In History....
A BLAST FROM THE PAST
MONDAY MAY 25, 2009
What a unique experience!! On Monday May 25, The Royal Ashburn Golf Club had the privilege of hosting one of the Golf Historical Society's Hickory Hacker Golf Events. In total, 32 players from across the province arrived to tee it up with original and authentic hickory golf equipment. It was quite amazing to watch the players hit the golf ball with their mashies, niblicks and spoons. Their swings looked much the same as what you would expect to see today, however in order to make good contact, the players told me that they focused on making a "longer and smoother swing". Hickory shafted golf clubs were much more flexible than the steel and graphite of today. Watching the players hit the ball made it hard not to think of the great players of yesterday and it gave me a whole new respect to how good players like Gene Sarazen, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen really were.
The Hickory Hackers played as a four person scramble from our Gold tees, with the golf course playing approximately 5600 yards. Anymore than this and I really don't think it would have been enjoyable, as a good tee shot would send the ball down the fairway about 230 yards. (Although I was told a couple of the young guys could hit it 270 with a solid shot) The pin locations were also setup to be very accessible as bump and run shots were the order of the day. In today's game everyone tries to fly the golf ball to the flag, but when you are using a spoon from even 150 yards rolling the ball to the flag is really your only option. I was very interested to see some of the scores and was very impressed by the winning score of 68 or 4 under par. I can asssure you that as good as some of the players were, shooting 68, even as a scramble, was a very, very good score.
After the golf was over, several vendors setup to showcase their equipment, golf bags, memorabilia and so on. Once again, what a unique experience. As a golfer you are aware of the older equipment, but you never really think about how much more difficult it must have been to play with. Today's technology still allows you to advance the ball a reasonable distance and relatively straight, the clubs of yesterday their is just no way. If you mishit a spoon or a mashie their is no way the golf ball going anywere near it's intended target.
A gentlemen attending the trade show by the name of Bill Heron, (shown below) was a member of Rockway Golf Club, the same golf club that Moe Norman was a member of. Bill has a great collection of Moe Norman memorabilia and a great deal of knolwedge of Moe's accomplishments. Bill, also a collector of old golf equipment and memorabilia, has many unique golf clubs and artifiacts and has one of the best collection of old water clubs in all of Canada. Bill Heron is a very interesting gentlemen.
Anyone wishing more information from Bill can reach him at bmheron@sympatico.ca
What a great day!
Anyone wishing to learn more about the Golf Historical Society can visit their website at : www.3.sympatico.ca/bill.macdonald/
