Modern Hickory Golf

I Wrote a Book About Something I Love and Published It

Each club has its own personality, like an actor in a play. It is we, the director, who must recognize and encourage the natural talents of each of the performers, leveraging their many strengths to harmonize any weakness. - from Modern Hickory Golf, Rediscovering the Essence of the Game

How This Came To Be

The dark and cold of winter always makes me want to get cozy. And in that cozyness there is the space and time to read, listen, and think. I had put down what I was reading, hungry for something home-baked, and decided to catch up on some podcasts while I searched for the Nutmeg.

I really enjoy perspectives from other places. The Thing About Golf is an Australian podcast hosted by the wonderfully engaging commentator Rod Morri. In his thoughtful discussions with various golf pundits concerning all things golf, the occasional wrinkle will arise.

One such wrinkle is the increasingly underwhelming benefit derived from giving our priceless attention to the men’s professional game. The question Mr. Morri often asks is: How can golf do a better job of representing itself? Wrestling with that question makes for good discussion, but it is easily transcended. By expanding the perspective, the question falls away, and golf is seen to be just fine.

However, for the sake of discussion, I accepted the challenge put forth in Mr. Morri’s questioning plea—whether it was rhetorical or not. I got to thinking, which led to some note-taking, which led to some reading, which led to more note-taking, which led to several final drafts. It is the author’s heartfelt conviction that Modern Hickory Golf is one way golf can better represent itself.

The Pendulum of All Things

At one end of golf’s far-swinging pendulum is its speculative history. At the other end is golf’s speculative future. Both seek the attention of gravity’s empirical now. And because there is balance at the bottom, much like an effortless golf swing, there comes an easy joy. Playing hickory golf with modern balls of soft compression is a joyous balance of golf’s extremes.

It is that balance which I tried to highlight in the book. It will be for the reader to decide if I landed my ball on the green or if I am still a chip away. But it seemed like an obvious direction to pursue, so I did.

Better Minds

The book is published on Amazon’s KDP platform. This format places the acknowledgments page at the back of the book, after the main body. I want to be sure that those who helped are not overlooked and are publicly thanked. The printed version will allow a proper formatting.

I am blessed to know many wonderful, generous people with minds far more sharp and clear than my own. Pete Mair was the first to take a look and was quick to remind me that people read the Bible because it’s full of stories, not just directives. In agreement, I made revisions.

Pete playing for Michigan at the 1974 Rose Bowl

As it was my first book manuscript, it was sure to need editorial assistance. Elmer Nahum, author of Practical Clubmaking, was kind enough to offer help. I came to realize that I had been off with my comma game. Beyond grammar, Elmer is extremely knowledgeable about historic golf. He helped declutter a few of my assumptions.

When I first started messing about with hickory-shafted clubs, I was introduced to Rob Ahlschwede. He has been helping, guiding, and inspiring me to this day. Rob’s review of the final draft was a further aid in keeping the book in its proper lane.

As for the images used in the book, several were from my camera. Most of the pictures depicting modern hickory players in action were taken by Jimmy Bucher. Jimmy is a mainstay with the Northwest Hickory Players—not only taking the group photos, but also getting out in the first foursome so he can document the rest of the field as they finish their rounds.

Kelly Leonard was kind enough to let me use an image from his website. I would recommend spending a bit of time going through Kelly’s site—he has wonderfully delicious-looking longnose clubs on display that are sure to tempt the senses.

Who the Book is For

MHG is geared toward modern golfers who may have heard some little thing about playing with really old wooden clubs. The book aims to dispel some of the myths and concerns that people naturally have about going backward in their golf journey. The book asks the reader to step back in time so that they may swing into the future. (Too corny…?)

The enthusiasm and joy I tried to express is something that I have seen and shared in the eyes of my hickory friends. Hopefully the book can be a reference they can point to when other golfers approach them, curious as to why someone would willingly sacrifice yardage and brave the fashion sense of days gone by.

Hickory golfers don’t see it so much as sacrifice, but rather as liberation. We know it, we feel it, and it’s just so hard not to share it.

And it may just be me, but there seems to be something else lingering in the air, an unnamed anxiousness that compels us toward some kind of action.

Authentic Experience

As the virtual experience becomes increasingly more sophisticated, the line distinguishing real and simulated is becoming more and more obscured. Every day there is some new headline about the wonders of AI. Not only is this cutting-edge, patented technology designing golf clubs and golf courses, but AI apps are also analyzing swing mechanics and making instructor-like recommendations.

The professional male golfers just started a video game league—hitting balls into a screen just a few yards away and calling it a valid competition. What’s next—PodGolf?— Just lay down in the pod, make a few connections, and you can spend the rest of your life making birdies on a digital version of the Old Course, with your heartbeat powering the whole application. That would be one way to address the pace-of-play issue and reduce the number of those silly golf cart incidents.

An AI generated image. It couldn’t quite get the Matrix connection.

The Gentle Current

As surging technology—the raging river of innovation—sweeps away any obstacle in its path, there is always the back eddy. Back eddies are natural flows going upstream against the current. Rather than gunning our engines full steam ahead, inching our way slowly against the unrelenting, passive force of nature, why not take the lazy way and hug the shoreline—effortlessly propelled back to the source?

In the book, I try to show that a simpler version of the game can be genuinely rewarding by trying a new approach with a different perspective.

Live Action

Just the other day, having to run into town and with a cooperating sky, I made time to walk nine holes at Dan Hixon’s Bar Run Golf Course. I had started alone but was joined on the 6th hole by a gentleman in a cart.

The 6th at Bar Run

John, a retired forest service worker, had a very nice swing, hitting a wonderful drive and an equally good approach shot. After we both teed off on the par-3 7th, I urged John to give the mashie a try. He was a bit reluctant, fearing that he might damage the club. I assured him that he need not worry, as he had a sound stroke. After a few practice swings and his usual waggle, John’s first-ever swing with a hickory-shafted club put the ball on the green—closer to the pin than his shot with his modern club. He couldn’t stop smiling.

This sort of thing happens a lot with hickory golf. It is a joy that is easily and eagerly shared.

For the sovereign golfer, the road less traveled and the course less played have an intrinsic appeal. Despite golf’s many disguises, the wall is still the wall. Every swing of the golf club is an opportunity to strike through to the other side—thereby gaining some sort of existential freedom.

Or maybe not. Perhaps golf’s greatest gift is just a pleasant walk, with pleasant company, and a few pleasant shots mixed in for good measure—all making for a very pleasant memory. Either way, it’s a good day.

Take heart, carry on!