Mr. Michael Just, 66, president and owner of Louisville Golf, passed away Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016 after a long battle with cancer. With him was his wife of nearly 40 years, Lynn, his children, and other members of his family.
Mr. Just was a well-known and beloved figure, not just in the hickory golf community where his hand-crafted clubs found a ready home, but in the larger golf world for the beauty and quality of the persimmon heads the company produced. He was widely regarded as an expert in club re-finishing and restoration. As a member of the Golf Collectors Society, he was a familiar figure at trade shows, often accompanied by his daughter, Rachel.
Mr. Just, a native of Louisville, played college golf at Bellarmine University, a Division II school in Louisville, Ky., and was the 2011 U.S. Hickory Open Senior Champion. He was the 2013 recipient of the Society of Hickory Golfer’s Mike Brown Award, which annually recognizes a member who shared Mr. Brown’s respect for the traditions of the game, his dedication to growing the game of hickory golf, and his passion for promoting lasting friendships through hickory golf.
Mr. Just’s brother, Elmore, founded Louisville Golf in 1974 and the Kentucky-based company quickly became a leader in the design and production of persimmon golf clubs. Elmore was joined by brothers – Ron, Mike, Robert, Gerard – and together they improved the quality of persimmon wood used in golf club heads, eventually publishing a book, The Persimmon Story. In the 1980s, such companies as Hogan, Wilson, Spalding, Tommy Armour, and Ram purchased their work. Louisville Golf continues to make fine persimmon woods.
“We see it as our mission to keep wood golf clubs in play,” Mr. Just once said.
In this spirit, Louisville Golf began to create hickory-shafted golf clubs for players in the National Hickory Championship. Original clubs from that period were more collectible than playable, and Louisville Golf was asked to provide replica equipment for participants. When interest in hickory golf expanded, so did the company’s line of hickory-shafted golf clubs. Today, its hickory-shafted woods, irons and putter models are regarded as among the finest available.
On the Louisville Golf website, Mr. Just wrote:
“We’re golfers ourselves, so we’re like you in that we love this wonderful sport and we do not want it to lose touch with its endearing traditions.
“In a game that has largely forgotten golf’s simple joys we take great pride in preserving the game’s grand legacy deeply rooted in wooden golf clubs. We are honored to be able to offer a wood golf club as a choice to the modern golfer… we are grateful that you have found us and invite you to join our humble company in the enduring spirit of the game.”
Mr. Just, to many, was the living embodiment of the spirit of the game he so loved. He was honored at the 2016 Wisconsin Hickory Open as “The Keeper of the Spirit.” Few people in modern hickory golf so embodied the ideals and traditions set forth by the two organizations who shepherd the game today:
The Spirit of the Game (from the USGA)
Unlike many sports, golf is played, for the most part, without the supervision of a referee or umpire. The game relies on the integrity of the individual to show consideration for other players and to abide by the Rules. All players should conduct themselves in a disciplined manner, demonstrating courtesy and sportsmanship at all times, irrespective of how competitive they may be. This is the spirit of the game of golf.
The Spirit of the Game (from the R&A)
Honesty, integrity, courtesy: three words that have come to represent the spirit in which the game of golf is played. Part of that spirit sits beneath the term “etiquette” and part of it relates to the Rules of Golf. But the Spirit of the Game goes much deeper than just those two tangible terms. It is something that every golfer should develop an innate sense of, something that is born of golf’s unparalleled history, and something which lifts golf, one could argue, above other sports. Whether it’s through divot and pitch-mark repair, or simply through silence on the tee, the spirit of the game dictates that players make sure they give others on the course, often opponents, a fair chance to play the best shot they can. For most of us, the game of golf is self-regulating. There is seldom a referee present so we are reliant upon our own honest adherence to the Rules in order to enjoy the game. As a result we are all occasionally forced to call a penalty on ourselves for infringements which, often, will go unnoticed by everyone else. This dependency upon honesty and courtesy that has elevated “integrity” to sacrosanct status. Without them, we may as well hang up our clubs.
Though he was an avid hickory golfer, Mr. Just also played a modern set of clubs made by Louisville Golf. His hickory golf set was a mix of Louisville Golf clubs and earlier clubs. Of the replica clubs made by his company, Mr. Just said: “I feel that if I expect other golfers to play these clubs, I should play them myself. However, my 38 degree club is an original Mashie; there is nothing special about the original club, it wasn’t made by an original clubmaker like Stewart, I just happen to hit it better than any 38 degree club I’ve hit.”
A list of the clubs played by Mr. Just can be found on the Louisville Golf website.
He had a passion for studying how the old clubs were made and even had a shaft testing machine made as the one described in the 1929 Hickory Golf Standards pamphlet.
One of Mr. Just’s favorite courses for hickory play was the Mid Pines Golf Course in Southern Pines, N.C.. He enjoyed so many tournaments that he could not pick a favorite, but did say that Harry Vardon was the historical golfer he thought truly amazing.
For Mr. Just, the best thing about hickory golf was “The camaraderie from the people you meet. I am so passionate about the game I hope my enthusiasm encourages people to give hickory golf a try.”
“Mike Just has always been the ultimate gentleman; kind, considerate, willing to do anything to help out a fellow hickory golfer,” said SoHG President David Brown. “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.”
The following is from the SoHG Member Profile published in the Spring 2016 edition of the Wee Nip:
Mike Just was one of six children, five boys and one girl. “Ronnie was the oldest, then Elmore, then me,” he says. “Elmore was the innovator and leader to me and my younger brother, Robert, as well as to all the kids in the neighborhood.
“When he found some golf clubs and started playing golf we all wanted to play. I got my first short set of clubs when I was 13. They were a gift when I graduated from the 8th grade – a #2 wood, #3, 5, 7, 9 iron and putter. My dad would drop us off and the public golf course on his was to work and we would play golf all day until he picked us up on the way home. I ate many squished peanut butter and jelly sandwiches washed down with a Big Red soda for lunch.”
Mike played on the golf team in high school, earning a partial golf scholarship (full golf scholarships were not offered) to Bellarmine College. He was undefeated in his junior year and was invited to play in the NCAA Division 2 golf tournament.
“I continued to play golf after college until my kids got involved in Pee Wee sports,” he says. “I had a weekly game on Saturday that I continued to play until I went to an awards day for my son’s Pee Wee soccer team. The coach was addressing the kids and said, ‘I also want to thank the parents for coming to the games and supporting their kids’. My son poked me in the back and said ‘everybody but you, dad’. I cancelled the Saturday game and didn’t play golf for 12 years.”
Elmore Just founded Louisville Golf in 1974 to pursue his love of persimmon golf clubs. Mike was already working for the company when Elmore played in the first National Hickory Championship. He was asked by some of the players if he could replicate long nose clubs for use in the event because originals were mostly rare and too valuable to risk breakage.
“I was in charge of manufacturing and he wanted me to go with him in 2000 to learn what people wanted and what the heads should look and play like,” Mike says. “I looked at him like he was crazy. I said I haven’t played golf in 12 years, I don’t own a pair of golf shoes, and you want me to go play with those things? He could be pretty convincing and the next thing I know, I am in the car heading for Oakhurst. I was hooked immediately. I never had so much fun playing golf in my life. I remember going down the drive as we were leaving Oakhurst thinking…I can’t believe I have to wait a whole year to do this again.”
After Elmore passed away in 2001, Mike learned of the Mid Pines Hickory Open. Wanting to give that a try, he purchased some irons from Bob Georgiade and got a few wood heads from Randy Jensen which he promptly duplicated to make himself some woods.
“Our primary business at the time was making steel and graphite shafted persimmon woods and our custom putters,” he says. “I didn’t think about adding hickory clubs because the market was so small. I made the clubs for myself because I had a passion for hickory golf and wanted to make my own clubs. People started asking me if I could make some clubs for them. So I started making some woods. They asked for irons and I got original irons and refurbished them.
“I didn’t make a replica club until I had an experience in Niagara-on-the-Lake (Canada) when I played with a fellow who had a flanged niblick that could get out of traps easily. I tried to find a club like that and had little success until I ran into Sonny Chappie at one of the Dayton golf collector trade shows. He had several on his table and I bought an H&B Lo-Skore model 1N that had a nice flange. Sonny told me these were hard to find and that they sold for a high price. That is when I decided to replicate that club so that everyone in an event could have a chance to have a flanged niblick and be competing on a level playing field.”
Though he admits he was “terribly shy around girls,” Mike met his wife, Lynn, through a mutual friend in 1975. They were married in 1977 and now have three children, Ben, Emily, and Rachel. “I have one granddaughter, Meredith, who is 9 months old and whom I spoil every chance I get.”
The best way to end is with the closing that Mr. Just often used in letters and emails with friends:
“In the spirit of the game – MJ”
The Autumn 2017 edition of the Wee Nip magazine will publish remembrances of Mr. Just. Should you wish to contribute, please send to jdavis2364@gmail.com.
The Northwest Hickory Players have posted a fine tribute to Mr. Just at the following link:
http://nwhickoryplayers.org/2016/10/remembering-mike-just/
Click here to read the obituary notice carried by the Louisville Post-Courier.
Click here to read remembrances of Mike from several of his friends and acquaintances.