Northwest Hickory Players

Lionel Freedman, former secretary of the Musselburgh Golf Club and founder of the World Hickory Open has passed away. Freedman, a warm and gracious man, was friend to many hickory golfers, worldwide, and made numerous trips to the United States to support the meteoric growth of the game on this side of the pond. Amid a lifetime of honors and volunteer positions to support the game of golf, Freedman served as the honorary starter and was recognized for his contributions to the game at the inaugural World Hickory Match Play in Philadelphia in 2014, by invitation of the Metropolitan Hickory Society and event-creator, Brian Schuman. NWHP co-founder, Robert Birman, recalls…

Born on March 1, 1959, golfer Perry Somers has been a staple of the international hickory golf scene for years.  A member of the Australian PGA, Somers holds titles across Europe and has won the Australian Hickory Championship in 2010.  The PGA of Australia wrote, “He is good at the game he plays, maybe the best going around.” Now based in Cologne, Germany, where he teaches at the Golf and Country Club Velderhof, while at the same time supporting his wife Henriette in her career with the Cologne City Council, Somers is a throwback to a time when golf was pure.  “I feel like I was born 50 years too…

Like something out of Loyal Chapman’s fantasy golf holes, the image on the cover of the April 14, 1927 issue of The Youth’s Companion magazine appears unreal. It depicts a young man teeing off a precipice facing Mount Rainier, located 85 miles from Seattle, Washington, and rising to some 14,000 feet above sea level. Is this for real? How long was that drive? Did he make par? Alas, no such golf hole existed on Mount Rainier in 1927. This was a staged photo opportunity. Yet, sometimes life imitates art, and in 1931 a nine hole golf course was indeed built on Mount Rainier. The Rainier National Park Company, which had…

The great Sandy Herd was runner-up at The Open Championship four times over 28 years but claimed the Claret Jug only in 1902 at Hoylake by a stroke from Vardon and Braid.  His victory popularized the new Haskell ball with a wound rubber core.  It was said to give 20 extra yards compared to the old gutty, but supplies were scarce in Britain at the time and Herd, like most, was skeptical until trying one out in a practice round with his friend John Ball, the Hoylake amateur, who had already adopted the ball.  Herd won the British Professional Matchplay at age 58 and still played tournaments to a high…

Mike Just, former owner and President of the Louisville Golf Company, passed away on October 2nd.  Northwest Hickory Players remembers Mike and his profound love of the game of hickory golf. Mike Just was selected in 2013 as the Mike Brown Award honoree by the Society of Hickory Golfers.  Why Mike?  Because, each year, the Society looks for its best representative of the hickory golf community that embodies the respect for the traditions of the game of hickory golf; one who exhibits a singular dedication to growing the game of hickory golf; and a candidate who exemplifies the passion for promoting lasting friendships through hickory golf.  That was Mike Just,…

By Douglas Seaton [adapted from North Berwick website] John Ernest Laidlay wad born on the 5th of November, 1860, at Seacliff House, two miles east of North Berwick.  His father was an Indigo manufacturer in Calcutta before he acquired the estates of Seacliff, Auldhame and Scoughall which then passed to John’s brother Andrew Laidlay who perished in a fire which destroyed Seacliff House in 1907. Johnny Laidlay dominated the Amateur Championship for seven years from 1888, winning twice in 1889 and 1891 and runner-up 1888, 1890 and 1893.  Laidlay was a member of a number of golf clubs and throughout his career won over 131 medals.  In 1887 alone he…

Dick Estey (1930–2016), World Renowned Golf Collector, Has Passed A giant in the world of golf collecting, Dick Estey, 86, died recently at his winter residence in Rancho Mirage, California, as a result of complications following a fall. A life-long resident of Portland, Oregon, Estey was an accomplished golfer from an early age.  He won the Oregon Junior Championship in 1946 and had aspirations to turn pro.  He was exposed to a pro’s life when he caddied for Sam Snead in an exhibition match in 1946 and for Henry Cotton in the 1947 Ryder Cup held at Portland Golf Club.  Perhaps sensing the difficult life of a golf professional, he…

James Braid won The Open Championship five times in the span of ten years, closing out his final victory there on the 50th anniversary of the championship.  Cool stuff! 41st Open – Muirfield 1901 The first of Braid’s five titles It was at the 1901 Open at Muirfield that a new challenger emerged to the domination of Harry Vardon and JH Taylor. The pair had won six of the previous seven Opens but James Braid beat both of them for the first of five titles in ten years. Such was the Fife-born golfer’s influence on the game that his name had to be bracketed along with the other two in…

While not exhaustive, NWHP’s 2016 collector’s cards feature some of the groups regular players.  Put ’em under your bed; they may be worth something some day….  LOL                  

BOOK REVIEW Royal Blackheath by Ian T. Henderson and David I. Stirk published by Royal Blackheath Golf Club 1981 reviewed by Robert Birman This entirely absorbing history of England’s early and distinguished golf club conveys the passion of those who established our golfing traditions during an era in which the elements of the game were indubitably crude. Authors Henderson and Stirk help the reader believe that they can relate, in spite of the passage of generations, to the precise anticipation and feeling of our earliest pioneers from a time before those we most commonly know by name today. The account of the membership of Blackheath connects us to the long-dead…

reposted from http://www.otgt.org The MacGregor Golf Co. was founded on innovation — on the creative process of making something new from existing resources.  And through the thick and thin of a storied business history, the company has maintained that particular inventive genius in golf equipment design and manufacture. The Copying Lathe and The Rise of MacGregor Golf It began in 1829, when the Crawford brothers founded the Dayton Shoe Last Company, in Dayton, Ohio.  From shoe lasts to golf clubs? Yes, and it wasn’t as circuitous or accidental a connection as one might assume.  The lasts used by shoe manufacturers were made by a copying lathe, essentially the same device…

            I purchased this Foulis-patent mashie niblick in March 2016 specifically for use at the 2016 International Match Play tournament in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. The reason is simple. We play stymies in this event, and with the concave shape of this Foulis-model club, and the flat-lie of the leading edge (in combination with the loft), I have the belief that this is the ideal club for use on the greens when forced to jump an opponent’s ball. Below is a terrific history of the Foulis brothers, as well as links to the original patent for this club, c.1905. This club generates a tremendous amount…

Mungo Park was a sailor who spent much of his early life at sea although on his return he soon showed that he had many of the family’s golfing genes. He had a strong swing and, like his older brother and nephew, was a fine, bold putter. The family lived by the motto, “never up, never in”. Park was the younger brother of Willie Park senior and was born in Musselburgh in 1835. His early career was as a seaman but he returned to terra firma and, with only a few months’ practice, won the 1874 Open Championship on his home course of Musselburgh. Brother Willie Park Sr, won The…