Results of 2018 U.S Professional & Amateur Hickory Championship

February 2018
Temple Terrace, Fla.
By Jim Davis

It had been hot, very hot. Tampa, Fla. was in the high 80s (F) and had been so for weeks as players began to arrive for three days of golf sponsored by local pro Mike Stevens and the Temple Terrace Preservation Society. It was hot even by Florida standards and the locals to a one spoke as people weary of the relentless heat. Still, it was hickory golf and it was beautiful and it was on the historic Temple Terrace Golf Course, now on the National Register of Historical Places. Those of us in for a respite from the dreary northern winter would not complain.

The Temple Terrace Golf & Country Club opened in 1922 and was laid out by that prolific course designer Tom Bendelow. It is not an easy course, though straightforward in most respects, and has been described by the Tampa Tribune as “a brute of a course” that stretches over 6,400 yards. As Stevens said, “Probably not worthy by today’s standard but a stout test for the century old clubs used back then.”

Most fairways on the old course are accompanied by winding lanes, built, so I was told, that friends of golfers in important tournaments could follow their favorites in their Model Ts. The fairways themselves are shady affairs of moss draped oak trees – live, water, and laurel oaks – as well as crepe myrtle, southern magnolia and, on the first day, bright Yellow Trumpet Trees (tabebuia) in full bloom.

The first day’s Hickory Hacker is a fundraiser for the Temple Terrace Preservation Society. Fell Stubbs, the group’s treasurer, and Tim Lancaster, president, were dressed in full hickory attire and pleased with the turnout. Lancaster later said the event raised several thousands of dollars for the Society over the past eight years that will be put toward a variety of programs.

Click here to visit the Society’s Facebook page and a gallery of photos from the weekend.

The Hickory Hacker was played in a shamble format, with a foursome selecting the best drive and the players using their own ball from there until holing out. Among the several groups who teed off, the foursome of David Jarrett, Ricky Sires, Gary Ewell and Russ Ware turned in a sizzling 56 to take the trophy and honors for the day. As is the custom following the Hickory Hacker, some 60 or so people, many dressed in dazzling 1920s costumes, turned out at the Club for the Knickers Bash, a rollicking party with a raffle of items to benefit the Society. Lest I overlook, Mr. Bob Ubbing won the putting contest that preceded the day’s golf.

One treat for this golfer was a pairing with Mr. Deal Hudson who is no stranger to hickory golf events both in this country and abroad. He is not just a terrific golfer, but a keen competitor, as well as fair and willing to give another fellow a decent chance to shine, and is kind even if the other fellow fails to sink a simple four-foot putt. (Sorry Deal!)

The Mike Stevens Challenge on Day Two featured four teams. This writer was paired with professional Tom McCrary, who is on the U.S. Freedman Cup team for 2018, as well as local members Bob Zeigler and James Chambers. McCrary kept us in the game, not only with his superb golfing skills, but with his stories of golfing life as a professional. Zeigler and Chambers told me about the local Florida College, a Christian school, and its association with “America’s Preacher” the late Billy Graham. They pointed to a plaque near the 18th green that commemorates Graham, placed on the site where he would practice his sermons to the birds and alligators that lived along the Hillsborough River. Graham attended Florida Bible Institute which owned the property now occupied by Florida College. In his autobiography, Graham wrote that he received his calling “on the 18th green of the Temple Terrace Golf and Country Club”.

The winning foursome of the Mike Stevens Challenge, by the way, were Mike Tracy, Steve Bennett, Deal Hudson and Mark Harman.

On Monday, the professionals stepped to the tee for the U.S. Professional Hickory Golf Championship. Amateurs, too, had their own division. The event, in its eighth year, was created by Stevens to recognize:

• The first U.S. Professional & Amateur outing from 1895-1897.
• John Shippen, America’s first golf professional, for whom this event’s trophy is named.
• And the 1925 Florida Open, played on the Temple Terrace golf course.

As well, monies from sponsorships raised at the tournament benefit Operation Helping Hand which provides financial help to wounded veterans and their families who travel to the Tampa Bay area for specific rehabilitation services, such as spinal cord injuries. Stevens said that 97.5 percent of funds raised goes directly to these families. In the event’s eight-year history more than $10,000 has been raised for Operation Helping Hand.

In 1925, the Florida Open fielded what was called “the greatest field of professional players in America.” In that field were Temple Terrace professional Jim Barnes, Walter Hagen, and Gene Sarazen, among others. In 2018, Ocala, Fla. pro Dylan Malafronte scored an even par 72 to earn the John Shippen Cup, a two-stroke margin over Mark Harman of Ridgeland, S.C. The 2018 Ladies Championship was Jennifer Cully of Apollo Beach Golf Club with an excellent round of 86. U.S. Hickory Open champion Jeremy Moe (2015-17) was also in the field, tying for third with 77 along with Joe Mentz.

Professional Leaderboard (with score and prize money)
Dylan Malafronte  72 $1,500
Mark Harman  74 $1,000
Jeremy Moe  77 $600
Joe Mentz  77 $600
Eddie Peckels  79 $400
Bo Turocy  80 $300
Ezra Evans   81 $140
Tom McCrary   81 $140
Will Peterson (A)   81 $140
Duke Trombetti   83 $75
Keith Wightman   84 $50
Jim Giordano   85
Mike Stevens   85
Rich Lively   85
Jennifer Cully   86 $50
Richard Bullock   88
Melvin Blair   91
Alice Brown   100

As for the amateurs, Virginia’s Deal Hudson turned in an 81 to win the Oscar Bunn trophy that is on permanent display in the Temple Terrace clubhouse. Paul Schulman of Tampa, Fla. and Lawrenceville, N.Y. came in second with 85. In the Heritage division, Schulman took the honors over Bob Boss in a score card match. Both shot a net 75. It was the second year in a row that Boss fell to a scorecard playoff.

Yours truly was paired with Scott Bowles, husband to Leitha Bowles who helps to organize the weekend and is a driving force on the Temple Terrace Preservation Society. Thus is Mr. Bowles quite up on the area’s history and its architecture. We admired the many Mediterranean-style and Spanish-style homes in the area. Bowles himself owns one of these and has himself added a handsome addition on to the main house.

But, to the scores….

Leaderboard (Gross and Net scores)
Deal Hudson 81 75
Paul Schulman 85 75
Bill Geisler 87 80
Bruce Del Guidice 87 78
Daniel Norstedt 89 79
Brian Schuman 94 84
Bob Boss 103 75

In the professional field, 33-year-old Ezra Evans  was playing in his first hickory golf event. Evans, who grew up on his grandparent’s farm in Indiana, says he did not play golf until he was 20. When he did start to play, it was with a purpose. He worked hard to get his handicap down to 5 on the difficult Pete Dye course at the French Lick Resort in French Lick, Ind. He was named Indiana PGA player of the year in 2016.

Evans said his first hickory round was a “lot of fun, harder to play than I thought, but not super hard. Putting was the most difficult.”

Evans is working his way through the mini-tours and hopes to earn his PGA Tour card in the near future.”

For amateur golfer Paul Schulman, the event was a mix of his first hickory golf outing and reconnecting with a long-time friend, Brian Schuman.

“He and I went to junior high and high school together in New York and Facebook has kept us connected,” he says. “Because of our last names, we always sat near each other in home rooms. His Facebook posts on hickory golf were always interesting to me.”

Schulman, who has played golf since high school and plays more than 120 rounds a year, learned of the Temple Terrace outing through Brian. It seemed like a great opportunity to give it a go. And now that he tried hickories?

“I loved it. It was a wee bit warm in slacks, long sleeves, and a tie – and a sweater I wouldn’t take off since I went out in 40 and felt it had become a good luck charm,” he says.

Hickories are often a tough adjustment for a good modern player, but Schulman made them work. “I was afraid of embarrassing myself and candidly was just trying not to do too much with them, just move the ball forward,” he says. “It was as hard as I was afraid it was going to be. Modern clubs make the game much easier.”

Eventually, through trial and error, Schulman began to found a couple of favorite clubs. “The niblick wasn’t as intimidating as the other clubs and helped me get up and down a ton around the greens,” he says. “The spoon was also used extensively to put me in the vicinity of the green on approach shots. The longer irons and I never really developed a relationship. Apparently hitting all over the club face isn’t how those clubs were designed.”

Schulman says he is looking forward to more hickory golf and to finding a suitable pair of plus-fours. “I’d love to invite some of my friends to try it. Seeing everyone dressed in period clothes was outstanding and knowing you didn’t have to take the game so seriously was very freeing. Hitting bad shots didn’t matter so much either, you were just having fun. Seeing Jennifer Cully, the person I took my first real lessons from back in 1987, was another ‘blast from the past’.

“As long as I am in the area at the time, I am definitely going to play in this event again.”