Remembrances of Mike Just

Memories of Mike from several of his close friends and acquaintances. Plus a few photos from here and there.

Mike Just was not only a friend but he was also a business partner. When I started making the first new wood shafted clubs since the early 1930s here in the USA I went to Mike to make the wooden heads for my company. I found turning masters for him to use and he created the OA Signature club heads. They were the first here in USA to go with the OA Irons. After that, Mike started making his own clubs. He fell in love with hickory golf. He was an avid hunter and muzzle loader rifle shooter until the hickory game captured his passion. He truly loved hickory golf. Truly. Nobody will ever love the game more.
Tad Moore

Two video tributes to Mike from Tad Moore and Rob Ahlschwede, made at the Gamble Sands hickory outing in October 2016.

Mike Just has always been the ultimate gentleman; kind, considerate, willing to do anything to help out a fellow hickory golfer. Mike is a current SoHG Board member and was the 2013 recipient of the Mike Brown award, the highest honor that the SoHG bestows upon a member for respect for the traditions of hickory golf, dedication to growing the game, and a passion for promoting lasting friendships. His passion at Louisville Golf for making exact replicas of hickory clubs was noteworthy. He wanted HIS clubs to be perfect. They were. Just like he was. I am honored to say Mike Just was a friend of mine. He will be sorely missed, but his legacy will live on. My heart goes out to Mike’s family in this very difficult time. On behalf of the entire hickory community we wish Mike only the best as he travels to the ultimate journey.
Dave Brown

 

After playing in a few SoHG events in 2011 and 2012 I decided to play in the Southern Four Ball that Tad Moore hosts every April in Birmingham. At this point, knowing only a handful of fellow hickory golfers, I called Mike to see if he had any ideas about who might be a good fit for the tournament as a partner. Mike quickly suggested that I be his partner in this entertaining event. Of course I was thrilled. We had a fun couple of years playing together. We never really threatened the leader board, we always had great fellowship at meals with our fellow competitors and an occasional cigar. That was Mike in a nutshell, always quick to be gracious, always wanting to grow the sport we all love, always a friend.
Rick Rechter II

 

I talked to Mike face to face for the first time this summer, in late July at the Wisconsin Gutty Challenge at Eagle Springs. A year before I had purchased one of the bright, white Louisville Golf hats and through a series of emails with Mike learned about his fight, condition, and progress against cancer. When I heard that Mike was planning to be at Eagle Springs I decided to bring that hat with me. Saturday afternoon as I was preparing to head home to Illinois I walked outside the pro shop where Mike and one of the other participants were talking clubs and Mike was pulling clubs (Louisvilles, of course) out of the trunk of his Impala. When they finished and the other gentleman walked away I ask Mike if he would sign the cap. His first response was “I feel really strange about signing a cap.” I told him that I would take that hat and put it in a prominent place in my office at home and it would be a daily reminder that there was a friend who I could help best by praying for him and his family. He agreed and with that he signed the hat….we shook hands and I got in my car and headed home. My perception of that moment was that I had met a humble man who realized that the game was more than clubs or shots or the best score. It was about the people we come in contact with and who make an impact on us. I will never look at or use my Louisville clubs again without thinking of the painstaking craftsmanship and detail that went into them…. so I could enjoy the game even more.  Mike has fought a diligent fight against a disease that refuses to fight a fair fight. He has battled until there is little fight left. The following poem was read at the USHO awards dinner as an encouragement to all of us….no matter the fight, not to quit.

DON’T QUIT
When your walking turns to stumbling and your stumbling to a fall. When you climb above the mountains yet the Alps rise rough and tall…. Don’t Quit

When the path ahead is crooked and the road is too hard to tread. And the best upon the table is replaced by sorrow’s bread, And you’ve crossed some troubled waters yet there’s a mountain just ahead… Don’t Quit

When your health is feeling sickly, and the medicine tastes bad. When your fellowship is lonely and your happiness is sad. And when your warmth is growing colder and you’re cloud and sunshine clad… Don’t Quit

And when you find your gains are losses, and all your gains are lax. And ill things never come alone and trouble runs in packs. When your soul is bruised and battered from the tempter’s fierce attacks…. Don’t Quit

“Be not weary in well doing for in due season brings the grain, and he who on the Lord has waited shall never run in vain. The just falleth seven times yet rises up again…”

Don’t Quit

It appears that Mike has hit his final approach shot on to the 18th green and he’s tapped in his par putt. He’s taken off his cap and gone around to shake the hands of the other golfers and the time of his departure from that 18th green has almost arrived. Thanks Mike, for allowing us to enjoy the game a little more; but, more important, for helping us to recognize that the spirit of the game is much larger than just one man.
Pastor Jeff Browning

 

Mike Just, a legend in modern hickory golf. He was an awesome man with many titles:  husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and just, simply, good friend. If you were lucky enough to know Mike and count him as a friend, you’ve been lucky enough. He has left us way too early and we want him back. I’ve played countless rounds of hickory golf with him, but those are not enough. I want to play more rounds with him. Mike had a smooth, syrupy, repeatable golf swing that has been good to him. I’m sure he has a large number of medals and other awards to back me up. He was a marvel to play with as he never got perturbed and never uttered an expletive when his ball would go astray. Always nonchalant, easy going, and friendly, he was an excellent draw to play with. Very competitive and focused, Mike could pull off some pretty amazing shots. At Foxburg one time, he hit a gutty into an evergreen tree and the ball stayed there. That’s something that shouldn’t happen, but the tree was thick enough to retain the ball. I have a picture of Mike doing his best Usain Bolt imitation towards the ball. The ball was in the tree about six feet up from the ground. Mike calmly took his driver, made a nice smooth over-hand swing and scraped it off the branch and back out to the fairway. What an awesome shot to witness.  Mike was a superb craftsman and he worked with me to design and install face inserts in all the woods in my play set. They’ve held up perfectly and have served me very well.  I have no doubt but that they will survive me and last into future generations of hickory golfers. His prices were so low for his services, that it’s patently evident he was into the hickory golf business for the love of the game. I hope and trust there is hickory golf where Mike is going and I look forward to teeing it up again at some point. God speed, Mike Just and farewell, my brother. God bless Mike Just and God bless the entire Mike Just family. Our hearts are saddened with his passing and we all grieve along with you.
Far and Sure,
Lang Willie Engelson

 

I first met Mike in person at the NHC over 10 years ago. First impressions are most important and I knew immediately that Mike was a special person. From his days as a player on his college team to his long association with Louisville Golf, Mike had been involved in the game of golf. His participation in the NHC sparked a new golfing interest – the history of the game and the clubs used during the hickory era. I sent Mike some hickories and he became hooked on the game for life. Throughout his hickory playing days Mike continued to a carry a mashie in his bag that he received from me in his first attempt at putting together a playable hickory set. He always said it was the best hitting club in his bag. It was a natural progression for Mike and Louisville Golf to begin its production of faithful reproductions of playable hickory clubs. With some trepidation Mike asked what putter he should reproduce and I suggested the Spalding HB, which is acknowledged to be the forerunner of so many similar flanged back blade putters. Mike understood the restrictions placed on the reproduction of clubs by the SoHG and proceeded to duplicate the HB to perfection with random dots on the face and the true hollow back design. His subsequent reproductions were also true to form. Most importantly, Mike was a giver not a taker. He was always there to answer questions or help out, often to his detriment. I never heard him raise his voice or complain, even while coping with the ordeal he went through the last couple of years. He never thought that life had been unfair to him and continued to fight and be positive about the future until he ran out of ammunition. Mike was a true family man and his family extended beyond Lynn, Rachel, Emily, and Ben. His family included all of the fine folks who worked at Louisville Golf and eventually included all of the people he met through his involvement with hickory golf. Nothing pleased Mike more than going to a hickory event to see his newfound friends. You could really see his eyes light up when he was among his brothers and sisters in the hickory world. Mike is irreplaceable and will be missed by many more people than he ever realized.
Rest in peace my brother Mike.
Bob Georgiade

 

I worked very closely with Mike developing two different models of hickory irons.  The first project were the Nicoll “Precisions” model. I had a mint set of heads that were made for George Duncan in the 20s. Mike and I could not believe how precisely milled the irons were, especially in the incremental weight of each head starting with the 2 through the 8. There was exactly 7 grams of weight for each increment. Mike was easy to work with and he always asked me what I thought. He was always the gentleman. Three or four years later we decided to replicate a set of Stewart flange irons I had. We went through the same process of replicating and reproducing the  new model. Again  we collaborated with no hitches. We did have some difficulty with the Chinese but we worked it out. I have had  more than a few conversations discussing the vagaries and technicalities of reproducing hickory clubs. I learned a lot from Mike. I will miss him.
Jay Harris

 

It was about four years ago that Mike Just and I played nine holes of hickory golf at Persimmon Ridge Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. Persimmon Ridge was vounded and developed by Elmore Just, Mike’s brother. It was mid-afternoon and after some quick practice we were heading for the first tee. A young teenager who had watched us practice approached us on the tee. He was very inquisitive about our hickory clubs and asked to try them. We invited him to join us and try the clubs. He played some holes with us, sometimes using only irons or sometimes only woods. On the last hole, he related that he would play the entire hole with us. He struggled bit and upon finishing the hole meekly said he thought had scored a 10, although it might have been 11. Mike calmly and softly said, “Young man, when a golfer reaches 10, he should pause and humanely stop.” Mike was accomplished not only in clubmaking, but in the pursuit of life as well.
Charles Mitchell Jr.