Jan. 24, 2020
By Jim Davis
Organizers in Scotland, led by Boris Lietzow, owner of the Jack White shop in Gullane, Scotland, have created a 10-event Scottish Hickory Tour that offers top professionals and amateurs a season-long opportunity to compete for honors and prizes. The professional purse is £5,000.
The first tournament, called the “Icebreaker,” is scheduled for the 9-hole Braid Hills Golf Course on Feb. 6. The date was selected to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Scottish golfer James Braid. Braid was a five-time Open Champion and designer of more than 400 golf courses in Scotland including: Brora, Bruntsfield, Dalmahoy, Gleneagles, Goodwood Downs, Lundin Links, Boat of Garten, Grantown on Spey, The Glen, Royal Musselburgh, Monktonhall, Walton Heath and many others. (Braid Hills was not designed by Braid.)
After 9 holes on Braid Hills, the golfers will move on to the Merchants of Edinburgh Golf Club in the afternoon for another 9 holes. The course was originally designed by Ben Sayers in 1907 and altered by James Braid in 1936. The course is challenging and fun, and will be a good test for players, including past World Hickory Open Winners Fraser Mann (Scotland) and Andrew Marshall (England).
Following the “Icebreaker” event, the Tour schedule includes:
April 8-9 – Jack’s Open Pro Am
June 24-25 – First Icelandic Hickory Open 2020
July 7 – John Still Memorial Trophy
Aug. 18-19 – Highland Hickory Open
Oct. 6-8 – The Scottish Hickory Final (Lundin Links GC, Anstruther GC, and Dumbarnie Links Golf, all in Leven)
Players may seek to register for the tour by visiting the official website at The Scottish Hickory Tour 2020. Interested players will find a tour schedule, rules, registration information, and a calendar of world hickory events.
Original clubs are favored, but should enough players wish to compete with replicas, a special division will be created. It is not necessary to compete in all 10 events, but points are given in professional, amateur, ladies and gents categories. The rules page of the website explains all details of clubs and handicaps.
Lietzow, who played golf for 35 years, said he lost interest in the game until he came across the World Hickory Championship, about 10 years ago.
“The joy of hitting a hickory shafted club, the history, comraderie, the fabulous courses we play… all this changed my passion for the game,” he says. The newfound interest led him to establish a shop in Gullane, the Jack White Golf Shop, in 2016.
“Gullane is a special place,” he says, “ ‘the cradle of golf’ as they say, and you can feel it.”
With the modern game suffering somewhat and popularity and interest on hickory golf on the rise, Lietzow thought that the Scottish Hickory Tour “could be a contribution to re-cultivate the game, since we have a lot of strong players, even on a professional level.”
His own Jack’s White’s Open hickory event has been played for three years and is an invitational for 30 players. He has long-time hickory friends who have been supportive over the past years. It is the second outing on the new Scottish Hickory Tour.
Lietzow says there is no selection criteria for players on the Scottish Tour events, rather it is first come first serve. “But I have limited it to 20 professionals and 40 amateurs for every match. The final in Leven is to be qualified for, the best players have first right refusal, on their spot in the field.”
The Iceland event is scheduled to be played over a midsummer night. No more than 30 tee times were available on such a special day, so that event is limited to 30 thirty visitors, “and hopefully some new Icelandic friends,” Lietzow says. Golf has been played in Iceland since the thirties.
Lietzow welcomes memberships in The Scottish Hickory Tour, from those who plan to participate in all 10, to supporting members who might make only one match. All are most welcome. Such sponsorships will help to raise funds for prizes and trophies. Lietzow says he has a champion’s trophy in mind, but details are still being worked out.
Other prizes will be available for gross winners, as well as net amateur players. “I do make efforts to find fine hickory collectables as prizes,” Lietzow says. “Since we are in Scotland, there certainly will be some of the Scottish finest on the table.”
Speaking of whisky, a first edition whisky, limited to 150 numbered bottles, is being bottled by Hickory Forever to commemorate the opening of the Scottish Hickory Tour as well as James Braid’s 150th birthday. These will be available to buy on Feb. 6. Visit the Hickory Forever website to reserve a bottle. The price is £99. Shipping is extra.
Current sponsors of the Tour include: Bravo Whisky Golf, Duck’s, Dumbarnie Links, Falco, Georgian Antiques, Hickory-Forever, Jack White, JW Putting School, Kilspindie Golf Club, Kirkwood & Sons, La Potiniere, Nebuloni, NeilHannaPhotography, and Whighams.
(Ginny Lawson PR contributed to this story.)
Scottish Hickory Tour organizer Boris Lietzow, far right, is shown with fellow Scottish players, from left: Jeff Butcher, Jamie White, Ruediger Hillert, David Kirkwood, and the late John Still.