been
named the Frank Boumphrey Cup in recognition
of Frank’s dedication to hickory golf.
As you may already know, two tournaments
have been added to the CS –
Belvedere and Arkansas. With these new
competitions, you will have the opportunity
to play on some outstanding venues. Be sure
to consider the U.S. Hickory Open, Heart of
America and Mid Pines Open, also.
The SoHG’s website is coming into its own
and we are upgrading it on a regular basis.
Tournament directors can now utilize it for
event registration and entry fee payment. If
there are areas of the website that you feel
could be expanded, please let us know.
This issue of the Wee Nip has outstanding
articles on hickory shafts and golf related
art. Interviews and profiles, along with a
commentary on the future of hickory golf by
Mungo Park, make for some great reading.
One last point I’d like to make... Be sure
to vote for your new board of directors. And
if you’d like to get involved in any committee
work, please let me know.
We’re anticipating a fun year in hickory golf
so get your clubs out and start swinging.
Bring a friend along to some of the events
and let him or her see how we are preserving
the tradition.
Chris Deinlein, President
Society of Hickory Golfers
a wee nip
Spring 2012
Editor – James Davis
Contributors
Rob Ahlschwede, Richard Bullock, Keith Cleveland,
4 Degrees, Chris Deinlein, John Fischer III, Roger Hill,
Randy Jensen, Doug Marshall, Hugh Menzies,
Mungo Park, Bill Reed, Caroline Rosen, Corey Swets
The Wee Nip is the printed newsletter of the Society of
Hickory Golfers. It is published twice yearly.
Articles, comments, correspondence are gratefully
accepted, though publication is not guaranteed.
Address all correspondence to:
Editor, Wee Nip
338 Gladstone Ave. SE
E. Grand Rapids, MI 49506 USA
or via e-mail to: jdavis2364@gmail.com
For information about
the Society of Hickory Golfers,
visit the website at: www.hickorygolfers.com
Copyright © SoHG 2012
Note to Members!!
Voting for new board members ends April
30. Candidates are Eddie Breeden, Bob Caston,
Matt Dodds, Tad Moore, Mike Stevens
and Rick Woeckener.
A link to vote was sent in the March
e-newsletter, but if you missed that, simply
log-in to the Member Dashboard of the website
– www.hickorygolfers.com – and click
on the article about new board members.
That will have a link where you can cast
your vote. This is important, so do it today!
Forgotten your log-in or password? No
problem. Just email jdavis2364@gmail.com
and we’ll set up a new one.
from the editor
Blame it on the unusual late winter
weather. Where dirty patches of
snow and ice were wont to be seen are
flowering daffodills, bluebonnets, periwinkle
and tulips. Ducks and geese are getting
an early start on lakes that normally would
yet be ice covered, albeit thinning and
cracking to test the nerves of diehard ice
fishermen. Northern golfers, awakened
from their customary diapause, have been
at it for weeks.
In keeping with the confused weather,
this issue of the Wee Nip has sprouted a
wonderful variety of items fertilized by
your editor’s seasonally-addled gray matter.
If your travels bring you anywhere near
Atlanta, a stop at the High Museum of Art
to see the Art of Golf exhibit should be at
the top of the things-to-see list. In conjunction
with their British colleagues and some
private parties, the museum has assembled
a stunning collection of artwork to rival the
most exemplary of private collections.
Inside this edition, too, are interviews
with, one, the redoubtable Bill Reed – a
man who is his own triumverate, at once
the current president of the Golf Collectors
Society, founder of the Hickory Golf
Association and passionate member of
the Society of Hickory Golfers; and with
SoHG Board of Directors
2011-2012
President – Chris Deinlein
Membership Secretary – Roger Hill
Treasurer – Mark Wehring
Secretary – Ken Holtz
Board Members
Rob Ahlschwede, Chris Deinlein, Matt Dodds,
Jay Harris, Roger Hill, Ken Holtz, Tad Moore,
Breck Speed, Mark Wehring
sohg executive committee
Chair
Chris Deinlein – cdeinlein@triad.rr.com
Long Range Planning
Breck Speed – bspeed@aol.com
Equipment
Rob Ahlschwede – swedeberger@gmail.com
Events
Hamp Munsey – hampm@atlanticpkg.com
Marketing and Communications
Matt Dodds – matt@brandthropology.com
Membership
Roger Hill – hillgolf@gmail.com
International
Lionel Freedman – info@worldhickoryopen.com
reigning U.S. Hickory Open champ Alan
Grieve.
SoHG members are favored, too, with
observations on hickory golf by Mungo
Park, a descendant of the Willie Park Sr.
family whose impact on golf is legendary.
His illuminating points are sure to stimulate
new thinking atbout the evolution of
modern hickory golf.
Hickory shafts, Arnold Haultain, member
columnists and even Shakespeare are
on the spring menu.
And, have you seen the calendar of
events on the website? So much to consider
and so little time. Make plans to attend
the tournament of your choice and send in
your registration. It’s shaping up to be an
exciting season of hickory golf.
See you on the course.
Jim Davis
on the cover
Charles Lees’ painting “The Golfers”,
1847, has become one of the most famous
of all golf paintings. It’s part of an historic
exhibit of golf art that has been mounted
at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga.
(Story, page 8.) All images relating to the
exhibit are used with the kind permission
of the High Museum of Art.
society of hickory golfers 2
spring 2012
Annual Championship Series
makes strong case as hickory
golf’s seasonal ‘majors’
They’re rapidly turning into hickory
golf’s “majors.” The SoHG’s Championship
Series, sponosored by Mountain
Valley Spring Water, features the best of
hickory golf tournament experience on
challenging traditional courses.
Breck Speed, owner of Mountain Valley
Spring Water is eagerly looking forward to
the season.
“We’ve increased the CS from four
events to six and added some geographic
diversity,” he says. “So, I’m looking
forward to some increased interest and
competition.”
Beginning with the Southern 4-Ball
Hickory Championship in Birmingham,
Ala. and winding up with the Mid Pines
Hickory Open in Pinehurst, the six events
have the country covered from the deep
south to the far north. All that’s missing
is a far West swing and perhaps a Florida
tournament for late winter.
The team-event that is the Southern
4-Ball anually attracts a core of dedicated
players to its friendly mix of golf and socializing
courtesy of Messeurs. Tad Moore
and Keith Cleveland. This event, scheduled
for April 19-21, may be in full swing by the
time you read this. It’s held on Birmingham’s
Highland Park Course, ca. 1903.
The CS moves to the far north for the
Belvedere Hickory Open, June 21-23, at
the Belvedere Golf Club in Charlevoix,
Mich. Designed in 1925, it was a course
familiar to young Tom Watson whose father
was a member. Participants here revel not
only in the golf, but in the surroundings
which just happen to include Lake Michigan
and the sparking Lake Charlevoix.
Parties and socializing aplenty, plus a tour
of area homes and the shops and restaurants
of Charlevoix or nearby Petoskey.
From here, the CS turns to one of the
country’s oldest hickory events, the Heart
of America Hickory Championship, July
13-15, at the Otter Creek Golf Course of
Ankeny, Iowa, just north of Des Moines.
The event includes a trade show complete
spring 2012
with Scottish culinary delights. Plenty
to see, do and enjoy here in America’s
heartland.
By now, with your hickory game tuned
up and your swing tournament-tested,
you’re ready for the U.S. Hickory Open,
July 23-25, on the Donald Ross Course
at the French Lick Resort in French Lick,
Ind. It’s a challenging course as PGA
contestants learned during the PGA held
here in 1926. Walter Hagen prevailed
then, but Austrailian Alan Grieve holds the
trophy and plans to defend in 2012. Participants
and guests stay at the incredible
West Baden Springs Resort, a wonder of
architecture. With exciting dinners, a trade
show and other features, this event may be
the pinnacle of the hickory golf season.
Still, the season is not complete without
a stop in Arkansas for the Mountain
Valley Hickory Open, home of Mountain
Valley Spring Water, which sponsors the
Championship Series. Set for Sept. 28-30,
the event is to be played at the Hardscrabble
Country Club, a 1926 Perry Maxwell
design, in Western Arkansas. It’s been the
site of numerous Nationwide Tour events
as well as women’s professional events
in the 1950’s and earlier. The tournament
follows the proven recipie of great golf
followed by even better food, drink and
socializing and, of course, a hickory club
swap meet where you might find just the
club to fill that gap in your bag.
Mountain Valley Spring Water donates
$100 for every participant to the First Tee
of Arkansas.
The wrap-up comes in Southern Pines,
N.C. for the Mid Pines Hickory Open,
Nov. 2-4. It’s the perfect farewell for the
hickory golf season at one of Donald Ross’
finest courses. The event includes an optional
foursomes competition, the opportunity
for lots of extra golf on the area’s
premier courses, and one of the best event
banquets at the Mid Pines Lodge where
the season’s CS winners are announced
as well as the annual honors of the Mike
3
photos/top, courtesy tad moore; bottom, caroline rosen
sharing good times at the Southern 4-Ball, top, are
Hamp Munsey, left, David Ellis and Chris Deinlein.
A U.S. Hickory Open foursome, bottom, includes
Keith Cleveland, left, Josh Fisher, Joe Hollerbach,
and Breck Speed.
Brown Award.Could somebody new come
away with honors this year? Mountain
Valley’s Speed thinks it might happen.
“Will someone unexpected come out of
Michigan or Texas to challenge the known
upper echelon hickory players?” he asks.
“Who will have found that one needed
club and contend in the Reserve Championship?
It’s going to be fun!”
A check of the calendar shows the six
CS events are but a few of dozens of possibilities
for hickory outings.
Regional events from Michigan to Virginia,
New York, Wisconsin and California
offer plenty to tempt the hickory golfer.
For example, there’s the Gutty Slam for
gutty golf adherents. These include the
All American Hickory Open at Downers
Grove in Chicago, May 18-19; the National
Hickory Championship at Oakhurst Links,
June 7-9; the Foxburg Hickory Championship
in Foxburg, Pa., Aug. 8-11; and the
CB Macdonald Challenge, Sept. 7-9.
In other regions, the Vermont Hickory
Open, the Kummel Cup and the Interstate
Championship beckon golfers with
great golf and good cheer. Regional groups
are gaining strength, offering local hickory
golfers plenty of outings to test their skills
with their wood shafted favorites. Check
the SoHG website under “Upcoming Tournaments”
to plan your season. As they say
at Oakhurst – “Far and Sure.”
www.hickorygolfers.com

WN Let’s begin with the GCS. Many
people know that your wife, Penny, and
her interest in Depression-era glass were
indirectly responsible for your meeting
with Warren Olsen at an antique show
about 1989. A conversation with Warren
got you going. What are your collecting
interests?
Bill My collecting interests can be
summed up using one word: eclectic –
long noses, smooth faces, deep grooves,
balls, tees, crystal, pottery, silver, trophies,
caddie badges, art, early maintenance
equipment, signs – and doesn’t everyone
own the leather horseshoe covers for a
team of horses?
WN What do you like about the GCS?
What are its strengths?
Bill What I like about the GCS is that
its membership is as diverse and eclectic
as the items that I collect.
The strength of the GCS is that it is the
largest and oldest antique golf collecting
society in the world and that is also
its main weakness. It has grown beyond
the size where volunteers can effectively
handle the ongoing daily operations without
such professional assistance as a paid
executive directorship position and the
need for a professional editor of the GCS
quarterly Bulletin. The GCS is fortunate
to have very qualified individuals in those
positions. The GCS is also fortunate
to have willing volunteers of time and
expertise to handle the duties of regional
directorship and the necessary committee
tasks due of any large group.
A wee nip and bit o’ talk with...
Bill Reed
A wee nip is often associated with a congenial conversation, perhaps at a 19th
hole, perhaps at one’s club or in the comfort of a den or library at home. Whatever
the place, we take pleasure in our companions. For members of the Society
of Hickory Golfers and similar associations, that leaves no dearth of sociable
company. Member Bill Reed occupies a rather unique position as he currently
serves as president of Golf Collectors Society, is the founder of the Hickory Golf
Association and is a member of the SoHG. He is proud of his association with this
triumverate of golfing historianna and was willing to share a few thoughts with
us in this issue. Bill, it must be said, is always willing to share a few thoughts. We
have his interview arranged in a familiar Q&A format. Prepare a glass of your
favorite beverage and enjoy a bit o’ talk witih Bill.
WN What are the current challenges
facing the organization?
Bill Maintaining the membership level
of any non-profit fraternal organization is
always of the utmost importance, especially
when the average age of the body
of membership is eligible for AARP, and
“natural causes” are a contributing factor
to the organization membership level.
WN As the current GCS president, you
bring years of collecting experience to the
job. What are your goals?
Bill My main goal as GCS President is
to demonstrate that being a “collector” and
being a “hickory player” are not opposing
positions. It’s high time that the various
“Societies” not only share the occasional
pint, but share the peace as well. That’s
why I am a member of the GCS, the HGA,
and the SoHG and actively promote them
all. I am not the first to make this suggestion
but, perhaps in the future, the GCS
and the SoHG could be the respective
collecting and playing branches of one
combined membership. There are worse
ideas out there.
WN You are also the founder of the
HGA and currently serve as its executive
director.
Bill I am in a unique position of not
only being the president of the GCS, but a
member and occasional tournament director
for the SoHG (The Heart of America
Hickory Championship) and a founding
member and executive director of
the Hickory Golf Association (The Iowa
Hickory Classic).
WN What year did it organize?
Bill The HGA was officially formed
in 2007 as a 501-c(4) and its mission is
to preserve and further the history and
equipment of the game of golf as it was
played in the hickory era. The HGA is the
smallest of the three societies and is truly
regional (Midwest) in its membership,
although the HGA has members spread all
over the USA as well as internationally.
WN You are also a member of the
SoHG. On the surface, it would seem that
the HGA and the SoHG have competing
interests.
Bill When I and fellow founders
Clayton Copple, Russ Fisher, and John
Ausen formed the HGA there were some
individuals in the GCS and the SoHG
that perceived a threat to their respective
groups. No threat was intended nor has
one developed. The HGA is continually
adding to its inventory of playable sets
of hickory clubs used in competitions
that benefit numerous charities and junior
golf scholarship programs. Donations
society of hickory golfers 4
spring 2012
to the Iowa State University Agronomy
programs and donations to the Iowa Turf
Grass Institute and support of the Golf
Course Superintendents Association is
considered vital to the health and future
of the game of golf. The HGA averages
six to eight charitable events per calendar
year. As a matter of fact, although the
HGA is years younger than the SoHG, the
HGA held approximately a dozen hickory
events before the SoHG held its first ever
U.S. Hickory Open. Question: did the
formation of the HGA spur the SoHG into
positive action?....nah...but that could stir
the proverbial pot a little bit!!!
WN Do the two organizations enjoy a
friendly coexistence in promoting hickory
golf?
Bill I truly believe that the SoHG provides
the ultimate tournament experience
for the existing modern hickory player.
The Championship Series of hickory golf
has grown from four major hickory events
in 2011 to six events scheduled for 2012.
The key to the success of this series is in
its name – Championship. There are no
scrambles in these events. This is not to
discriminate against the social and recreational
value of hickory play in a scramble
format, but to conduct exactly what the
series is named. I personally believe
that the scramble format is an excellent
way to introduce the beginning hickory
player to the game. I also know that there
exist many hickory players who prefer
Welcome, new
SoHG members!
There have been 61 new members
since this past fall. Welcome one and
all! (If your name was overlooked,
please let us know and we’ll correct
the oversight in the next newsletter.)
Isao Abe, Tokyo, Japan
Ben Benoit, Nashville, Tenn.
Geoff Bleasby, Emsworth Hampshire, U.K.
Joseph Bodnar, Dearborn, Mich.
Michael Border, Birmingham, Ala.
Pete Boylan, Alpharetta, Ga.
Hugh Cameron, Corunna, Ont., Canada
Wes Channell, Sun City West, Ariz.
spring 2012
the social aspect of hickory play rather
than individual medal play. The HGA,
the GCS and other hickory state and club
associations fulfill that segment of play
through many regional and local events
and competitions. Here’s the good news:
hardly a week goes by without some type
of hickory gathering somewhere in the
country. It’s now hard to schedule a new
event without the so-called stepping on
toes of some other venue.
WN How does the GCS view the activities
of the SoHG and the HGA?
Bill I have been asked from my GCS
perspective how the GCS views the HGA
and the SoHG. There exist GCS members
who are collectors only. There exist
GCS members who are players only. My
personal viewpoint is that the GCS was
a little slow in promoting hickory play
as a way to attract new members. I was a
hickory player first and foremost. Collecting
was a natural progression of my
thirst for more knowledge of the history
of the game. That is also the case for most
of the hundreds of players whom I have
introduced to the hickory game. The GCS
is now actively promoting hickory play
through its regional directors, many of
whom are SoHG members as well.
WN Do you ever foresee a day when
the two groups may combine efforts, join
under one name?
Bill Yes, I can envision one large
Bertt Coghill, Orland Park, Ill.
Ron Cook, Whiting, Kan.
David Farrar, Richmond, Va.
Glen Fast, Kingston, Ont., Canada
Wes Feudner, Warner Robins, Ga.
Russell Fisher, Des Moines, Iowa
Donald Ghareeb, Birmingham, Ala.
Elizabeth Ghareeb, Birmingham, Ala.
Rob Gilbert, Lynchburg, Va.
Norm Groleau, Windsor, Ont., Canada
Dale Hallock, Omaha, Neb.
Bill Haney, Louisville, Ky.
William Harkins, Morganton, N.C.
Mary Harkins, Morganton, N.C.
Sumner Hopkins, Williamsburg, Va.
Deal Hudson, Fairfax, Va.
James Jeselnick, Chesterton, Ind.
Patrick Just, Louisville, Ky.
5
Rudy Kastelic, La Mesa, Calif.
Bill Keeler, Oregon City, Ore.
Dale Kelsey, Flagler Beach, Fla.
Phil Kostolnik, Shoreview, Minn.
Patrick Lamar, Huntsville, Ala.
Ted Lloyd, Ridgeland, Miss.
Ted Marron, Foxbury, Pa.
Tom McGee, Littleton, Colo.
Andrew McKay, Louisville, Ky.
Rob McKnight, Kingston, Ont., Canada
Edward J. Miller, Glen Cove, N.Y.
Tim Morrison, Birmingham, Ala.
Timothy Morrison, Birmingham, Ala.
Michael Myrick, El Paso, Texas
Steve Oates, Marquette, Mich.
Terry Pemberton, Keswick, Va.
Marjorie Perlman, Birmingham, Ala.
Michael Petty, Birmingham, Ala.
United States Antique Golf Society that
has two divisions: one division for collectors
and another for the hickory player.
That’s a much more interesting topic of
discussion than whether an original 1946
Otey Crisman putter should be banned
from play. Let’s sit down over a pint and
see what other burning issues we can dim.
Bill Reed lives with Penny, his wife of
49 years, in Des Moines, Iowa. They have
three grown daughters and six grandchildren.
He is the owner of William Reed &
Associates, a sales firm with an emphasis
in business development. He is constantly
reconditioning hickory woods and irons,
for himself as well as others, and takes
each newly reconditioned set out for play.
He says he’s always playing with “new”
clubs. He plays 90 to 100 rounds per
year. Bill’s steel handicap index is 14.2
although he has only used modern equipment
three times in the past six years. His
current hickory handicap index is 18.5.
“My favorite golf course is the one that
I’m playing today. My next favorite is the
one that I’m playing tomorrow,” he says.
What’s in his bag is an eclectic assortment
of originals ranging from a smooth face
Dynamiter niblick to a no-namer brassie
c. 1900 that he has used for more than 20
years. His current putter is a Schenectady.
“I will not change putters unless I three
putt. I have a lot of putters. They are
always at the ready,” he says.
Joey Pierson, Birmingham, Ala.
MacArther Plumart, Berkeley Lake, Ga.
Mike Policano, Paramus, N.J.
Randall Renaud, N. Little Rock, Ark.
Todd Riker, Muskegon, Mich.
Rick Robertson, Williamston, S.C.
Michael Rothaupt, Westchester, Pa.
Lloyd Slinglend, Trenton, Mich.
Michael Sloan, Houston, Texas
Tony Smarrelli, Pinehurst, N.C.
Steven Staires, Lafayette, La.
James Thomas, Loveland, Ohio
Dick Verinder, Washington, Texas
Howard Vogel, Traverse City, Mich.
Richard Walden, St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Nick Waterfield, Kingston, Ont., Canada
Robert Wolfensperger, Modesto, Calif.
www.hickorygolfers.com

Of hickory shafts
and Bobby Jones
by jim davis
The erstwhile golf collector and sometime author Johnny
Fischer III of Cincinnatti, Ohio, was favored to have
as his father and namesake, John Fischer II, one of the
last great amateur hickory golfers (profiled in The Bulletin of the
GCS, December 2008, No. 177). The late Mr. Fischer II won the
1936 U.S. Amateur using hickory shafted clubs, beating competitors
who were using steel shafts.
Mr. Fischer III often contributes to the Bulletin and to the Wee
Nip with intriguing aspects of golf lore, articles, photographs
and, recently, with the letter
reproduced here, which
he thought SoHG
members might find of
interest.
The letter, addressed
to his late father, is from
T.W. Minton & Co. a
Barbourville, Ky., maker
of, among other hickory
items, golf shafts. The
letter’s author congratulates
Fischer II on his recent
U.S. Amateur victory
and notes that the victory
follows in the footsteps
of Bobby Jones, who, by
the way, preferred Minton
hickory golf shafts. The letter
writer notes that Minton
shafts are exported abroad
as far as Australia and South
Africa.
As the letter is dated
October 1936, the Minton
executives may have seen
the handwriting on the wall
regarding the golf industry’s
growing predilection for steel.
However, someone thought
it a good PR move to remain
in good graces with this latest
hickory golf champion.
Curiousity led this writer to
look into the Minton Co. and
share the findings here.
The Minton family came into
southeastern Kentucky in 1914
to start a lumber business as there was an abundance
of hickory and other hardwood trees in the area. They settled upon
the Barbourville area largely because the town had made whiskey
sales illegal. The family must have looked askance upon drinking.
It employed about 75 men and initially made wooden tire
spokes for cars and trucks and for artillery carriers used in World
War I. It would diversify to include ski blanks, mostly for the
Finland market, ladder rungs, broom and mop handles, drum
sticks, horse riding crops and hickory walking canes.
A 1939 WPA Guide to Kentucky noted that, at its peak, the
Minton company produced a yearly output of 1.5 million golf
shafts. These must have been mostly sawn shafts, as it would
have taken a serious complement of workers to hand split that
much hickory for golf clubs.
According to the company’s history, Bobby Jones used Minton
shafts during his Grand Slam season in 1930. Jones also gave an
exhibition in Barbourville in 1926 during a horse show sponsored
by the Minton family and the local Kiwanis Club. Proceeds went
to the Crippled Children’s Hospital in Louisville.
Nola Minton, known to all as “Miss Nola,” added hickory
walking canes to the
company’s line. It was
said she felt no gentleman
should be without
one. She is also credited
with the idea of white
canes for the blind.
The family became
well known for its
horse breeding operations.
In time the Minton
Hickory Stable
was recognized far
and wide for producing
American Saddle
Horse champions.
Miss Nola would
become a respected
judge at horse shows,
was the first woman
inducted into the
Kentucky State Fair
Horse Show’s Hall
of Fame; was the
second woman in
the U.S. to become
an honorary member
of Kiwanis
International;
and was recognized
for her
soil conservation
and reclamation
practices.
Thanks to
George West,
assistant director
of the Knox
County Public
Library, for his help in locating information on the Minton Co.
History and Families: Knox County, Kentucky: 1799-1994
(Vol. 1, page 270, T.W. Minton & Co., by Julie Blair)
society of hickory golfers 6
spring 2012
from the pages of golfdom.
The two ads reproduced here are from
1930 issues of Golfdom, a magazine for
golf superintendents founded in 1927. It
is still publishing today and has a website:
www.golfdom.com.
spring 2012
The following is excerpted from a
1956 Saturday Evening Post article
titled “A Visit With Bobby Jones”
written by Harry Paxton, then sports
editor of the Post, and Fred Russell,
then sports editor of the Nashville
Banner.
He stays off his feet most of the
time, but can walk with the aid of two
sturdy hickory canes which bear the
same stamp – Robert T. Jones Jr. –
that he used to put on his golf clubs.
Bob is matter-of-fact about his disability.
“Here’s a right interesting
thing,” he remarked at one point,
gesturing toward the canes. “There’s
a grand old girl up in Barbourville,
Kentucky – Miss Nola Minton, used
to have a lot of wonderful show horses.
She made hickory golf-club shafts
in the old days. Well, a few years ago
she saw me with two bamboo canes
and, not long after she shipped me
these hickory canes, and she wrote
me a little note, ‘You’ve been leaning
on hickory all your life. It’s too late to
change now.’”
Speaking of hickory, we wanted
to know whether Bob considers the
change from hickory to steel shafts
the most important advance in golf
equipment today.
“Yes, I suppose that’s the main difference,”
Jones said. “But that in itself
7
is responsible for a lot of other differences.
I mean, your balancing can be
so much more accurate when you can
control the qualities of the shaft – the
capacities of it and the distribution of
weight. The steel shaft is lighter, so
you can put more weight in the head.
And the steel shaft eliminates the torsion
factor”– meaning twisting.
“But I think the main difference in
the play of steel and hickory is that
the boys nowadays can hit more nearly
all out – more nearly full power –
without running the risk of something
going wrong. The boys seem to be
hitting more with their hands than we
used to do. I think that’s the reason
they’re hitting the ball farther. I know
that the golf ball itself hasn’t got
that much additional driving power,
but people my own age, like Dick
Garlington and Charley Black and
Watts Gunn – they’re driving the ball
a good deal farther today than they
did when they were younger.”
Then he doesn’t think the golf ball
itself is much of a factor?
Jones said, “It could be some. I suppose
the modern ball has a greater
percentage of flight to roll. The ball
we used to play in the late ‘Teens was
a soft, heavy sort of small ball. On a
dry, hard fairway you could get tremendous
distance with it because it
had a lot of run.”
www.hickorygolfers.com

the golfers, 1847, by Charles Lees (Scottish, 1800-1880, oil on canvas). The 51-1/2 by 84-1/4 inch painting is one of the most famous in all of golf. It
makes its first appearance in the U.S. courtesy of the National Galleries of Scotland, the Heritage Committee and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club
with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.
Art of Golf – An exhibit at the
High Museum of Art in Atlanta
The Art of Golf, organized by the
High Museum of Art and the
National Galleries of Scotland, explores
the royal and ancient game as depicted
by landscape and portrait artists, photographers
and Pop artists through the
ages. This will be the first-ever exhibition
devoted to the game by a major American
art museum. Comprising approximately
90 works from artists as diverse
as Rembrandt, Charles Lees, Norman
Rockwell and Andy Warhol, The Art of
Golf examines the game’s origins, its
foundation in Scotland and its growth in
America in the 20th century. The exhibition
will also feature a large format introductory
video that features golf legends
Sir Michael Bonallack and Jack Nicklaus.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a
full-color catalogue.
(The catalog costs $30 plus about $9 in
shipping. To order, head to the following
web address: http://museumshop.high.
william inglis, c. 1712-1792. surgeon and captain
of the honourable company of edinburgh golfers
1787, by David Allan, oil on canvas. Courtesy of
the National Galleries of Scotland.
Exhibit said to be the first
devoted to golf at
an American art museum
org/collections/exhibitions/Exhibition-
Catalogues.)
The Art of Golf will be on view at
the High Museum of Art until June 24,
2012. The exhibition is scheduled to
travel to the Museum of Fine Arts in St.
Petersburg, Fla. from Nov. 3, 2012 to
Feb. 17, 2013, with additional U.S. venues
yet to be announced.
“The Art of Golf brings together rare
and sometimes whimsical works – some
that have never been on public display
– into an artistic narrative exploring the
history of the sport,” said Michael E.
Shapiro, the High’s Nancy and Holcombe
T. Green, Jr., Director.
It begins with a depiction of kolf, a
cousin of the modern game, as depicted in
early Dutch landscape and genre paintings
of the 17th century. That section includes
Rembrandt’s etching “The Ringball
Player” (1654) and winter landscapes by
Hendrick and Barent Avercamp, which
society of hickory golfers 8
spring 2012
old man tracy of tracy and tracy, 1926, by
Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978), oil on
canvas. Courtesy USGA Museum.
depict kolf being played on the frozen
canals of Holland. Following in the display
are Scottish artworks of the 18th century,
including the earliest known depiction
of golf being played in Scotland (ca.
1740). Also included will be a series of
iconic Scottish golfing portraits from the
National Galleries of Scotland, including
a full-length portrait of the tartan-clad Sir
James and Sir Alexander MacDonald (ca.
1749) by William Mosman and an incisive
spring 2012
portrayal of William Inglis, Captain of
the Honourable Company of Edinburgh
Golfers (ca. 1790), by Sir Henry Raeburn,
the preeminent portraitist of the Scottish
Enlightenment. Among many objects on
loan from the Royal and Ancient Golf Club
in St Andrews, Scotland, is the portrait of
“Old Tom Morris” by Sir George Reid.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is
Charles Lees’s “The Golfers,” which
portrays in detail a match played on
the Old Course at St Andrews in 1847.
Jointly owned by the National Galleries
of Scotland and the Royal and Ancient
Golf Club, this masterpiece has never
before traveled to the United States, though
reproductions of it hang in golf clubhouses
around the world. Displayed alongside the
painting will be several preparatory sketches,
all portraits of individuals who can
be identified in the painting, and an early
photograph by Hill and Adamson to which
Lees referred as he composed his painting.
Also included in this section are golfiana
(antique balls, clubs and clothing)
to illustrate the very different equipment
used in the earliest days of the sport.
Moving into the early 20th century,
the exhibition presents a series of golfing
scenes by Sir John Lavery that capture
the chic glamour and appeal of the game
in the Roaring Twenties. This section
also features Art Deco railway posters
advertising Scotland’s premier courses to
an expanding audience in Britain, and a
series of photographs by Harold Edgerton,
developer of strobe photography, that
features Bobby Jones hitting a golf ball.
Other artists featured in this section
include Childe Hassam, James McNeill
Whistler, Norman Rockwell and Andy
Warhol (an iconic screenprint of golfing
9
superstar Jack Nicklaus, 1977, part of
Warhol’s “Athlete Series”).
Of course, there is a special section on
Bobby Jones that includes portraits of
Jones and notable photographs that illustrate
his importance to the game and the
bond he created between the United States
and Scotland, where he came to love and
admire the Old Course at St Andrews.
The Art of Golf closes with a series
of aerial photographs by Patricia and
Angus Macdonald, newly commissioned
by the National Galleries of Scotland,
that capture the beauty of iconic Scottish
golf courses and explores the effects that
human activity has had on the land.
Special thanks to Nicole Taylor, assistant
manager of public relations at the
High Museum of Art, for her help in preparing
this article.
portrait of bobby jones, 1928, by Margaret
Fitzhugh Browne. The oil on canvas work is from
the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.
view of st andrews from the old course, ca. 1740, by unknown artist, oil on canvas. By permission of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.
www.hickorygolfers.com

y mungo park
news, notes,
correspondence
Hickory Golf –
the Modern Game
It is good to see that interest in playing
with hickory clubs is growing
steadily on both sides of the Atlantic.
Despite this, it remains a curiosity in the
U.K. to see someone playing with hickories
at his local club. Is the hickory game making
the comeback that it could? If not, what
is preventing it from being a modern and
accessible game? It seems that the debate
over hickories has in the past centred on
the concept of authenticity and historical
provenance, as well as on seeking to
establish a “level playing field” for those
using new and old clubs. Reproduction
hickory clubs have been frowned upon, and
occasionally excluded from events. Strokes
are added for incorrect dress at gatherings,
that purport to encourage the hickory form
of the game. At a time when “hi-tech”
manufacturers are driving the development
of the sport, rather than serving it, is it time
to re-evaluate the importance and benefits
of hickory golf?
Golf has not been slow, in recent years,
to realise that it needs to be more sustainable
and carbon-friendly. In course design,
its nitrate-rich, water-guzzling days seem
numbered. In the clubhouse, too, the
financial and environmental benefits of reducing
energy consumption are beginning
to be appreciated. Hoylake bravely led the
way, with previously unfashionable brown
fairways in the dry summer of 2006, and
the course challenged and entertained to
perfection. With the enlightened assistance
of the R&A, the Golf Environment
Organisation, Fine Golf, the Society of
Hickory Golfers, and many like-minded
golf lovers, more is being done to return
the game to a more responsible carbon
footprint, with finer grasses and a more
pleasurable and free-running game; and
fewer target-orientated set-ups. All of
this is likely to be well understood by the
many golfers who know something of the
game’s history, and perhaps played their
first game of golf with hickory clubs, but
that generation (my own) is passing, and
hickory golf is increasingly seen as an
historical, slightly eccentric activity, a “bit
of fun,” and irrelevant to the greater game.
I believe that hickory golf is more than
that, and can provide a genuine alternative
to “hi-tech” golf, although the golf
“industry” is predictably un-persuaded.
Every season, resource-hungry technological
change seeks to make last year’s
clubs and balls redundant in a frenzy of
celebrity-driven consumption. By climbing
onto this treadmill, and driving it
round at increasing speed, manufacturers
unwittingly diminish the game that they
seek to serve. Looking at the bottom line
will keep everyone’s head bowed.
Golfing numbers are decreasing. As
Adam Lawrence, the editor of Golf
Course Architecture observed last April,
“Every piece of research tells us that time,
cost and difficulty are the three factors that
prevent more people from playing more
golf…” and again, “…golf as a half day
rather than a full day activity – is vital to
the game’s future success.”
Technological innovation feeds an
insatiable appetite, we are told, for clubs
and balls that attain, for the mid-handicap
golfer, distance and accuracy beyond his
or her wildest dreams 10 years ago. But
the implications of this appetite are farreaching
and environmentally expensive.
Like the greed that drove the world into
financial crisis, technological advancement
may do the same to golf. It is already
impairing the quality and the pleasure of
huntercombe golf club in Oxfordshire, England, designed by
Willie Park Jr., is an example of traditional courses whose existence
is threatened by the modern need for “350 yard drives,”
according to the author.
the game for both players and spectators.
Many other industries have been in the
same situation, of dancing to the supplier’s,
rather than the consumer’s tune, allowing
the thing that they love to change out of
all recognition. It has taken committed and
vociferous consumer organisations to call
a halt and say “enough.” Of these, one of
the most successful in Britain has probably
been CAMRA (the Campaign for Real
Ale), originally a fairly motley collection of
home brewers, students and other beer enthusiasts
(I was all of these), who realised
that unless they did something to protect
“real ale,” it would, quite simply, disappear.
It nearly did, but, thanks to their energy and
enthusiasm, “real ale” is now embraced and
valued by a massively increased market, for
all the right reasons. In taste, its regional
inconsistency and diversity add to the
pleasure of its consumption, as against the
homogenised product that threatened to
supersede it.
In France, this central truth has long
been understood in viticulture, where terroire,
the nature, topography and aspect of
particular vinyards is minutely understood
and particularly valued. Whether in beer
or wine we all have our favourites, and
they are as diverse and interesting as the
regions, the brewers, and the winemakers
that produce them. In food markets, too,
the same has been happening in Britain,
where those who really care about the
quality of what they eat are once again
making themselves heard, and changing
opinion more widely. So what, other than
a predilection for good food and drink, has
this to do with hickory golf?
Although the organisers of hickory
events have no formal position within
the management of the game, they are
important in bringing a renaissance to the
genuine appreciation of golf, based on the
society of hickory golfers 10
spring 2012
game’s original form, and of attracting to
the game a younger constituency. Three
things stand in their way; plus fours, long
dresses and floppy hats. Let me explain.
Hickory golf is a modern game. This is
not the paradox that it may seem. Looking
at it simply, it presents a distinct and
valid alternative to “hi-tech” golf. To be
accepted as such, it needs to shed some of
its “historic” image. The young will find
it easy to marginalise as too difficult, too
“quaint” and played predominantly by men
(often over 60) who like dressing up as
“toffs” from the 1920’s. Unintentionally,
this also excludes those who are not good
golfers, and who don’t enjoy dressing up in
period costume. If we believe that hickory
golf has relevant and valuable qualities that
are disappearing from the game – and I do
– we owe it to the game, and to ourselves,
to broadcast the fact and to make a freerunning
game, played on
short, intriguing golf
courses (of which we
still have many)
that are part of the
local distinctiveness
that makes
one round so delightfully
different from another.
We need not accept the
hegemony either of equipment
manufacturers or the
media. We can reject those
course developers whose
mistaken perception
is that all golfers
need the space
and equipment to
hit 350 yard drives
on homogeneous
courses that, in their sterile perfection, are
becoming the same the whole world over.
At present, hickory golf is seen as elite
and exclusive, predominantly of historic
interest and perhaps slightly eccentric. To
be taken seriously it needs to abandon the
requirement to wear period clothing, and
outlaw the restriction on pre-1935 clubs,
except for specifically historical events. It
should encourage entries from the widest
possible constituency, and particularly
from young golfers.
If it were to do so, the game would
supply its own advertisement, and hickory
golf would again become a lively and
interesting modern game, accessible to all.
For the player, the challenge of hickory
spring 2012
less emphasis on period
costume might attract
younger golfers to the
sport, according to the
author.
Hickory golf is a modern game. This
is not the paradox that it may seem.
... To be accepted as such, it needs
to shed some of its “historic” image.
golf is enjoying an undiscovered gem. For
the club, there are financial and practical
benefits. Presenting hickory golf as a
modern game helps golf clubs and their
management in a number of ways. Older,
shorter courses, often of great quality, can
once again be considered significant and
benefit financially to a point where they can
maintain viable membership. The alternative
is to re-shape and lengthen the course,
often at great expense, only to have to do
so again in 10 years time as technology
moves on again. Hickory golf presents a
simple means of achieving a quick round,
more cheaply, on a course that is ecologically
sustainable and often closer to home.
Adam Lawrence’s “golf as a half day
game” becomes a possibility once again.
Where a round of 5,480 yards (Kilspindie)
will take somewhere around three hours, it
is hard to achieve one of 7,500 yards (The
Oxfordshire) in less than four.
What inhibits the development of
courses specifically for hickory golf is the
feeling that this form of the game, rather
like “real tennis” or “Rugby fives” is a
specialist game played by golf “geeks”
only interested in history. This need not
be the case. I see no reason why this form
of the game should not be promoted as a
modern game, played with modern clubs,
in modern clothes on new, as well as old
courses. I believe there are many practical,
financial and ecological reasons why it is a
worthwhile endeavour to do so.
Popularising hickory golf would achieve
many things. As has been shown, it would
reduce the time taken to achieve a challenging
and pleasurable game of golf by at least
25 percent. Two rounds in a day would
become a viable proposition again. New
courses, because they were shorter, and
required less land-take, would be less expensive
to build and maintain. They might
again be situated near to centres of population,
encouraging new golfers. Existing
“short” courses would not have to struggle
or close. Costs of maintenance would be
reduced, quality of landscape and ecology
11
Mungo Park
would improve. Membership subscriptions
would be likely to remain more stable, as
fluctuations in oil price had little impact on
a healthy golfing population.
New formats are already being tried – as
with 20/20 cricket. Powerplay Golf was
launched on Sky, and the “Tee it Forward”
campaign is gaining popularity in the U.S.
But these will do little for the game itself.
Hickory golf has the capacity to become a
modern game that is more accessible and
enjoyable than the present hi-tech variant,
however it may be modified. It offers a
sensible, and arguably a more interesting,
alternative to the design of 7,500-yard
courses. It would restore to many fine
courses distinction, rather than extinction.
Hickory clubs are still relatively easily
made, ecologically sound and reasonably
inexpensive. However, if it maintains its
“plus fours and floppy hat” image, and its
historicist exclusivity, it will remain remote,
and irrelevant to the golfing public; particularly
the young, to whom we pass the future
of the game. In so doing it will defeat what
I believe to be its purpose, to protect the
pleasure and value of a great game played
on great courses from the past, and to
provide the satisfying enjoyment of local
distinctiveness, through a uniquely subtle
and creative golfing experience. If this is
lost, golfers and golf will be the poorer.
I hope that in the future, every club that
has a suitable course will retain a couple
of sets of hickories to offer its visitors,
to expand their enjoyment of the game,
and the appreciation of the course; and to
demonstrate once again that golf, played on
a traditional course, with hickory clubs is a
substantial and satisfying test for anyone,
whatever their age or clothing preference!
Editor’s note: Mungo Park is a clubhouse
architect and golf historian. He is
the great-nephew of Willie Park Jr., who
designed more than 200 courses, and the
great-grandson of Old Willie Park, winner
of the first Open Championship in 1860.
www.hickorygolfers.com

Member Profile
Keith Cleveland
Jackson, Miss.
Born in Augusta, Ga., Keith Cleveland says he was destined to
come to golf. His family moved to Jackson, Miss., where he
grew up and went to school.
“My father was a fine golfer and our lives centered around
Colonial Country Club where I swam and played golf all summer as
a child,” he says. “By junior high school I had given up golf completely
for the major sports. Still, because of my father’s involvement,
I loved to watch golf and religiously kept up with the PGA
tour.” (Palmer, Dave Marr, Julios Boros and Millar Barber were
favorites. He follows Phil Mickelson and Matt Kuchar these days.)
Keith attended the University of Mississippi but moved to West
Texas before graduating to “work in the oilfields for a few years.”
He returned to Mississippi to work with his father in the oil business
until his father retired and Keith sold the business in 2000. He eventually
completed his degree at Ole Miss in 2009-10.
As a young man, Keith enjoyed running and triathlons. He picked
up golf again in his early 30s and “has been absolutely enthralled
with the sport since.” Keith, who is now 60, says he came across
hickory golf while searching the Internet for a replacement for one
of his father’s Callaway Hickory Stick wedges that he had inherited.
“I had no idea that anyone played with original or replica hickory
clubs, or even collected for that matter. When I saw that a group
called the Society of Hickory Golfers was holding its inaugural U.S.
Hickory Open at Mimosa Hills, I had to go.”
Keith, who was familiar with Tad Moore’s name, purchased a set
of his clubs and set out for North Carolina. “I haven’t cared a bit for
modern golf since,” he says.
“I am married to the lovely Dawn,” he says, “and together we
have three grown children and a beautiful grandson.”
How often do you play hickories?
I play all my casual golf with hickories, late afternoon 9 holers
and the like, only using modern clubs in weekend dogfights at
my club. I only play one modern club tourney a year now. My
local hickory group holds three events a year and I will play in
at least four SoHG events in 2012.
What’s in your play set?
My clubs are mostly the Tad Moore set I bought on a whim
for the 2008 U.S. Hickory Open. Putter is a TM Dunn wooden
mallet. TM Tom Morris brassie and cleek woods. My irons are
the TM OA mid iron-mashie niblick, and a TM Victor Niblick.
However, I am slowly building an almost exact matching set of
original MacGregor OA’s and B’s irons that Tad replicated his
OA’s after. With a little bending and lead tape, the originals and
the replicas are interchangeable in the set.
Favorite club?
My long nosed driver by Heritage Golf that I just received from
my kids for my 60th birthday!
Keith Cleveland at the U.S. Hickory Open in 2011.
What ball do you play?
I play Chris MacIntyre’s Victor balls exclusively now.
Favorite course for hickories?
Pinehurst No. 2.
Favorite hickory tournament?
My favorite tourney is the Southern Hickory 4-Ball, of course! I
don’t have to post my own score! (It’s a team event.)
Any player or aspect of golf history you especially enjoy?
I loved reading about the hickory era before I ever heard of
modern hickory golf or the SoHG. The Francis Quimet story is
irresistible, but Walter Travis’ is equally compelling to me.
Best thing about hickory golf?
Everything! The people, the clubs, the clothes. One has to have a
pretty healthy sense of humor to participate in this nonsense, so
conversations at tourneys are very entertaining.
Ideas to promote SoHG, hickory golf?
The best way to promote hickory golf is to make sure our SoHG
events are pleasant for first timers and potential converts (i.e.
Leave our petty squabbles at the house!)
Most recent book on golf that you read?
Walter Travis-The Old Man is the latest but I keep reading a
dozen or so over and over. I love Herbert Wind Warren and
Bernard Darwin but my favorite all time book is “The Spirit of
St. Andrews” by Alister MacKenzie.
Note: Keith has been a key organizer for the
Southern 4-Ball Hickory Championship.
society of hickory golfers 12
spring 2012
Hacking and Hughing
among the pines
by hugh menzies
spring 2012
news, notes,
correspondence
ang Willie” Engelson’s Febru-
“Lary hickory event scheduled
for the delightful Donald Ross course
at Mid Pines appeared in dire danger.
Thunderstorms with lightning and
heavy rain were forecast albeit
with temperatures in the balmy
70s. I handed over my $45 to
the folk in the Mid Pines golf
shop with the sense that this might
be an expensive bar lunch and a
comment about their turning on
appropriate Scottish weather
for hickories.
“Never mind,” replied one
with the insouciance of someone who has
your money for good, “it would be in the
40s in Scotland. What’s a little rain when
it is in the 70s.”
With that encouragement, we ventured
out to play. The gods smiled and we were
merely sprinkled upon while folks only
miles to our south were pounded with
wind and rain. Ah, life in the North Carolina
Sandhills. Perhaps it was this fortune
that prompted one of my teammates, Gary
McNutt, to inquire about the virtues of
living in the Pinehurst area. I was encouraging.
Thirty eight hickory nuts embarked
upon the event. All appeared to have a
good time. There were a few beginners to
hickories and some of them did very well.
Tony Smarelli shot low gross for the day
with a 75. Stan Herman, a fine broth of a
lad who made the Dallas Cowboys squad
some moons ago until a knee injury turned
his attention to making money in less
physical environments, contributed to the
winning team.
The competition is stiffening, fellow
hickoryites.
My personal foursome comprised the
aforesaid McNutt, Tom Hunter – he of the
elegant swing, cocked left foot and bow
tie – and Tom DeLoach IV (a youthful
neophyte who appears hooked by the
charm of the game). We came in at 24 under
par in the low net two-ball event and
liked our chances. Dream on. We didn’t
even place.
And how did yours truly do? I thought
you’d never ask. Well, it was one of my
better days. A gross 86 for a net 63. I collected
my winnings with cries of “sandbagger”
and “make sure you post that
score” ringing in my ears. Good natured,
but I know if this keeps up such remarks
will acquire a keener edge. Of course, it if
keeps up my index will drop sharply and I
will be a much less useful partner.
This brings me back to the conversation
that raged recently on the NCHA website
about originals versus replicas. The
general conclusion of that discussion
was that if you acquire a well matched,
quality set of originals you have
nothing to fear from folk employing
replicas.
Those who read the Wee Nip
know I wrote of my personal
embarkation down the slippery
slope towards replicas. For what it is
worth to anyone, here are some observations
drawn from my last few rounds with
replicas in my bag. I preface this by saying
that the head pro at my home course of
Pinehurst No. 7 has tinkered with my game
and it seems to be paying off.
That said, thank you Mike Just! I employ
several of your replica irons more often
than my originals. I trust them more. This
is not overwhelmingly true. Mike made me
a 44-degree mashie niblick. I already possessed
an H. Logan of the same loft with a
thinner blade that performs slightly better
for me than Mike’s replica. But, by and
large, I hit Mike’s irons more solidly and
consistently than I do my originals; which,
admittedly, are a polyglot group.
The big difference is in woods. Jay
Harris provided me with a Jack White
brassie and a MacGregor spoon. They
are both fine clubs and, when I swing
correctly, do what they should. But only
infrequently do I swing them correctly.
Mike provided me a driver and a cleek.
These two clubs are making a remarkable
difference in my game.
On the first hole at Mid Pines I hit driver,
cleek, and two putts with a Jay Harrissupplied
original for a par. Both woods
continued to perform solidly. On the 18th I
13
hit driver and a Louisville mid iron to nine
inches and tapped in for a birdie. Anyone
who has played with me knows this is not
normal Hugh Menzies golf.
Since this game is about never-ending
experimentation, the next casual round
I play with hickories will be with originals
only to see if my tweaked game can
handle them better than before. My heart
is with the traditionalists. My competitive
side likes it that current SOHG rules
permit me to employ replicas.
My over-arching point here is that I
suspect the conclusion of the NCHA
website discussion re originals/replicas is
correct. If you can find a set of matched
and well-balanced originals you can play
with anyone using replicas. But that is a
good-sized “if.” With the growing popularity
of the hickory game, as evidenced
above, putting together such a set and at a
price affordable to most is getting harder
and harder. The eminent Dr. Harris, for
example, possesses a fine set of mint
Nicoll Zenith irons. He might sell them to
you but it will set you back $2,400. It is
my impression this is a very fair price in
today’s market.
You can buy a set of Mike Just or Tad
Moore irons for considerably less than that.
While they will be faithful copies of different
originals they are balanced and feel
similar in their swing attributes. The same
cannot be said for the originals I own. They
vary enormously in look, feel and swing attributes.
It is fun trying to master them but
they are not a recipe for consistent golf; at
least not for someone of my abilities.
There are those who argue that the
hickory used to make shafts in days of
yore was superior. But, sadly, shafts wear
out and break sooner or later. They have to
be replaced with contemporary hickory.
Some among us love searching out
clubs, tinkering with them, restoring
them lovingly and either playing with
them or selling them. Others, and this includes
the likes of me, thoroughly enjoy
the game and company but have neither
the interest nor the skills to assemble a
matching set and fine tune them for play.
We just want to toss the clubs in the car
and go play.
OK, now I’m off to the putting green.
That 86 at Mid Pines included 40 putts.
Neither replica nor original flat sticks
seems to help me much on those greens.
But it has to be the equipment. Right?
www.hickorygolfers.com

Willie Park Sr. – the
first guttie champion
by doug marshall
Born in 1833, Willie
Park was just a
young child when he moved
with his family into a home
across the street from Musselburgh
Links. As he grew
older it was a natural step for
Willie and his two brothers,
Mungo and David, to
become caddies at the golf
course. It was the best job
available and, as a side benefit,
the boys could play golf
after 5 p.m. when there was
little play on the course.
So, the caddies took to
the course and, using home
made clubs and feathery
balls they had found, honed
their skills in daily matches
with each other. Willie’s
first club was a curved stick,
described as a “shinty.”
With his primitive club the
talented Willie began to hit
feathery balls farther than
his fellow caddies. He also
putted better than anyone
else. He clearly was the best
of this scruffy bunch. Their matches were hard fought, however,
stopped only when darkness sent them home for the night.
By the time he was 20 and the best player at Musselburgh,
Willie began looking to expand his horizons. He had become a
ballmaker but that paid very little. If he was to increase his income,
he needed access to the money matches by which the best
players earned their living. He went to St. Andrews to learn the
course and seek competitive matches with the best players from
that links.
It was around 1853 and the gutta percha ball, introduced a few
years earlier, had begun to supplant the feathery. Over at St. Andrews,
the reigning players were Allan Robertson, Willie Dunn
and Tom Morris. Willie tried to get matches with these players
but had to settle for games with lesser players. Clearly they had
no interest in risking their reputation against this young upstart.
Willie in early 1854 put an add in the “Scotsman” challenging
the other three to a match for 50 pounds over the St. Andrews
links. No takers! He eventually settled for a match against George
Morris, Old Tom’s brother. This he won easily thus motivating
Tom to defend the family honour. A match was arranged between
the two over the St. Andrews links, which Willie won by 5-4.
willie park sr. as painted by renowned golf artist Arthur Weaver.
Allan Robertson, considered the greatest player at this time was
quoted as saying, “he frichtens us a‘ wi‘ his lang driving.”
Willie often drove the primitive guttie more than 200 yards. No
small feat, as drives of 165-185 were considered well done. Even
more intimidating was his putting, for he was the best putter of
his time. Tall and strong he was a very bold player, making up for
occasional wild shots with a brilliant short game. Sounds familiar
doesn’t it?
Willie became a “player,” in modern lingo,
and was a factor in most of the great matches
from this time forward. Later that year he
played a three-green match (three courses –
Musselburgh, Prestwick, St. Andrews) with
Willie Dunn and won by 12 holes. Allan Robertson
never did agree to a match with Willie,
and with his death in 1859 at age 44 that was
the end of that. (Allan was also able to take
the title of “The Undefeated” to his grave.)
Matches were popular and played regularly,
but Willie’s main opponent was Old Tom.
They played many matches over the years
with Willie winning most of them.
The first Open was played in 1860 at Prestwick
with only eight competitors. It did not
attract much notice. Willie won that event and
over the next eight years would record two
more victories, four second place finishes and
two fourth place finishes. He won his fourth
Open in 1875 and continued to compete
through 1882.
Despite these victories, the challenge money
matches were considered more important
and these Willie seldom lost. He was clearly
the best player of his time until young Tom
Morris came along.
Willie had come up in golf as a ballmaker
and it is clear made his own balls. As there
were no standards, each maker made them to suit themselves and
their customers. Here are Willie’s thoughts on the ball:
“Some balls when placed in water will float, while others will
sink, because they are heavier. Floaters are too light: they will
leave the club quickly and their carry is soon exhausted... of
course it requires more strength to play with a big heavy ball than
with a light one, and I would say to golfers, play with as big of a
ball as you are able to manage comfortably.”
Willie obviously had done a lot of experimentation to come
up with these conclusions and had created a ball that served him
very well. He was the first long hitter of the guttie era but not
the last. Even as the 20th century dawned, Harry Vardon resisted
switching to the Haskell wound ball as he felt he had adequate
distance, and could control the ball better nearer the greens.
Doug Marshall loves guttie golf and founded and ran the C.B.
MacDonald matches at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario, Canada.
He believes that refinements in modern guttie ball manufacturing
are close to producing something akin to what Old Willie
might have done in his day.
society of hickory golfers 14
spring 2012
Arcane and Quaint words
of Arnold Haultain –
Wordsmith Extraordinaire
The Mystery of Golf
A brief Account of its Origin, Antiquity
& Romance; its Uniqueness; its Curiosness;
& its Difficulty; its anatomical,
philosophical, and moral Properties;
together with diverse Concepts on other
Matters to it appertaining.
by jim davis
Does this just not beg to be read? The
discerning golfer cannot fail to be piqued
by this opening salvo, indeed the subtitle
to the work called “The Mystery of Golf.”
The 1908 publication by Arnold Haultain
had no pretensions to literary glory. The
author turned his literary ambitions to a
variety of subjects, but it was on this matter
of golf that Haultain excelled.
As Herbert Warren Wind noted in the
modern preface, Haultain “had the mentality
to probe the enigma more deeply than
anyone had ever managed to before, and
Page No. (1986 Ailsa edition)
6 Puerility n. Silly, immature
8 Epiphyses n. pl. End of a long bone where it was separated
by cartilage to allow bone growth.
8 A Posteriori adj. The process of reasoning from facts or particulars
to general principles or from effects to causes.
10 Supposititious adj. Substituted for something else to deceive.
19 Sempiternal adj. Lasting forever.
23 Recondite adj. Requiring a high degree of scholarship or
specialist knowledge to be understood.
26 Internecine adj. Relating to or involving conflict with a
group or organization.
26 Exiguous adj. Extremely scanty or meager.
32 Phantasms n. Something you imagine you see but not real.
34 Embonpoint n. Round body shape caused by excess weight.
34 Puissant n. Powerful or mighty.
35 Ideational adj. Capable of conceiving or imagining.
36 Aetiology n. Variant of etiology – study of causes.
41 Disparagement n. To refer disapprovingly or criticize.
41 Disquisition n. Formal, long essay.
42 Maugre prep. archaic In spite of.
44 Decalogue n. Bible; a fundamental set of rules having
authoritative weight.
47 Flagitious adj. Notorious; vicious or cruel crimes.
47 Terraqueous adj. Areas of water and areas of land.
51 Mephitic adj. Relating to or resembling a foul smell.
54 Pervicacious adj. Determinedly resolute in purpose, belief,
or action; obstinate; refractory.
55 Sclaff adj. A poor golf stroke in which the club head hits
spring 2012
then had the talent to articulate his findings
with a brilliance and a clarity that are
quite astonishing.”
“The Mystery of Golf” is organized
into a series of connected essays that
range from the “Origin of Games,” to the
“Influence of Mind” and the “Futility of
Theory.” They are at once witty, learned,
full of insight and a delight for those who
appreciate a well-turned sentence. It has
become a welcome vade mecum of this
writer’s every trip, the slender volume
easily tucking into a jacket pocket for
ready reference or to pass a few pleasurable
minutes en route to the next hickory
tournament.
Only 400 copies were printed in 1908,
but a second, expanded, edition was
produced in 1912 with additional essays.
Several publishers have reprinted the book
since then. I prefer the shorter, original,
version. My Applewood Books edition
15
“How peccant,
how very peccant,
human nature is!”
From The Mystery of Golf
of 1965 (Serendipity Press) is a favorite
because of the wry marginal commentary
delivered in an archaic English.
Clearwater, Fla. SoHG member Richard
Bullock recently discovered the book
and was enthralled with it. Bullock, who
knows good writing when he sees it (his
wife, Kathy, is an accomplished author)
loved the book but admitted that he had to
set it down repeatedly to search for a dictionary.
Part of the fun of reading Haultain
is his alluring use of uncommon words.
Bullock began to write them down. Below
is the list he compiled.
Bullock used the 1986 Ailsa edition with
the foreword by Wind and an afterword by
John Updike. It is 151 pages.
It’s best to locate the following words
where they live so well within Haultain’s
book. After that, see how many you can
glibly produce in your next conversation
at the 19th Hole.
the ground before hitting the ball.
56 Declivitous adj. Sloping downward.
62 Insuperable adj. Impossible to overcome, get rid of, or deal
with successfully; insurmountable.
63 Peccant adj. Guilty of a sin.
64 Descant n. A comment, remark, or criticism on a particular
subject. Also an ornamental melody or counterpoint.
64 Lucubration n. A written work resulting from prolonged
study, often having a scholarly style; late night study.
70 Corpora striata n. Either of two gray and white, striated
bodies of nerve fibers located in the lower lateral wall of
each cerebral hemisphere.
79 Foozler n. One does something badly or clumsily, especially
with regard to a poor shot in golf.
78 Adumbrations n. pl. To give an incomplete or faint outline
or indication of.
82 Paresis n. Muscular weakness or partial inability to move
caused by disease of the nervous system.
83 Irrefragable adj. Impossible to refute.
89 Encephalon n. The brain of a vertebrate.
99 Duck’s egg (cricket) n. A score of nothing by a batsman.
116 Sphygmographs n. Blood pressure and pulse variation
indicators.
121 Innominable adj. Having no specific name, anonymous.
131 Inexpugnable adj. Impossible to overcome.
146 Boscage n. Densely growing trees and bushes.
151 Pisgah n. Refers to a “high place” like the top of a mountain
or to a “cleft”. This is also an Old Testament reference to
those mountain slopes northeast of the Dead Sea. From one
of these, Mount Nebo, Moses viewed Canaan.
www.hickorygolfers.com

Playing Techniques
Tempo
by randy jensen
excerpt from playing hickory golf
Tempo is another important element in
the golf swing that plays an extra important
role in the hickory golf game. Tempo is
how long it takes you to complete various
aspects of your swing. Your backswing
tempo could be slow or fast. Your transition
tempo could be slow or fast. A great way to
sense your perect temmpo is to take an iron,
hold it between your forefinger and thumb,
and start the club swinging. Get the shaft to
reach a point that is parallel to the ground
on both the back and forward swing.
Note how gravity controls the downward
practical tips
for hickory play
acceleration; this is how your golf swing
should feel. If your club just falls with gravity
from the top of your backswing, you will
achieve a stiff flex swing speed! Most players
actually restrict their club’s momentum
and speed on the downswing.
Think about how quickly an object accelerates
from a free fall: if you slip on a ladder
you can hit the ground before you can even
make much of a move! A free falling object
quickly reaches a speed of 180 mph. Note
that in our example where we are holding a
club between our thumb and forefinger and
swinging it back and forth that at the “start”
of the swing, when the shaft is in a vertical
position, the club has its greatest speed.
Consequently, a quick starting burst of energy
that provides the momentum to carry the
club to the top of the swing position is your
ideal starting and backswing tempo.
tempo and timing are key ingredients of a good swing as shown by Scott Staudacher from a bunker at French Lick in July 2012.
Personally
Speaking…
Musings on a rainy afternoon...
Having spent the morning planting
my garden a month earlier than
usual (due to global warming, no doubt)
my aching bones demanded a period of
repose, with coffee and brandy to hand. It
is now raining cats and dogs, so my timing
was perfect for a change, and I can reflect
on golf rather than hack it!
Although the first instinct is to dream
of being a top notch golfer, I find myself
more and more grateful to be old and
untalented, so that the game remains a
true pleasure. There can be little doubt
there is too much professional golf these
days, and the money throws up so many
great exponents that Tiger is likely to be
the last of the golfing deities – it takes the
last day of a Major, or the Ryder Cup, to
stimulate my interest in the televised version.
It is sad, too, that the old virtues of
honesty and humility as displayed by the
likes of Palmer and Nicklaus are no longer
required of the modern icons.
The most fascinating aspect of hickory
play is the wide parameters of performance
of the clubs, with no two shafts
and makes appearing to show any consistency
one against the other. Certainly, my
bag was filled with clubs that owed their
presence to my being able to perform with
them, and not to reflect a better or more
famous Maker. It puzzled me when bags
arrived full of Stewarts or MacGregors, as
it must have taken years to put together a
consistent matched set!
Having now been indoctrinated into the
Most players are too slow at the start
of their swings which forces them to consciously
use their muscles to move the club
through the correct backswing plane instead
of directing the initial burst of energy to
provide the momentum to automatically
move the club through the correct plane. A
quicker starting tempo will also more fully
coil your body on the backswing, providing
more power.
With modern clubs, errors in tempo,
especially in the transition, may not be too
damaging to your shot, but in hickory golf,
with its smaller margin for error, a rushed
transition move can cause a severe mishit
resulting in a very potentially penalizing
result. Focusing on and developing a good,
unrushed transition tempo is one of the best
hickory golf swing keys for the average or
even very good player.
necromancy of clubmaking, I understand
that the skills of the Oldtimers in Scotland
have their modern equivalent, with the
advantage of modern science and tools to
achieve the same end in obtaining a consistent
shaft flex and club weight. It now
makes perfect sense that Stewart would
sell only the club heads and leave it to
the Pro to custom make the clubs for the
Customer. It is timely that Russ Fisher and
his like have received due recognition for
their re-establishment of the old skills.
If only the Scotch and Irish whiskies
could be so easily replicated, life would
be perfect even for those who will never
shoot their age!
4 Degrees
Send your “Personally Speaking”
commentary to the Editor.
jdavis2364@gmail.com
photos/jan tellstrom
society of hickory golfers 16
spring 2012
featured
club(s)
by rob ahlschwede
olympia, wash. usa
have collected golf stuff for about 30
I years, more or less, and I have many
favorite clubs in my collection, some
being players and some will just stay in
the “golf room.” I will bore you with the
description of three. Sorry….
My first hickory clubs were some my
father picked up for .25 cents at a farm
sale in the ’50s. As a kid I hit ’em all over
the farm until all but one was broken. I
did take the shaft out of the mid iron and
put it in the putter when it broke – used a
copper harness rivet for a pin. Not my best
re-shafting effort. And thus, not one of my
favorites.
First on my list is the Spalding backspin
mashie niblick that is stamped “S.B.
Davies.” Stanley B. Davies – “Sandy”
to the membership – was a Scottish
pro at Omaha Field Club
from the 19-teens
through the transition
and into the
steel era. He
was the host pro
when the 1941
U.S. Amateur was
played there. This
particular club has his initials
stamped on it as the owner.
It was a really good play club that spent
time in my bag, but was retired to save
the stampings. Not a particularly valuable
club, but special for a hickory player who
lived in Omaha.
Of course, my fellow hickory players
would expect a discussion of my Spalding
Kro-flight Driver, called
“Frankenstein” to my
friends. It is really
just a common
Spalding driver
with the “landing
crow” face insert.
I found it in the
back room of a Pro
Golf Discount place
many years ago. It
was among a group
spring 2012
Spalding back-spin mashie niblick
Frankenstein – the Spalding driver
Dunn model putter
of hickories that had
been part of a trade-in.
The owner asked if
I wanted them. Of
course I did.
The insert was
fractured – as often
happens with those
fancy face era inserts –
and I glued it back in and
played it. It hit great! Has a super shaft for
me. So I kept it in
the bag. Over the
years it has suffered
many injuries. The
head fractured in two
pieces from heel to toe,
but I glued that back
and kept playing it. Still
hit great. After it fractured
a few more times
(once into three
pieces), I
drilled from the
face through
the back of the
head and inserted
wooden dowels.
And then a piece of the
insert disappeared.
More glue.
Thus the nickname “Frankenstein”—
more glue and bolts, etc. than club. One of
these days I may find a driver I like more,
until then “Frankie” stays in the bag.
The third on the list is my Dunn model
putter, a club that was copied to make
the Kempshall putter or maybe vice
versa. Mine has a wooden
17
head, is center
shafted, face
balanced and has
a heavy brass face
plate. The shaft is
stamped with “J.
W. Watson,” who
was at Monifieth at the
turn of the last century. There
was also a J.W. Watson who in Kansas
City later in the wood shafted era. Have
not been able to ascertain which Watson
has his name on my putter, but choose to
believe it came from Scotland. Of course.
The only other putter I have seen that is
exactly like it has a Spalding stamp across
the top. And, can you believe, the fella
wouldn’t sell it!
So, how much time do you have? I
could go on. I suppose I am like so many
of us in that the story of the club might be
more important than the club itself. We all
have more valuable clubs, but they might
not be our “favorite” clubs.
big three for rob. Top, the Spalding
backspin mashie niblick; at left, the
Dunn model putter and, below...
IT’S ALIVE!!! The much-discussed
Kro-Flite driver, kept in play by various
glues, dowels, nuts, bolts and, perhaps,
a soupsçon of mad genius.
www.hickorygolfers.com

The Aussie
who came
to play
by jim davis
Down Under came over to come out on top
in last year’s U.S. Hickory Open. Alan
Grieve of Brisbane, Queensland, bested
nearly 70 competitors, and record heat,
to give our country’s national hickory trophy an
international flavor. His steady play and victory
were no surprise to friends and family at home
who know quite well of Grieve’s passion for the
sport. In fact, the Aussie plans to celebrate his
41st birthday at this year’s USHO.
Grieve, who is not married but has a girlfriend,
is a civil design draftsman by trade. He took up
golf in 1986, inspired by Greg Norman’s Open
triumph at Turnberry. Some 20 years later, he
began to get somewhat bored with a game
where, although his handicap hovered between
4 and 6, it began to lack challenge.
“I had always owned and used a Calamity
Jane putter and after a bit of surfing, I
came across Mike Just’s site (Louisville Golf)
and decided to buy the introductory set,”
he says. “That led to the Society of Hickory
Golfers site and then the Australian Golf
Heritage site.
That’s when Grieve realized that a sub-culture
of hickory golf existed. Intrigued, he began to
play hickories more often, coming into full form
at the 2010 Australian Hickory Championship
(AHC) at the Georges River Golf Club in Sydney,
where he came in third.
“I realized that I fit in this environment and then set
a goal to get to the U.S. last year.
Grieve was the first person to register for the USHO
and traveled more than 10,000 miles to get to French Lick,
Ind. for the championship at the Donald Ross Course of
the French Lick Resort. That “walkabout” wasn’t just for
the USHO; Grieve arranged a golfing holiday throughout
Michigan and Indiana that would culminate at French Lick.
Brisbane’s Wynnum Golf Club is Grieve’s home turf.
He’s been a member since 2003. The club was designed in
1922 by Wilson Kerr in partnership with A.G. Oliver near
Wynnum North Railway station. Some 87 years later, the
flourishing club has some 1,500 members, and at least one
hickory golfer.
On a golf walkabout of the Midwest,
Alan Grieve captured the 2011 U.S.
Hickory Open with a solid game.
Can he repeat in 2012?
photo/jan tellstrom
“I talked another member into going to Sydney to play in
the 2011 Australian Hickory Championship,” Grieve says.
“He enjoyed it. I’ll wait and see if he ventures down again... I
reckon he will.”
At 5,900 yards and par 70, Wynnum, with its subtle greens,
sets up “perfectly” for hickory golf, Grieve says. “To me, it’s
the hardest ‘short’ course in Brisbane. Every time I’ve bought
a visitor to play there for the first time, they say to me that they
should have scored better than they did.”
Grieve tries to play twice a week, with at least one round
at Wynnum. He’ll play hickories at least nine months of the
society of hickory golfers 18
spring 2012
year. And, when playing other clubs, he’ll
use hickories as long as the course is no
longer than about 6700 yards. “Otherwise
it is no fun playing a course that is too
long for them.”
Grieve’s current U.S. hickory handicap is
4.2. His Australian Golf Union handicap
is 4.1 (as of end January). Currently, he’s
been plying the modern weapons to play
“pennants” for his club; a series of match
play events with the best 11 from each
club competing against one another. The
club that wins the most matches wins the
pennant.
“I’ll revert to the hickories after
pennant season is finished at the end of
March,” he says. “The modern clubs then
will go into hibernation until pennant
season starts again.”
There’s just something about hickory
golf that is infectious. Not quite eccentric
and just this side of mild insanity. We’ve
all tried to express this ineffable sense of
joy. Here’s Grieve’s take on the sport.
“There is no better feeling than hitting
a good shot with the hickories. I get asked
that a lot by people who haven’t played
with me before and they just don’t understand
until I actually give them one to hit.
The look on their faces when they do is
priceless.
“The hickory game takes all the ego out,
I find that I have to play within myself,
which actually suits my style of game, and
it actually helps the modern clubs when I
photo/jan tellstrom
friendly chat. Alan, right, and Rick Woeckener share a relaxed
moment during the 2011 U.S. Hickory Open.
spring 2012
have to play with them. I
dress in plus-4’s every time
I play now, which makes it
even more enjoyable.
“You can’t play to win
the club competitions
when you are playing with
hickories and everyone else
has all the latest gizmo’s
and whatnot, but, geez,
the beer at the end of the
round tastes good when you
have beaten your playing
group using sticks.”
Playing well with hickories
– that’s Australian for
“golf.”
Grieve finished fifth at the
2011 AHC at the Carnarvon
Golf Club in Sydney. “No
practice round cost me a
few shots,” he says, “but
not enough to peg back
the leader – you can’t hit
it poorly and expect to do
well.”
According to the
Australian Golf Heritage
Society (AGHS), the 2012
AHC, is scheduled for Nov.
30, again at the Carnarvon
Golf Club in Sydney.
The AHC is open to both
amateurs and professionals. Australian pro
Perry Somers won in 2010 and 2011, the
two times that Grieve has played. “He’s
Australia’s marquee hickory player,”
Grieve says, “along with
Derrin Morgan from Royal
Queensland Golf Club.”
Just recently, the AGHS
established a Queensland
branch that Grieve has
joined, playing out of the
Royal Queensland Golf
Club. “This, hopefully,
grows the hickory society
in my local area,” he says.
Aside from the AHC and
one or two other events,
there isn’t much available
for the Australian hickory
golfer, he says. “It’s the
organization and the variety
of events. You guys in the
U.S. know how to put on
an event.”
The Aussies, he believes,
are more interested in
19
photo/jan tellstrom
french lick walkabout. 2011 U.S. Hickory Open champ Alan Grieve
walked about half the Donald Ross Course on day one and the entire
course on day two. The excessive did not bother him – too much. It
was the type of heat, he said, typical of his junior golfing days.
the collection and preservation of information
and objects connected with the
history of golf than in playing.
“I’d rather be out playing,” Grieve says.
Using the old sticks is what generates
a real appreciation for the golfing skills
of hickory-era greats, he says, especially
with regard to “the balls used, the condition
of the courses, the clubs, of course,
and the scores they posted.” Of all those
past greats, Bobby Jones is his great
inspiration. Grieve still has, and loves, his
Calamity Jane putter.
As he thinks about the 2012 USHO (yes,
Rick and Roger, he’s returning), Grieve
says French Lick’s Donald Ross course
was a worthy test. “It was set up for
hickory play with regard to length and I
just loved the greens. If you put the ball
in the wrong place, you really tested your
skill with the short stick. You need to
know where to go and where not to go, in
other words, know where to miss it.”
see AUSSIE, page 22
www.hickorygolfers.com

photo/jan tellstrom
victory smiles. Breck Speed, owner of Mountain
Valley Spring Water, and sponsor of the SoHG”s
Championship Series, congratulates an exuberant
Alan Grieve who holds the USHO trophy.
Alan Grieve on:
AUSSIE
continued from page 21
Practicing:
I don’t practice, just spend about 15-20 minutes on the putting
green pre-match and about 15 minutes stretching. I don’t
want to suffer an injury when I am fortunate enough I can play
year round. When I play in club competitions, I play matchplay
against each of my playing partners in my head, their net score
vs. my gross score. This really keeps you switched on for the
entire round. I see so many players give up on their round after
about 12 or 13 holes and just waste the chance to imagine they
need to shoot a certain number over the closing holes, so when
they do get in that position, they haven’t practised that in a
competition scenario.
Grieve says he’ll be working on
chipping, which he considers the weakest
part of his game.
“I know Rick (Woeckener) won’t
believe this, but my chipping is my
weakest point, I hit so many scummy
bump and runs in the last round that
Rick and Roger (Andrews) both commented,
in their own ways, on the
shots. Those were all tongue-in-cheek
though, hopefully. It’s all right Rick, I
think I have perfected that shot now.”
Last year provided an additional
challenge
with regard
to the record
heat (an
index of 114
on the first
day). But
Grieve grew
up playing
hickory golf:
Enjoy it. In my opinion, hickory golf is not target golf. You
have to allow for some bump and run shots. Positional play. I
now picture shots that are not really the conventional shot, using
the undulations as necessary. This is much more fun.
Clubs in his bag:
I have a mixture of Mike Just and Tad Moore’s clubs and have
recently acquired another set that are Stewart irons with a variety
of woods. I have yet to use them due to the wet weather we
are having here currently.
The future of hickory golf in Australia:
Hopefully good. I will keep playing hickories wherever I go and
this will hopefully interest and encourage others to at least give
them a go. If they do, then they are in for a treat, but you already
know that.
junior golf in such heat, so that wasn’t
his main worry.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he says, “it
was bloody hot on that first round. You
have to keep hydrated. I drank about 6
liters of water on the course and about
6 liters of beer off the course. But, I
played a lot of my junior golf in those
conditions so it didn’t really worry
me too much. But, just like here in
Queensland, the late afternoon/early
evening thunderstorm cooled everything
down for the next day.”
All in all, Grieve says he enjoyed the
USHO and had a great time meeting
new friends and enjoying the Donald
Ross Course. What’s he look forward
to in defense of his title?
“Actually, my goal is to thoroughly
enjoy my four-week golfing holiday
just like last year and meet up with
all the people I met last July and have
another refreshing frosty beverage or
two with them.
“See you in July, mates.”
on home turf. Alan Grieve shared this photo of himself in formal
hickory attire at his home club of Wynnum in Brisbane.
society of hickory golfers 20
spring 2012
spring 2012
letters
from
abroad…
Hickory golf on seaside links
The British Golf Collectors’ Society
has just published its fixture list
for 2012. The programme looks wellbalanced,
with meetings and matches at
many of the usual venues – and just a few
specials to mark their Silver Jubilee. There
are new visits to Borth, one of the earliest
courses in Wales; Fleetwood, believed
to be the site of the oldest links course
in England; and Wallasey, in conjunction
with the annual visit to the Hoylake
links of Royal Liverpool. Other fixtures
catching the eye are Royal Aberdeen and
Ganton, venues of recent Walker Cup
matches, and a heritage fest in St Andrews,
where The Society will play over
the New Course, and socialise in Forgan
House, overlooking the eighteenth green
of the Old Course.
Significantly, 17 of the 29 fixtures are
over seaside links – reflecting BGCS’s
preference for the traditions of golf. But
there are other features of linksland golf
that are important for hickory play. Natural
turf must be one of the most important.
The sand-based soils of linksland drain
well, but are relatively infertile, supporting
the fine, long-rooted fescues and
bents that give smooth putting surfaces
and brassie lies on the fairways. Temptations
to water and fertilise, to which many
clubs succumbed in the mid-years of the
last century, are now being resisted, in a
movement to naturalism that has been led
by R&A agronomists.
There have been some damaging concessions
to the water and fertiliser school,
even on championship courses. Donald
Ford’s 2006 book on the history of the
Carnoustie Links tells how local government
reorganisation in the 1970s brought
course maintenance under the responsibility
of a municipal authority that was more
used to parks and flowerbeds than championship
links. The greensward suffered, and
had to be rescued by a linksland specialist
from St Andrews, before a return to the
Championship rota in 1999.
David Dobby’s recent history tells how
the Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club at Deal
found an effective
way to protect the
course against storm
surges from the
English Channel that
had caused historic
cancellations of Open
Championships and
other tournaments.
But it had unwelcome
side effects; gradual
invasion by meadowland
grass and loss of
links character. Again,
a links specialist from
Scotland applied the
necessary discipline
of spared watering
and chemicals, and
regular aeration. The
photo (top)/courtesy
natural greensward
john fischer iii
has been restored;
carnoustie, above, suf-
the Amateur Chamfered from overwatering
until it was rescued and
pionship returns next restored to the Open
year.
rota in 1999.
There is another
At right, the 8th hole at
attraction of links
Hoylake.
golf that is not
always recognised:
the wind that is often so much stronger
than on sheltered inland courses. Some say
the supreme challenge of golf is the shot
into the teeth of the prevailing wind, to a
high, well-protected green. This requires
imagination and nerve, as well as perfect
execution; a visualisation of how the ball
with move with the wind, as well as the
skill to keep it on the proper flight path.
This is the challenge facing BGCS
members as they contemplate their pitch
up to the eighth green at Hoylake; their
21
mashie into the hogsback tenth at Aberdovey;
the full cleek into the Seventh at Rye.
They know disaster awaits them front,
back and to either side. But the fine detail
of the crisp shot holding its line and the
makeable putt will remain with them long
after they have forgotten their failures.
These are the challenges and exhilarations
of linksland golf.
Jigger
photo/copyright crown (2007) visit wales
aberdovy in Wales will see BGCS play in 2012.
www.hickorygolfers.com

Golf’s labor lost?
The Great Bard on the greatest game
Was Shakespeare a golfer? The following lines, lost for centuries from the history play “King
Henry IV, Part II,” have recently been “discovered” among the papers of a barrister of the period
for whom the Shakespeare family were, it appears, clients. The literary world has reacted to the following
with a stunned silence. However, those of us who are true believers will have no doubt that the
Great Bard penned the following after a round upon the links at St. Andrews.
Falstaff: Good morrow, sirs. The air is clear, the field is open
And we four stand upon the crest of creation. How shall
it unfold? Woulds’t thou have the honor in playing off?
For in this upon the first, honor is a small thing,
Having yet been won by fair attempt or achieving.
Therefore are we equals as in life every man begins
a mewling babe, not yet with tooth, his mettle still untested,
His path his own to make to glory or defeat.
PH: And yet, methinks, upon this ground, honor stands
upon itself
An no one wins but he who willingly engages to test the best
of inward passion ‘gainst outward swings of temperance.
Play on, MacDuff, play on and we three shall follow thee
As best we may in hopes of discovering fair ground from
Which our fortunes may increase with honest measures
taken.
MacDuff: Thanks to thee, gracious prince. I shall to the
challenge rise and, hoping thus for your forbearance all,
betake me to this spooning shaft. It pains me thus to
make this measure but less than willingly I would, for
mischievous humors of late have truly my poor sinews
bound with such aches as would brave Hercules bring low.
Caddy 1: (Aside) Aye, and 12 labors now are 13 with this brave
tell.
Here’s muck to add to the Augean stables.
Caddy 2: (Aside) See, he passes at the sphere like an old man,
broken with the storms of wandering slice.
Caddy 1: (Aside) And how he breaks wind. A wise man stands a
league off.
Bardolph: Well struck, sir. Truly ‘Pollo’s arc doth travel
vainly to equal merit
As the flight of thine own sweet missile. Now for it.
Zeus himself shall
Know the passing of this blazing errant, I’ll wager.
Caddy 1: (Aside) Now we’ll know what passes for wind in heaven.
Methinks we’ll see a slow worm here, ‘a tumbler that
in n’other form.
Caddy 2: (Aside) Zounds! He swings but passes all. The very
ball doth rest yet at his feet. How he trembles! But tis too
soon for rough words,
Not away from the Hole ‘o Pith, too nigh the captain’s
window. Fat Jack will soon away.
Falstaff: Bardolph, sir, thine own mother waits
upon thee three and two at the turn.
Thou liest now two with still a fair walk to the burn.
(Bardolph strikes)
There, now. In sweet heather liest thou but yet may
see the lie of it.
Do you strike, good prince, and let no pressing issue
steer you wrong.
PH: Those who press, when pressed, find no comfort in their
manner.
Yet, when pressed, some do show a finer form, whose cool intent
with gentle use makes kingly show of e’en the meanest swing.
Ye see yon bunker called the Cap’s Sire by the clubhouse wags?
To chance to carry wins a simple pitch to the flag beyond, but
failure brings to play both sand and burn and whins withal.
What say you, Jack, that courage prick us on to dare the brute
and win the fairest course? Or, take the safer course and by
discretion take the bogey but mayhaps to lose the hole.
Man, by nature, action must initiate, but oft loses
advantage by fearing to attempt. Desire so inflames
his breast that overreaching tips the balance that woulds’t
carry all obstacles when practiced with a steady hand.
I’ll strike it – thus – and take the rub, for action truly taken
Brings its own reward.
Caddy 1: (Aside) He hath carried the Cap’s Sire by 10 at least!
With such a blow that had no sign of haste nor worry. Here’s
one will take the match should bogey show a pith of sense.
Caddy 2: (Aside) How must Jack answer! I say he roundly
makes but five,
and that by rounds of disaster making, forsaking risk for sure
haven.
But look, he swings for it now, for he will surely swing later.
(Falstaff strikes)
Falstaff: Great pains have I this course undertaken, but like
a lover wooed by soft refrain hath listened to the music, not
the matter.
Thus, the lie I have is but reflection of the lie I made before
the issue.
The best of lies are for ourselves reserved,
So reason says, and grants the lie deserved.
society of hickory golfers 22
spring 2012
spring 2012
“He does that after every putt he makes!”
Golf hearts beat quickly after reading the preceding passage. There can be no doubt. The good bard was
indeed a duffer at heart. Perhaps his plays were meant to read “Par’s Labors Lost,” “19th Hole, Or What
You Will,” “A Midsummer Round’s Dream,” and “The Taming of the Slice.” Certainly, “Much Ado About
Nothing” was meant to be a farce concerning a match between rivals. It is now thought that the “Master of
the Revels” who controlled entertainment in London during Shakespeare’s time demanded the above titles
and content be changed so as to appease Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth I, who suffered from a high handicap
and was loath to see or hear anything about the links upon pain of death. Well, all’s well that ends well. As
you like it, anyway.
Eds. note: A bit of fun to end this spring issue of the Wee Nip. To close it off properly,
here’s Puck from the famous epilogue to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream...
23
Illustration by Corey Swets
www.hickorygolfers.com

Final Shots
Lady at St Andrews
photo/mike jensen
British painter Reginald Edward Higgins (1877-1933) painted Lady at St Andrews approximately
1929. The tempera painting is part of the Art of Golf exhibit at the High Museum of
Art in Atlanta, Ga. now through June 24. The painting is on loan to the exhibit courtesy of the
Cherokee Town & Country Club Collection.
photo/courtesy british golf museum
An unknown photographer took this view of the “The Ladies Club” in 1886. It is part of the
High Museum art exhibit by permission of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.
From the Art of Golf exihibit
photo/andy warhol
Andy Warhol’s acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen portrait of
Jack Nicklaus was done in 1977. It is part of the exhibit
courtesy of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.