April 17 – Jeremy Wright, owner of Louisville Golf
By Jeremy Wright
As of this writing the weather is consistently pleasant, the dogwoods are blooming in Louisville, and the green grass is emerging from the fairways. The feel of spring is the most exciting time of year for me as it invokes the reawaking of another golf season. Tiger just won the Masters, his 5th green jacket; Augusta and its history with Bobby Jones just has a way of inspiring the hickory spirit and I can’t wait for the hickory season to start rolling along.
This is my 10th year playing hickory and I remember the first swing with hickories like it was yesterday. A complete personal rebirth of the game of golf! A whole new experience so familiar was born again. I couldn’t wait for the sun to rise the next day and find what awaited from a well struck mashie, mid iron, or niblick. How I found this wonderful new experience was in pursuit of a better putter shaft for modern high-end putters… really! I had become frustrated by cheap $5 putter shafts put in the likes of Cameron and other high-end putters.
One January day at my home in Houston, Texas, I remember searching for “wood putter shaft” on the internet and, lo and behold, several hits for hickory golf came up. Inquisitive, I clicked on the Society of Hickory Golfers link, started reading, and noticed the many tournaments listed. One was coming up in Dallas just two months away! I jumped in immediately, assembled a full set, and sent in my entry fee and the rest is history.
I enjoy every aspect of the hickory game – the history, the architecture of older courses, collecting, spreading the gospel of hickory to whomever will listen, the camaraderie amongst peers, the shows, and of course getting together for some old-fashioned competition at one of the events. In fact, I wish I could attend them all! Count me as one long departed from the modern game that had become stale and stagnant for me.
My passion led me to ownership of Louisville Golf in the beginning of 2017, leaving behind a 13-year career in the medical industry. Taking on the great legacy left behind of Elmore and Mike Just is a task I take seriously and hold close to the heart. There is not a day that goes by I don’t think about those two.
It’s a great pleasure to continue their legacy of helping players both experienced and novices alike. Louisville Golf is still going strong despite the day-to-day grind of the golf industry’s highs and lows. We are looking forward to another great year of hickory growth in 2019. It is a wonderful feeling to play a part in the many efforts of individuals, organizations, tournament organizers, and more who make this game thrive in modern times. There are so many who help grow this game!
I have never looked back on that early career in the medical industry and have no regrets. I extend my sincere thanks to everyone who supports the ongoing efforts to expand hickory golf, its heritage, deep history, the roots, and preservation that find an endearing home in our hearts. What a wonderful game we can all enjoy.
On World Hickory Golf Day I plan to get out early with my three boys at a local par 3 for juniors and let them have some fun with their junior hickory sets. My oldest, 7, is very enthusiastic about hickory golf playing in his first event last year in Iowa. In the afternoon I will play at our local club, a 1908 Tom Bendelow design, with friends, and anyone else who wants to come along.
Jeremy Wright’s hickory golf victories:
- 1st 2015 Onion Creek
- 1st 2016 Onion Creek
- 1st 2017 Heart of America
- 1st 2017 Michiana
- 1st 2017 North Texas
- 1st 2017 GCS National (Mid-Pines)
- 1st 2018 Heart of America
- 2018 Foxburg
- 2018 Hyperion
- 2018 Indiana Hickory Open
- 2019 Onion Creek
April 5, 2019 – Tom Johnson
Tom Johnson has hosted the Foxburg Hickory Championship in Foxburg, Pa., for 10 years, 2019 making it 11. “The Championship has brought me a lot of satisfaction in bringing players together who have a common, but eccentric, interest,” he says. “We have had a wide variety of contestants and champions in the respective divisions, which has been remarkable. In the Open Division, covering 10 years, we have had nine different champions. Only one competitor was successful twice.
Golf plans for Johnson on May 5, 2019, World Hickory Golf Day (and Cinco de Mayo) will likely include 18 holes at Suffield Springs Golf Club with Mike Campailla and J.W. McMath in their normal Sunday golf game. “I would expect us to play pre-1900 equipment with the Park ball, since the National Hickory Championship will be five weeks hence,” he says.
Click here to read Johnson’s account of the origins of the Foxburg Hickory Championship.
March 29, 2019 – Frank Rosenzweig
Pittsburg native Frank Rosenzweig has been playing golf since age 13, introduced to the game by his uncle. “My Dad was a tennis player, but my uncle was a golfer,” he says. Frank took to the game and competed on both his high school and college (University of Pittsburgh) golf teams.
Frank, who serves as a volunteer coach for The First Tee of Pittsburgh (TFTP), was introduced to hickory golf about seven years ago, during one of the group’s outings. Good friend Bern Bernacki, who serves on TFTP board of directors, was the culprit. Frank took to the sport immediately and has become increasingly active on both the pre-1900 and post-1900 eastern “tours” during the past five or six years. Indeed, he and wife, Gayle, have lodged many miles traveling to events around the U.S.
He has twice played in the Vermont Hickory Open, and multiple times in such hickory events as the Pittsburgh Hickory Championship, the Foxburg Hickory Championship, the C. B. Macdonald Hickory Challenge, the U.S. Hickory Open, the Mid-Pines Hickory Open, the National Hickory Championship, the All-American Hickory Open (now the Mid-American Hickory Open), the Wisconsin Gutty Challenge, the Michiana Hickory Open, the Kummel Cup (Wisconsin Hickory Open), and once each in the Southern Hickory Four Ball Championship and Whistling Straits Hickory Challenge.
In 2019, Frank has his sights on the Mid-American Hickory Open in May, the U.S. Hickory Open in June, the Wisconsin Gutty Challenge in July, the Foxburg Hickory Championship in August, the Wisconsin Hickory Open in September, and Mid-Pines in November. But, you know, if another event or spot on the calendar should open up… well.
Other than sanctioned hickory events, Frank still plays modern equipment. Unsuccessful, so far, in trying to convince his golfing group to try hickory, Frank still manages to get in some time with the old wood sticks at least a couple times a month.
Last year, while serving as a rules official with the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association, Frank spoke with a number of club professionals about the sport, offering to bring his “equipment” to their clubs to demo and let the members try them. You’ll find him in this capacity at his own club, Connoquenessing Country Club, on World Hickory Golf Day and at least three other clubs during the season.
His pre-1900 set consists of four irons “matched” by Paul Dietz, a Canadian golfer and club repair expert: a mid-iron, mashie, mashie-niblick, and lofter. To these he has added a replica long-nose from Mike Just and a very heavy ancient niblick whose markings are unreadable. Frank’s post-1900 clubs from Louisville Golf consist of a driver, spoon, cleek, a set of Precision irons and a couple of additional “wedges,” and a bulldog from Tad Moore Golf.
Without question, says Frank, it is the people he meets in the sport who keep him interested and participating. He has always felt welcome, even when he was considered a “rookie” at events. Those days are long past for the hickory veteran. “The respect for the game and the playing environment shown by the participants is without equal,” he says. “I just wish that more players of modern equipment would show that same respect.”
March 14, 2019 – Hugh Cameron
Hugh Cameron is a long-time hickory golfer and stalwart of such events as the National Hickory Championship and the Belvedere Hickory Open. Fond of gutty golf, Hugh says it was a pre-1900 event that got him started on hickories.
“I began my hickory golf journey in 2007 at the C.B. Macdonald event at Niagara- -on-the-Lake in Canada,” he says. “My Mills putter and I have since traveled to events in 12 different U.S. states as well as the World Hickory Championship at Carnoustie in 2015 and I was on two different Freedman Trophy teams.”
The Freedman Trophy is a bi-annual international event with North American and European teams competing in a Ryder Cup-style event. The last was in Castelconturbia, Italy in 2018. Hugh played in that one as well as the 2016 international competition at Mission Inn in Florida.
“My travels have allowed me to play some great golf courses like Whistling Straights in Wisconsin, as well,” he says. “The many miles traveled have been well worth it. I’ve met people from all walks of life who enjoy the wonderful world of spoons and niblicks and I am proud to call them my friends. You, too, Ray! (This last a shout-out to a good friend in Wisconsin. He knows who he is!)
Hugh says he will celebrate World Hickory Golf Day with a round on his home course at St. Clair Parkway, Mooretown, Ontario.
March 7, 2019 – Steve Simer
Steve Simer, of Madison, Wisc., is a keen golfer who has won several hickory golf titles including the 2019 Arizona Desert Hickory Championship title, and
During the winter, Simer trades Wisconsin’s harsh winds and snows for the warm breezes of Arizona, especially Cave Creek where he has nurtured a large hickory golf contingent at Tatum Ranch Golf Club.
With Simer’s steady brand of enthusiasm for the sport, Tatum Ranch now has more than 30 hickory golfers. They like getting together for casual rounds, sharing information about clubs and all those things hickory golfers love.
“Two years ago a new guy visited the club and joined primarily because he would have a chance to play with hickory clubs” Simer says. “On March 13-14, 2019, the club will host its first hickory club championship. More than 30 have already signed up.”
Enthusiasm for World Hickory Golf Day, too, has the players volunteering already, Simer says.
“Tatum Ranch has a very active membership and very active range area,” he says. “For World Hickory Golf Day the hickory players volunteer to spend about an hour or two on the range, over on the short range, and up on the putting green with hickory clubs just handing them to people and asking them to hit one. Some say ‘No, I might break it,’ or ‘no thanks.’ Our guys are polite, but relentless. We tell them they don’t have a choice, that it is World Hickory Golf Day and everyone is required to at least hit a couple shots with hickories today.”
Lest you be alarmed, rest assured no one is unduly pressured. The idea is to have some fun and provide an experience with hickory golf clubs. Simer says that the guys share information about how hickory golf got started in general and about their own group. The also talk about how the sport is growing and how many players fall in love with golf all over again once they start playing hickories. Dressing up in period clothing is kind of a hit, too.
Simer himself is very active in recruiting players and has many accomplishments as a player himself. He is the 2019 Willie Noble Award winner at the Arizona Desert Hickory even and is that event’s 2019 Open Champion. His many other wins, mostly in Wisconsin, include the Wisconsin Hickory Open title in 2015 and 2018.
Like many hickory players who have a knack for hobbies, Simer collects and repairs hickory clubs for play. His shop is open a couple times per week for others to come and observe or work on their own clubs.
He is recently retired and, with his wife, Sari, divides his time between Arizona and Wisconsin. Sari, by the way, is fully supportive of Simer’s hickory efforts and is an accomplished golfer in her own right.
Steve Simer’s hickory golf accomplishments
2019 Willie Noble Award (Arizona Desert Hickory Championship
2019 Arizona Desert Hickory Open Champion
2018, 2015 Wisconsin Hickory Open Champion
2018, 2017, 2016, 2014 National Hickory Championship, 3rd place
2018, 2017 Lake Hallie Champion
2018 Arizona Desert Hickory Open, 3rd place
2018 Cherokee Hickory Stick Championship, 2nd place
2017 Wisconsin Hickory Open, 3rd place
2017, 2016, 2015 Wisconsin Gutty Challenge Open Champion
2017 Kohler Challenge Champion
2017 Arizona Desert Hickory Open, 2nd place
2016 CB MacDonald Champion
2015 CB MacDonald, 2nd place
2014 All American Champion
2014 Wisconsin Hickory Open, 3rd place
2014 World Hickory Match Play participant
2013 Belvedere Hickory Championship, Low Amateur
2013 All American, 2nd place
