Australian Hickory Championships
The Australian Hickory Championships were recently held in Brisbane, and Members of The Brisbane Golf Club, which jointly hosted the event, dominated.
Players included hickory golfers from all over the eastern seaboard. Most wore period dress, and all wielded weapons made of trickery, sorry, hickory. The weather was wonderful, something that was particularly welcomed by our southern visitors, most of whom had only faint memories of anything other than incessant rain.
The singles event consisted of 36 holes played over two days at Royal Queensland and The Brisbane Golf Club. BGC member Ilija Soldan is a fairly recent addition to the hickory ranks, but the gent is a natural with the antiques. He prevailed over a field that included a number of professionals to win the gross with a score of 152 (75,77).
BGC members actually filled the top four placings in the nett event. Bruce Collins (nett 140) won, followed by Dave Mansfield (nett 142), Al Grieve (nett 143) and myself, Greg Mellifont (nett 146). On top of that, Bruce Collins and myself were the nett runners-up in the foursomes at Nudgee on the Sunday.
A very pleasing recurring theme was the warm praise from our visitors for The Brisbane Golf Club – the signs are good.
A presentation dinner was held at BGC on the Tuesday night, with Hickory Golfers Queensland Patron, Charlie Earp as the very welcome special guest. Andrew Daddo was one of the hickory players and you can listen to the chat with Charlie by searching and downloading the ‘Golf by Andrew Daddy’ podcast.
There is a burgeoning kindling of hickory golfers at BGC (“kindling” is the collective term for a group of hickory golfers, or so I have just decided). BGC members Chris Webster, Rob Bischof and Brad Tatnell also played, and there are other BGC members of the kindling that couldn’t make it. If any member wants to delve into the fascinating world of hickory play, I can be contacted at lynne.mellifont@hotmail.com and I can arrange a loan set of clubs.
Greg Mellifont
