The Playing of the 8th Belvedere Hickory Open
The 2013 Belvedere Hickory Open hosted 55 participants on June 20-22 over a lovely golf course whose generous fairways approached speedy greens. Mr. Dennis “Marty” Joy, the club’s head pro, emerged as the Open victor following a tight back nine contest with modern hickory’s “wee mon” Mr. Roger Andrews (Jenks, Okla.) and a strong challenge from Wisconsin players Mr. Steve Simer and Mr. William “Ernie” Ernst.
Thursday’s Start
Leo Diegel Scramble play was scheduled for the opening/practice rounds on Thursday. The parking lot between the pro shop and the welcoming Belvedere club house was busy with arriving cars, and the air with greetings. The practice range overlooking a deep valley below the clubhouse to the west saw a brisk trade as the better players honed their shots and the rest tried to find theirs, at the very least to reduce the harsh low slice to a less disagreeable fade.
As the weather illuminati had forecast bleak periods of heavy rain and, indeed, the radar showed great armies of advancing storms to the west, most kept a “weather eye”, hoping for the best. Mr. Joy, apparently, has some secret powers of collusion with The One whose hand is on the button. Though the morning and early afternoon hours each day were overcast – light mist on Saturday a.m. – not a drop of rain plagued the players as was the case with the National Hickory Championship who suffered a day long monsoon two weeks earlier in the Philadelphia area. In fact, though other areas of the upper Midwest saw temperatures soar into the high 80s and low 90s, the low clouds that visited Charlevoix moderated the heat and kept things on the cool side.
Presidents of both the Society of Hickory Golfers, Mr. Robert Caston, and the Golf Collectors Society, Mr. William Reed, were on hand for the tournament. As they were not immediately recognized, no authorities were alerted.
The Leo Diegel Scramble went off without a hitch. (A final weather note – Thursday was as sweet a day as you will ever experience anywhere on the planet. Lovely sun, cool temperatures and a fine golf course to negotiate. Hickory golf heaven.) Messrs. Tom Mehigan and Deal Hudson, both of the Viriginia area, took the low net honors; while Mr. Chuck McMullin of Williamsburg, Va., and Mr. William “Ernie” Ernst of of Neenah, Wisc. proved too much for anyone else. They easily came away with the scramble’s gross division award.
Thursday with the Williams
It has become something of a tradition at The Belvedere for a local resident to host the assembled hickory players, their wives and significant others. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Williams raised their hands this year, and we were glad of it. Residents of the area’s Colorado Club on the village’s north side, the Williams home is a lovely study in whimsy, elegance and comfort. The whimsy, if such description can be allowed, comes from the building’s central feature, the four-story faux lighthouse that rises from the woods, its classic cylindrical design tapering to a glass-enclosed peak where a long-range telescope for star- and ship-spotting resides in place of a Fresnel lens. The elegance and comfort are borne out through Mrs. Williams’ understated design scheme, with welcoming couches, chairs and sofas in the living area, separated from the kitchen/entertainment bar by a skiff that has been bisected lengthwise to form a bar/counter. Nautical themes are carried throughout by framed sailing photographs and other littoral bibelot.
The gracious hostess and her husband, whose photographs of the evening are seen in the photo gallery that accompanies this story, treated their guests to a lovely spread of hors d’oeuvres and drinks that were most welcome following the savage contests of the earlier golf scramble. Many guests took the challenge to climb, first the tight spiral staircase to the second floor, then the beautifully crafted wooded stairs that hugged the inside walls of the open lighthouse structure to the uppermost cupola and so out to the surrounding circular deck for sweeping views of Lake Michigan, not to mention the assembled guests socializing so far below.
We thank Mr. and Mrs. Williams for a memorable evening and most gracious hospitality.
The Play on Friday
The rain held at bay by Mr. Joy, play on Friday proceeded with high hopes among the high handicappers and course strategies in the minds of the serious contenders. One, Mr. Richard Bullock of Clearwater, Fla., travels with a vade mecum of golfing notes on both clubs and swings, such is his scholarly approach to the game. He is a teacher, philosopher, golf professional and a competitor whose name in the field is the source of nervous twitches in his closest opponents.
With the field hitting shots on the range, testing their chip shots, and examining their putting strokes, Mr. Bert Hogg’s resonant voice marshaled players to the tee where we took encouragement in his gentlemanly demeanor and fine Scottish brogue undiluted after so many years among the Yanks. “Gentleman, have an enjoyable day.”
The game was on.
By day’s end, each man would know what would be required of him on Saturday to produce victory. For some, it would take a golfing thaumaturgy. Others considered a more sanguine approach. As group upon group finished its round and offered up their telling scorecards to the cold light of the marker’s board, there followed an unfailing pattern of ordering a demulcent beverage, slumping into a nearby seat and regarding, with companions, the emerging order of things. Many a jeremiad was sung of golfing woes, such is the shared way of golfing souls following their numinous 18-hole rituals, to unburden themselves of drives lost and putts missed (of the damnéd 16th!). Few stories are overtly heeded, though all are keenly felt.
All was forgotten, however, during the delightful socializing at the clubhouse some hour or two hence. The Belvedere staff and chefs produced a tantalizing dinner of prime rib, turkey, and trimmings. It is one of the great moments of the Belvedere Hickory Open, this gathering of friends and the most hospitable members of the Belvedere Club. It is a treat to be in their company, especially as they are generally accompanied by their lovely spouses whose warm social graces serve to make us all feel at ease and welcomed.
Before dinner, and out on the lawn, three tables held the wares of Messrs. Tad Moore (Selma, Ala.), Mike Just (Louisville, Ky.), Russ Fischer, and Bill Reed, both of Des Moines, Iowa. Mr. Just and Mr. Moore create popular replica hickory clubs that are much in demand. Mr. Fischer is a retired shop teacher whose wood working skills are becoming well known throughout the hickory golf world. Mr. Reed is no slouch either, when it comes to restoring and repairing hickory clubs. And, lest this writer forget such a notable addition, Dr. David Brown of Omaha, Neb. displayed the latest in his line of McIntyre replica hickory balls. Dr. Brown recently purchased the McIntyre Golf Ball Co. and is busy refining the techniques for ball replication as well as exploring new additions to the line. Not all was modern replicas as a handsome set of eight Tom Stewart irons that bore the Jock Hutchinson name were purchased by a Wisconsin player (he shall be called “Joe”) as a gift for his son. Such activity bears out the strength and vitality of the modern hickory game.
The Play on Saturday
An overnight storm wet the landscape, generating a thick early morning fog. Wet greens and a light mist that stayed throughout the morning emboldened the imaginative who thought they should “stick” their shots where they pleased. The Belvedere greens are not so easily chastened, however, and stories of perfidious putters and three- or four-putt holes were afterward as plentiful as pleas of “not guilty” in the Common Chamber of the British Bar.
For many, it was a round characterized by, they insisted, aleatory play that found them attempting escape from areas not normally visited by the careful golfer. Gangs of gleeful mosquitos found sustenance in those who dared the woods. Players trying to cut the corner of No. 6 were often seen negotiating their way back to safety from the right side of the No. 2 green. And the ninth! That awful ninth. How generous is the fairway. How open and inviting the second shot. But how agonizing the rough on the right. And equally despicable the out-of-bounds at the far left. Following his round, an especially lugubrious fellow tried to explain his inordinate number on that hole in the most baleful manner he could conjure. His story received its due and he was ushered with respectful silence to the bar, plied with a strong restorative and led to a waiting chair where he eventually regained his senses and even ventured casting a lie or two of his own upon the conversational waters.
We would be remiss, with all due respect, not to cast a raised eyebrow to the host pro who, in a fit of spiteful cruelty, placed the pin on No. 16 within inches of that green’s fatal northern slope of doom. As this was beyond the bounds of all comity and the cause for much Sturm and Drang during the round, we take here the liberty of encouraging him to never again visit such calamity upon the innocent golfer, hickory or otherwise.
There were those, however, who laughed at such vain attempts at deviltry. We speak, of course, of the final grouping, from whose midst rose the eventual champion.
A Wee Nip on the 14th
Mr. Joy has been associated with the Belvedere Club for some 16 years and has served as its head pro since 2009. In the final group he found able challengers in the aforementioned Mr. Andrews and Mr. Simer. A fourth member, Mr. Jerry Esselman, fell off the pace and could only bear witness to the unfolding drama.
Mr. Andrews birdied holes 8, 9, and 10 in succession, putting the pressure squarely on his two nearest competitors. Going into 11, he held a two-shot lead on Mr. Joy and one on Mr. Simer. Such remained the state of things until the fateful 14th, the “Wee Nip” hole.
One of the enlightened members placed two shot glasses and a bottle each of 12-year-old Macallan and Glenfiddich on the bench of the 14th tee, a 151-yard, par 3. Spontaneous were the heartfelt benedictions offered to this anonymous benefactor and his generosity! Spirits stiffened as the fortified golfer stepped to the tee. So it was with Mr. Joy, for to enjoy a wee nip and then hit his tee shot dead to the pin was but the work of moments. He birdied. His opponents did not.
“Well,” thought the club pro, “if it worked on No. 14…” Another wee nip followed on 15 tee, and another birdie followed. Hope restored anew, Mr. Joy abandoned his proven method of “wee nips” and stood one up on Mr. Simer and two up on Mr. Andrews on the 16th tee. Ah, the 16th. No one would speak of the action on this hole and well this writer understands their reluctance to revisit the scene of such trauma. Whatever transpired there, it is apparent that his rivals would not “go away” as some of the less creative golf broadcasters are wont to say. For, by cashing in favors from various golfing gods, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Simer evened the score with Mr. Joy and by the 18th, the three men stood even on the tee.
Undaunted by this turn, Mr. Joy’s drive on 18 was true. Mr. Andrews’ was not. Mr. Simer also struggled. By the time the final putt rattled the hole, Mr. Joy had parred, Mr. Andrews (whose fateful drive caused him to momentarily doubt the existence of an All Knowing Benefactor) doubled, and Mr. Simer came in with bogie. Hats doffed, hands shook and true sportsmen all, they would have tales to tell of putts missed and made, shots heroic – and otherwise – that characterized their Olympian battle this afternoon on Mr. Willie Watson’s magnificent golf course.
Mr. Joy later said it was the 15th hole, which he eagled one day and birdied the next, “that won it for me.”
“I was three under on that hole for the tournament,” he said.
That particular par 5 requires an accurate drive of some 210 yards, which must avoid an expansive bunker on the right; then, a hard right turn across the same bunker to the hole some 231 yards distant guarded by bunkers left and right and some 60 feet or so below the fairway. It must be nicely judged… and so it was by one man.
For the curious, Mr. Joy plays a Titleist Pro V1; and to supplement his set of Stewart irons are a bulldog and George Sayers driver.
There was a murmur of approval among the cognoscenti as the final scores were posted. The assembled gentlemen golfers, who all had finished earlier and were enjoying the distinct advantage of multiple beverages, gave the returning heroes a hearty welcome. Representatives of the local newspapers were on hand to question the champion. (No doubt this will be followed by endorsement requests as well as other celebrity. An agent must be found. Such is the life of the hickory champion.)
It was hard to leave the patio area of the Belvedere Golf Club that evening, mainly because I had already checked out of my hotel room and had nowhere else to go until the evening’s dinner; but also because of the special beauty of this place. From the patio, one’s view encompasses a vast carpet of green that slopes gracefully down to the putting and chipping greens before it bends back up to the first tee. In the far distance, beyond the valley below and its gently winding wood-lined fairways and beckoning greens, one can often see the sparkling waters of Lake Michigan. It was not difficult to applaud the Belvedere members their wisdom in making this their summer home as well as to offer silent thanks for yet one more visit to this remarkable club.
Dinner and Awards
The closing dinner at the Belvedere Casino was everything one could hope for – brief speeches and the award announcements by Mr. Hogg; visits with friends old and new, laughter, jokes, and not a little commiseration over the most recent rounds; deliciously prepared meal and equally sumptuous dessert. Dan Hales, who spoke on behalf of the Belvedere Club, praised the hickory players, emphasized his club’s enjoyment of the tournament, and bid us all return. In that, he will not be disappointed.
The list of awards was long and most deserved. Here, we will note the division, net, and gross champions. For a list of total results, check the bottom of this page.
Mr. Joy (156 total), presented by his good friend Mr. McMullin, was awarded his champion’s trophy to standing applause. Mr. Andrews (158 total), no stranger to the winner’s circle, was awarded the second place honor, as Mr. Simer (157 total) had already been named the Open net division champion. Mr. Ernie Ernst (162 total) of Neenah, Wisc., was awarded third place. (Please note that, under SoHG Championship Series rules, no one person can win an award in two different divisions.)
Mr. Weller, of Torch Lake, Mich., was the Super Senior net winner; Mr. Sippell, of Ft. Meyers, Fla., was the gross champion. In the Senior Division, the net champion was Mr. McMullin, of Williamsburg, Va. Mr. McMullin was also amateur champion, playing with all pre-1935 authentic clubs. The Senior Division’s gross champion was Mr. Bullock. The Open Division net champion was Mr. Simer.
A special thanks goes to Kathy Bullock, wife of Mr. Bullock, whose joyous spirit uplifted everyone and whose excellent photographs of the players may be soon seen on her website www.thehickorygolfhub.com. Thanks also to Mr. Jim Glynn who took the photos of the players on the first tee.
There are other Championship Series events on the Society of Hickory Golfers’ fixture list, but few can compare with the beauty, the scope, and the overall experience of the one in Charlevoix, Mich.
We thank Mr. Joy, his able assistants Beau Boss and Robby Rundblad; the youngsters who served us at the turn each day; and the host of Belvedere members who, yearly, make the Belvedere Hickory Open a true sui generis of the hickory tour.
SOHG RESULTS.pdf
BELVEDERE RESULTS.pdf
Open Division Gross.pdf
Open Division Net.pdf
Senior Division Gross.pdf
Senior Division Net.pdf