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2010 US Hickory Open

held at Mimosa Hills Golf and Country Club (Donald Ross design) in Morganton, NC

Championship Division Top Ten

1. Rick Woeckener (VA) 70/73 = 143 Champion
2. Scott McAllister (VT) 78/76 = 154 Playoff
3. Matt Boumphrey (OH) 77/77 = 154
4. Roger Andrews (OK) 77/81 = 158
4. Fred Fruisen (GA) 79/79 = 158
6. Jay Harris (NC) 81/78 = 159
7. Rusty Wells (NC) 81/80 = 161 Reserve Champion
8. David Brown (NE) 78/84 = 162
9. Doug Floyd (AL) 82/82 = 164
9. Bert Coghill (IL) 81/83 = 164
10. Tanner Stewart (OH) 87/80 = 167

Senior Division Top Ten

1. Glen E. Davis (NC) 81/80 = 161 Senior Champion
2. John Hopper (NY) 84/81 = 165
3. Hamp Munsey (NC) 90/84 = 174
4. Ed Woeckener (NC) 91/84 = 175
5. Barry Markowitz (NC) 88/88 = 176
6. Mike Strasser (NC) 87/92 = 179
7. Thomas Ochs (IL) 95/87 = 182
7. Mike Just (KY) 93/89 = 182 Senior Reserve Champion
8. Paul Dietz (Canada) 95/88 = 183
9. Joseph Whisnant (NC) 90/96 = 186
10. Wayne Aaron (GA) 91/97 = 188

This year’s event had 58 players from 20 states and Canada. 

A special thanks goes to Mountain Valley Spring Water and the other sponsors for their continuing support of the tournament.

The 2011 U.S. Hickory Open will be contested at another great old Donald Ross golf course located at The French Lick Resort in French Lick, IN. Save the dates on your calendar, July 11, 12 and 13 and plan to include your wives as there will be activities planned for them while you are playing golf.

Questions on Hickory Golf, e-mail mjust@louisvillegolf.com

CLICK HERE to visit ESPN.com to read a recent article on the U.S. Hickory Open which ended today. (More to come on this year’s tournament on the Persimmon bLog.)

Below is an article which appeared in the July 12, 2010 issue of Sports Illustrated.

E-mail josh@louisvillegolf.com if you cannot find the article online and would like to read it. I can send you a PDF.

Louisville Golf,

You will be pleased to know that I got a bit of advertising in for your company this last weekend. I won the Senior division (that still just kills me to say) of the Tulsa City Golf Championships using ALL Louisville Golf products (with the exception of my yet-to-be finished SMART ProB.E. driver). 

I did use the HB putter that I won the Mimosa tournament last year, along with the irons, and fairway woods. BOTH days the temperature was 98 degrees with a constant 15-20 mph wind blowing, for me, REALLY tough conditions to score in. On the 36th hole, when I had about 12 feet left for a birdie to shoot a final round of 69, I had one of those horse shoe type of putts that went into the hole, then came back out right at me! DANG! 

Both days, I got a bit of grief for playing what I called a 100-year old putter, and then for playing what everyone else thought were just the “best-looking 35-year  old fairway woods” they had ever seen. Imagine when I told them that they were special made for me this year! Of course, right after that came the thoughts of “so nice of you to bring those clubs Rog; that just allows me to play better than you and take whatever gift certificate you might have won this time, etc.”  After the first nine of 39, I thought that they might be right, but I kept grinding (a la Corey Pavin this last weekend), and then I had nines of 35, 36, 34. 

BTW, I do want to say, that I got dozens of compliments about how great the woods looked; funny, but I didn’t hear anything else about how I ‘couldn’t score too well’ with them after the first nine. I wonder why that was? 

- Roger Andrews

SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT RESULTS
Andrews, Roger 74 70 = 144
Koenig, Richard 73 73 = 146
Kee, Ken 72 75 = 147
Lusnak, Mike 76 72 = 148
Crews, Randy 74 74 = 148
Sidorakis, Nick 74 74 = 148
Wilson, Tom 73 75 = 148
Trowbridge, Pat 73 76 = 149
Donley, Mike 76 75 = 151

Pictured above from left to right: Louisville Golf president Mike Just, Roger Andrews, Louisville Golf marketing director Josh Fischer.

Andy Just, Louisville Golf founder Elmore Just’s oldest son, finished third place at the National Hickory Championship (NHC) held June 11 and 12 at Oakhurst Links in West Virgina. His score of 164 was six shots back of Mike Stevens. Eight-time NHC champion Randy Jensen finished in second place.

Golf World recently featured the results of this year’s event in their June 21, 2010 issue on page 9.

Why Hickory Golf?
by Josh Fischer
josh@louisvillegolf.com

One of the best company slogans of all time comes from Harley Davidson: “If I had to explain, you wouldn’t understand.” I think it applies to Hickory Golf. This aphorism provides one charged to promote Hickory Golf with a decidedly difficult challenge. Inherent in promotion is an explanation of the benefits of the thing promoted, and so the golfer asks: why should I let loose of my time and money to play golf with clubs that were used nearly a century ago? At the risk of explanation, I can think of many reasons to play Hickory Golf, but here are the three that seem the most potent.

First, golf is unique because it pits one against oneself and the golf course. Sure, a tournament allows the golfer to see where he or she stacks up against others, but essentially golf is you, your equipment, and the course. The challenge the game gives me is reward in and of itself, self-contained, so the appreciation I have for those shots I hit well stimulate the part of my brain that appreciates beauty and harmony. This is amplified with Hickory Golf, and simplified. When I put my Hickory-shafted set in play golf becomes more about just getting the ball in the hole, hitting whatever knock-down or run-up shot I have to hit, rather than an unfulfilling performance trap obsessed with distance.

Secondly, Hickory Golf grants me access to the original spirit of the game. With Hickory-shafted golf clubs I commune with the roots of the sport as it was gaining momentum in the early 20th century. This “spiritual” trip into the history of golf is the most difficult to explain. Sometimes language fails us, and the Harley Davidson quote applies, but if I had to choose one word to encapsulate the feeling I get when I am in this state, the best word would be joy. I enjoy Hickory Golf because I like thinking about the golfers of the 20s and 30s, and since I have always been an equipment junkie, I like testing myself with the sticks they used. This is why I like playing with our clubs. Golfers from the Hickory era used new clubs, built relatively close to the tee times they used them for. When one of our clubs, built by hand by our craftsmen, comes from the shop and onto the course, it is as close as I can get to what those golfers of yore used. This is arguable I know, but in the context of time, I like what we do. This communion with the past honors golf’s heritage. I am surprised how many “modern” golfers shun and insult golf’s honored past.

Finally, I like to be a little bit different. Let’s face it, Hickory Golf will grow, but it will never be main stream again. As a manufacturer of Persimmon woods, we at Louisville Golf know what it is like to be different. We are asked the same questions every golf season: “You guys still make wood golf clubs?” Yes we do, and as a niche product, we do alright. We feel, as the last company still manufacturing wood golf clubs, that we are keepers of the game’s tradition. This includes Hickory Golf, which gives me the quickest access to the game’s competitive roots, rich heritage and uniqueness. But then, if you have read this far, you probably understand.

Harry Vardon, winner of 7 major titles, including six Open Championships, remains one of golf’s luminaries, in no small part due to the success of Mark Frost’s book (and subsequent movie from Disney) “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” The book tells the powerful story of underdog Francis Ouimet’s unlikely win over Vardon in the 1913 U.S. Open. The book, winner of the USGA’s and Sports Illustrated’s Best Book award and published by Hyperion Books, tells the sub-plot of the game’s evolution, with the 1913 U.S. Open being one of the seminal events in the early years of the game of golf as we know it today. No discussion of the evolution of the game is complete unless golf’s equipment is discussed. Here Frost talks about putting:

“Putting has always been golf’s most ephemeral component; players as supremely gifted as Ben Hogan felt it shouldn’t even be considered part of the same sport. As a result, putters tend to be the one club about which players turn irrational and superstitious. In Harry’s case, his well-publicized search for a club to help him overcome his terminal yips became a national preoccupation; cartoonists depicted Harry forging crude homemade putter over an open fire, or carrying twenty-five different models in his bag like arrows in a quiver. Sympathetic fans, eager club makers, and fellow professionals alike shipped him oddball variations from every corner of the globe. He tried ones carved from exotic woods and forged from every kind of metal, one with a foot-long blade, others with heads as square as a block of cheese. Nothing did the trick.” – p. 117, The Greatest Game Ever Played, by Mark Frost, Hyperion Books.

Vardon’s search for his ultimate weapon on the greens led him to Arthur Brown; Frost describes the meeting which eventually leads to Vardon’s use of the Brown Vardon (BV) putter:

“A high roller friend of Harry’s named Arthur Brown, a successful timber baron, designed a customized experimental putter for Harry and presented him with it in early 1911. This new, heavier iron club altered Harry’s stance; more upright now, both head and body still. Instead of popping the ball with a wristy slap controlled by his unreliable fingers, the palm of his right hand held the shaft for a more even, pendulum swing that involved gently rocking the shoulders; a modern putting stance to go with his modern swing. To Harry’s enormous surprise, Arthur Brown’s p[utter appeared to solve his problem, but he refused to say he’d put it behind him until testing the club in competition.” – p. 119, The Greatest Game Ever Played, by Mark Frost, Hyperion Books

Vardon used the putter made for him by Brown (thus called the Brown Vardon) to win two of his six Open Championships. Our Brown Vardon (BV) putter replicates the original. The head is made of carbon steel. It is shafted with an authentic Hickory shaft (available in 34 or 35 inches) and is gripped with an authentic leather grip hand wrapped using pitched linen whipping thread. This putter is handmade from start to finish and completely playable with the modern golf ball. This putter has been approved for play in hickory events by the Society of Hickory Golfers.

Click Here to visit the Brown Vardon page on the Louisville Golf website.

Gentlemen,

I could go on and on about why I think replica equipment is appropriate for Hickory golf, but I would just like the opportunity to address the concerns that have been presented, which seems to be that original equipment and replicas are not on a level playing field.

If the replica is a true replica/duplicate of the original, then why are they not the same? It has been mentioned that replicas are cast and not forged, as if castings are better. Castings are not better. Any type of groove or face pattern can be cast into the face, so there is not a “groove” advantage. The reason a replica is cast is that it is not economically feasible to create tooling and pay the price of a forging. The exact same club can be made by the casting or the forging process. The forged head will cost 5 to 8 times more than the cast head.

The purpose of the Society of Hickory Golers (SoHG) is to promote the play of hickory golf; to promote the experience of golf in a manner consistent with how the ‘royal and ancient game’ was played in the hickory era. I have incorporated this mission into every club we offer, especially the part about the experience of golf in a manner consistent with how the royal and ancient game was played in the hickory era. We at Louisville Golf have gone to great pains to make our replica clubs as close to an original as humanly possible.

The first iron we replicated was a niblick with a flange. This was a very hard to find original club but was a great club to have for getting out of sand traps. Not every player in the field had one of these clubs in their bag because not everyone could find one. So, do the guys who were able to find an original have an advantage over the guy who couldn’t find one? I think so. I found an H&B Par XL for my bag, but I had a lot of people calling me for one. So I took an original H&B and sent it out to be replicated. Now, everyone has an opportunity to have one in their bag, and the replica is an exact copy of the original. How is that not a level playing field?

It seems the people who are “original only” people are guys who have the time, knowledge, and means to acquire a set of very good, well-tuned originals. I think if you compared those original sets to a set of true replicas, you would find little or no difference in playability. I have heard the argument of a new shaft is better than an old original shaft. That is not true. An original shaft that has been tried and tested for 80+ years is a damn good piece of wood, and would be hard to match in a modern shaft.

I expanded our line to include other irons (all exact duplicates of originals) after having a conversation with Frank Boumphrey at Mid Pines (NC). He told me of his experience in trying to put together a good play set of clubs by buying on eBay. He had spent a few thousand dollars and accumulated a pile of rejects in putting together a good play set. Frank asked me if a short set could be made and offered at a reasonable price to make it easier for a person to get into Hickory golf rather than go through the frustrations he experienced. The outcome of that was Louisville Golf offering an introductory set of four irons and one wood for $675 which is a $185 discount from the regular price.

Again, if a replica is a true replica of an original, how can it be an advantage over the original club? I could take the cleek marks off the original and the Louisville replica, clean them up to the same condition, and you wouldn’t be able to tell one from the other. I was talking to one golfer in Dayton a few years ago and he said he didn’t think Louisville Golf replicas should be allowed. I asked him why? He said “your driver will hit the ball 20 yards further than my original driver.” My reply was that he must not have a very good original driver. And that is my point, not everyone can find GOOD originals.

Here’s what I think replicas do for Hickory golf. They allow the average guy to put together as good a set of clubs as a guy who has the time, knowledge, and money to put together a “super” set of originals. I am always willing to learn, so if there are other issues with the Hickory golf equipment that Louisville Golf is making I am willing to listen.

Thanks,

Mike Just
President, Louisville Golf
e-mail: mjust@louisvillegolf.com

Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club
Southern Pines, NC
Nov. 6-8, 2009

1st Place: Roger Andrews 74/78 = 152 (plays Louisville Golf driver and putter)
2nd Place: Rick Woeckener 77/77 = 154
3rd Place: Rusty Wells/Ted Kopec = 158
5th Place: Marty Joy II 80/81 = 161
6th Place: David Ellis 83/80 = 163
7th Place: Hugh Cameron/Ken Holtz = 168
9th Place: Jay Harris 86/83 = 169
10th Place: Roger Brinkley/Jeff Hunt/Tanner Stewart = 172

Mid Pines Tourney pictures on Facebook = Click Here

Click Here to view Louisville Golf’s Hickory-shafted line of golf clubs.

Course conditions for the 2009 Mountain Valley Arkansas Hickory Open were much improved Sunday as wind and abundant sunshine helped dry out the sodden Stonelinks course.  Even with wind gusts of sometimes as much as 20 mph, scores generally dropped on smoother greens and firmer fairways.
 
Saturday’s leading golfer in the Open division, Jeremy Moe of Fort Smith, continued his steady play on Sunday and posted a strong 75 in blustery winds to win over three close contenders with a two day total of 148.  Second place was a three way tie consisting of last year’s Open Champ, Roger Andrews of Jenks, OK, and first time hickory tournament players Bobby Baker of Little Rock and Pat Sharpe of Hot Springs. (Editor’s note: Roger Andrews is a Louisville Golf customer!)
 
The 2009 Senior  Championship was secured by three time Arkansas Senior Hickory Open winner Tad Moore of Selma, Alabama.  Tad was closely challenged by Ralph Williams of Little Rock who took second.  John Berggeron of Houston, Texas, who won the 2008 Arkansas Senior Hickory Championship, took home the third place trophy.
 
The Four Ball Championship was very keenly contested this year as the tournament director allowed persons competing in individual divisions to also team up in the 4-Ball competition.  The winners of the 4-Ball Championship this year were Jeremy Moe and Hank Hankins who shot a two day total of 145.  They barely edged out the teams of Sean Fister (Little Rock)/Randy Clark (Argyle, Texas) and Tad Moore/Roger Andrews who tied for second place 2 strokes back.  The most interesting round of Sunday surely was posted by Tom Hamm and Joe Chancey.  They improved on the 88 recorded on Saturday to a one under par 71 on Sunday!  And, yes, there were witnesses!
 
Thanks to all who made this a great hickory tourney!

VISIT: The Society of Hickory Golfers website click here
 
Breck Speed, President, Mountain Valley Spring Company
150 Central Avenue
Hot Springs, AR 71901
bspeed@mountainvalleyspring.com

Where do reproductions fit in Hickory Golf? Here is how I would have to answer that. The majority of people who buy hickory golf clubs from us have never played hickory golf before. They are people who have become unfamiliar/estranged with the modern game and are looking for an alternative way to enjoy the game of golf. The majority of them never play in one of the many hickory golf events that are available around the country. I know this information because I ask them, I talk with customers and they are very clear about this. They are golfers who go out to the course after work in the evening and have a fun and relaxing time playing with hickory golf clubs. I think they enjoy it because they lower their expectations, and when they hit some good solid shots, they feel good. It is really that simple.
 
So the majority of the golf clubs we sell are geared to these people. They don’t want to spend a lot of money, so I try to offer a “basic” set of clubs – our Intro to Hickory Golf set. This set includes one wood, four irons, and a putter. I suggest a spoon for the fairway wood, a mashie, spade, mashie niblick , and niblick for the irons. This allows them to get around most courses. I sell the set at a pretty good discount to make it more reasonably priced. Most people are satisfied with this set. If they become more interested/passionate about hickory golf, they add some clubs to the set. Some of these people have gone on to show up at some hickory golf events.
 
Last year we helped introduce at least 150 new people to the hickory golf experience. These people didn’t have the knowledge or time to delve into purchasing original hickory clubs. But, now that they have a taste, my hope is that they learn about the history of the old clubs and continue their enjoyment of golf with hickory-shafted clubs.
 
There is a quote I heard recently that I think applies: “Don’t let perfect get in the way of good.” Yes, it would be perfect for there to be enough good original hickory clubs available for everyone who might have an interest in playing hickory golf to have original clubs, but that is not the case. The first irons I offered in hickory were refurbished originals, but I didn’t have enough good irons for the demand I had. I decided to do the best I could by offering replicas that were true copies of original irons. I chose what I thought was the best and most playable originals, and copied them exactly. The feedback that we have received for these choices in models has been very affirming and positive.
 
I admire people who have put together a good set of original hickory-shafted golf clubs. At every hickory event you will see guys showing a new-found original to another player. You don’t see players showing off reproductions. I wouldn’t want everyone to play reproductions, but without them some people would never play hickory golf. And while that is not perfect, I do think it is good. And again, my philosophy is to make the reproduction as close to the original as possible.
 
I don’t expect everyone to agree with my philosophy or point of view; I just wanted an opportunity to explain where I am coming from. You can either agree or disagree, and I will respect differing opinions. But what we are after most is the promotion of hickory golf as a compliment and even an alternative to the modern game, which for all its good has its share of unfortunate pitfalls. Maybe with this stance we can all get back to simply enjoying ourselves on the golf course.
 
Thanks for listening,
 
Mike Just
President, Louisville Golf

e-mail: mjust@louisvillegolf.com