December 17, 2019
The report attached here is a summary of, not all, but of very many world-wide hickory outings from 2019. They range from modest hickory golf meetings attended by a dozen friends, to near 100 or more at annual events that have grown in stature over these past two dozen years. Each is growing into its own character as well, nowhere better seen than in Europe where, for example, German and Polish hickory tournaments are accompanied by much ceremony and festivity. German hickory golfers were sent off to their rounds this year by the firing of a canon by a German prince!
Golfers in the United Kingdom continued their celebrations of traditional golfing values and friendship over several venues throughout the countries. In the U.S., golfers enjoyed the unique social atmosphere provided by the host and members of the Belvedere Golf Club for the U.S. Hickory Open. This is a most singular event during its regular years as the Belvedere Hickory Open, but it went to quite another level as host of the U.S. Hickory Open. In 2020, the Society of Hickory Golfers celebrates its 20th anniversary and will do so in style at the Happy Hollow Club in Omaha, Neb. From Texas to the Pacific Northwest, California to Carolinas and New England, the sport was well-served by devoted players and event hosts.
From golfing lands throughout Europe and across the breadth of the U.S. and Canada, not to forget our friends Down Under where the Aussies have a most vigorous and happy hickory golf schedule, the sport shows signs of maturing, becoming ever much more than just a welcome respite from the unrepentant quest for distance that modern technology has unhappily unleashed.
Thanks to hickory golfers far and wide for their reports in the document linked below. It is quite clear that camaraderie and friendship are uppermost in all these gatherings and may it ever be so.
Please click here for the World of Hickory Report 2019.
Here’s to a very happy golfing season in 2020. Cheers!
Jim Davis