June 5, 2020 By Jim Davis Gordon Beggs Jr. is a retired law professor (Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University) who makes his home in Tuscon, Ariz. A member of both the GHS and the Society of Hickory Golfers, he has been a long-time player and supporter of the National Hickory Championship (since 2008, seven tournaments). Though slowed in […]
Author Archives: Jim Davis
Whitman, McGraw tops at Wisconsin 2-Man best ball matches
May 25, 2020 – Kohler, Wisc. Ernie Ernst reports: Three days of Hickory golf after two months of social distancing was just what was needed. The weather over the three days here in Wisconsin was magnificent (70s and sun all week). If you don’t think that is special, you never played the Kohler Challenge in May at Whistling Straits. Our […]
NHC tries extreme ‘social distance’ competition
May 4, 2020 By Jim Davis Most social distance guidelines today recommend 6 feet as a “safe” distance from which to engage fellow human beings, also known as possible carriers of Covid-19. This has put a damper on nearly all group activities. We refer, of course, to protests in various states in which the assembled feel the guidelines do not […]
NHC 2020 to go forth everywhere
June 11-12 A course of your choosing Location TBD by you The 2020 National Hickory Championship is to be conducted in an unusual manner this year, as host Pete Georgiady has arranged for players to select courses on which they might play in their locales. This wrinkle is designed to overcome the social distancing requirements and the extreme quarantine rules […]
Hopeful signs in the Northwest
May 1, 2020 Early on in the Covid-19 story, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest were rather hard hit. Like everywhere else, people stayed home, businesses closed, and most recreation came to a halt, hickory golf included. But now comes a sign that maybe, just maybe, things are loosening up… sort of, kind of. The Northwest Hickory Players just announced the […]
Florida State Golf Association teams up with Florida Hickory Golfers
May 1, 2020 There’s good news for hickory golfers, indeed, all golfers, in the Sunshine State. The Florida State Golf Association has entered into a partnership with the Florida Hickory Golfers, led by Mike Stevens. The FSGA plans to add a portal to its website for golfers to explore hickory golf through the FSG. Click here to read the news […]
What’s up with hickory golf these days?
April 24, 2020 By Jim Davis The situation is fluid, as they say. Even as the PGA of America discusses re-opening tour events as well as staging a fan-less Ryder Cup, we wondered how hickory golf is doing. Several regional hickory golf groups, including those in Canada and Europe, responded to a brief survey with answers below. Your correspondent is […]
Bernard Darwin’s “Mournful Numbers”
Tell me not, in mournful numbers “Life is but an empty dream!” A Psalm of Life, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) In 1927, esteemed golf writer/essayist Bernard Darwin took note of what he perceived as a rather dismal trend in the game – the ever building momentum toward numbered clubs rather than the traditional names of mashie, jigger, niblick, etc. It […]
Belvedere Hickory Open bows to coronavirus
April 13, 2020 The 2020 Belvedere Hickory Open has been cancelled. Host professional Dennis “Marty” Joy said it was both an easy and a hard decision to make. Easy, because safety is the priority, but hard because it is such a joyous event. “All our members look forward to it, but we just can’t do it this year,” he said. […]
No golf, no problem – Kansas City father-son duo make music for area residents
Kansas City Area Hickory Golf members Mike Needleman and son, Mikey, had high hopes of playing together at the hickory group’s inaugural Match Play Tournament this April. But just as several other events have had to cancel due to the coronavirus, so, too, Kansas, and the father and son duo must wait until next year to test their hickory play […]