The Hickory Corner: Taking a swing with the hickory

By Brian Giboney, Special to Inside Golf
Welcome back to The Hickory Corner where we explore hickory golf (golf with pre-1935 equipment).

This year’s Seattle Golf & Travel Show at the CenturyLink Field Event Center saw the first ever hickory information booth and demo area. AP National Hickory Players hosted the booth and several of us members were on hand – fully dressed in knickers, tweed, and argyle – to answer questions and encourage people to take their first hickory swing.

Thousands of people stopped by the booth and well over 500 people did in fact take their very first hickory swings.

Upon making those first swings several epic comments were made: Linda from Tacoma said, “This was worth the price of admission!” Gary from Seattle commented, “They feel better than my regular clubs.” Hans from Vancouver, BC declared, “I have a set I never dreamed of playing, until now” and Mike from Everett said “Sign me up to the next hickory event, I’m in!”

Barry Field, Captain of AP National Hickory Players, said of the event:

“We received a tremendous response at our hickory booth and many people were interested in playing wood shafted golf and took their first swing. It was a great experience to see so many people, young and old, male and female alike, who after hitting a few balls had big smiles of surprise at how well they hit the ball and how smooth and fluid their swings were – a spirit of I CAN DO THIS was apparent.”

In addition to those who took their first swing nearly everyone who walked by the booth saw the antique demo hickory clubs and smiled. Some pointed to the wood shafted clubs with positive comments to their spouse or kids as they walked by, while others simply said to us volunteers “Love your clothes!”

Personally it felt like I was a kid again dressing up for Trick or Treating on Halloween. Only there were no tricks, just treats all day long. The reception and acceptance was overwhelming. Everyone seemed to like the clubs and enjoyed taking a swing with the clubs in the booth we had set up.

There you have it, the 2016 Seattle Golf Show in a nutshell. Several of us are already looking forward to the 2017 show and sharing our love of hickory golf.

If this was your first read, welcome to The Hickory Corner.

Brian Giboney has been a freelance contributor to Parachutist magazine since 1999 and does freelance for Inside Golf as well.