INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page i Chapter Title PLAYING HICKORY GOLF The Complete Guide To Wood Shafted Golf i INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page ii Hickory Golf ii INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page iii Chapter Title PLAYING HICKORY GOLF The Complete Guide To Wood Shafted Golf By Randy Jensen Foreword by: Ralph Livingston III Foreword by: Ron Lyons Introduction by: Peter Georgiady Printed by: Airlie Hall Press Kernersville, North Carolina iii INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page iv Hickory Golf iv INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page v Chapter Title v INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page vi Hickory Golf First Edition Copyright March, 2008 Randy Jensen All Rights Reserved No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission of the author and publisher. ISBN 1-886752-23-0 Graphic Design & Desktop Publishing by: Freestyle Graphics 11932 Arbor St., Suite 102, Omaha, NE 68144 Book Cover Design by: Stephanie Albright Manufactured in the United States of America Produced by: Battleground Printing & Publishing Services Published and distributed by: Airlie Hall Press PO Box 981 Kernersville, NC 27285 [email protected] vi INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page vii Chapter Title Dedication This book is dedicated to all those pioneering hickory golfers of our modern era who with their keen appreciation of the history and traditions of this great game have made hickory golf the wonderful experience that it is today. vii INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page viii Hickory Golf Randy Jensen viii INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page ix Chapter Title About The Author Randy Jensen has been described as “the Tiger Woods of hickory golf”. He has won more contemporary wood shaft golf tournaments than any other golfer. His list of accomplishments includes over 60 wood shaft tournament titles, among them: • Seven-time National Hickory Champion • Seven-time Golf Collectors Society World Hickory Champion • 17-time Heart of America Hickory Champion • Three-time Southern Hickory Four Ball Champion (with Rob Ahlschwede) • Two-time Scottish Hickory Champion, Scratch Division • 2004 Canadian Hickory Champion • 2006 Orvis Cup Professional Champion (the first all wood shaft tournament paying prize money since the 1920s!) • World Record Holder with 409 holes of hickory golf played in one day Randy owns Classic Golf in Omaha, Nebraska. This golf shop specializes in the restoration, repair, and sales of collectible and playable wood shaft golf equipment. He is a founding member of the Society of Hickory Golfers and is also a member of the Golf Collectors Society and the British Golf Collectors Society. Randy is available for golf lessons, lectures, seminars, and golf outings. He can be reached by phone at 800-728-0566 or 402-554-0202. Address inquiries to Randy Jensen c/o Classic Golf, 4617 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68132. The eBay store address is “classicgolf4” and Randy’s e-mail address is [email protected]. ix INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page x Hickory Golf Acknowledgements I would like to thank Frank Hardison who helped gather the early GCS information on which this book is based and Bob Labbance who researched early GCS literature as well. Ralph Livingston III has been an inspiration for most modern hickory golfers and it is his energy and enthusiasm that is, in a large part, responsible for making hickory golf what it is today. I would also like to thank Ralph for the many photos he provided for the book, for his foreword, and his many suggestions on content as well. I would like to thank Pete Georgiady not only for his contributions to the making of this book but also for his foresight in putting hickory tournament golf on the map, so to speak. Ron Lyons, Pehr Thermaenius, Johnny Henry, Gary Wiren, and John Sherwood have all contributed bits of history and information that has been recorded in this book. I would also like to thank the many proof readers who have helped to make this effort as error free as possible including Joe Manley, Colin Huerter, and Mark Wehring. I would like to thank Stephanie Albright for her additional photos and her excellent cover layout. I would like to thank Frank Boumphrey and Rona Boumphrey for their very creative layout work. Many thanks to all those who provided additional photos including Pete League, Robb Howard, Matt Seem, Dave McNair, Mark Romesser, James Kaiser, and Helen Searle. Special thanks to Ron Jensen for his outstanding calligraphy. x INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page xi Chapter Title CONTENTS Foreword............................................................................................................xiii Introduction .....................................................................................................xvii Chapter 1 – A Short History of Golf and Modern Hickory Golf..................1 Chapter 2 – Choosing Your Wood Shaft Golf Clubs ....................................13 Chapter 3 – Repairing Your Wood Shaft Clubs.............................................35 Chapter 4 – Custom Fitting Your Wood Shaft Golf Set................................61 Chapter 5 – The Hickory Golf Swing .............................................................75 Chapter 6 – Playing The Woods And Irons..................................................111 Chapter 7 – Short Game and Sand Shots....................................................137 Chapter 8 – Putting..........................................................................................147 Chapter 9 – The Mental Game.......................................................................157 Chapter 10 – Questions And Answers About Hickory Golf.....................165 Chapter 11 – Some Of My Favorite Hickory Golf Experiences ................173 Chapter 12 – Hickory Golf Websites And Organizations..........................249 Appendices Best Places To Play Hickory Golf .......................................................259 Best Books On Hickory Golf ...............................................................260 Modern Hickory Hole-In-Ones ..........................................................262 Top Sub-Par Hickory Tournament Rounds ......................................263 Modern Hickory Golf Championship Results .................................264 Vintage Championship Results ..........................................................272 xi INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page xii Hickory Golf Ralph S. Livingston III xii INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page xiii Chapter Title FOREWORD The creation of “Playing Hickory Golf” by Randy Jensen is a great new resource that will finally bring much needed information to people seeking info about our growing hobby of hickory golf. Personally, I couldn’t think of anyone better to write such a book than a great hickory player and my good friend, Randy Jensen. Randy’s book dispels much of the misinformation that exists about hickory golf and presents an outline for the average golfer who would like to get involved playing with vintage wood shaft golf clubs. When I first started playing hickory golf, I wasn’t aware that anyone else was even playing with them. Hickory golf was still in its infancy. The first event that I played in, the organizers were essentially keeping score by counting the combined number of clubs broken by the participants! These early organized events were mostly played in a scramble format, but they were great fun and created the opportunity for players with a common interest to convene. Randy and I first crossed paths during a long driving competition that took place during my first Golf Collectors Society annual meeting in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1994. We both were in the long drive finals won by Micah Bosman with Randy finishing second and I, third with a measly 274 yarder. Later, we would get to know each other in depth when we both arrived early to play practice rounds at a hickory golf event. I re-introduced myself, and we went out and played. During our round we talked about our respective interests, foremost of which was seeing the game shift from “Hackers” to “Hickory Championships”. A partnership was formed. “The Player” and “The Equipment Geek”, a perfect match of skills for the time. As a result of that meeting, Randy became one of the primary people that pushed me to create www.hickorygolf.com, the first website to deal exclusively with playing golf with vintage hickory shaft golf clubs. At that time, the vast majority of hickory golfers were playing once or twice a year with unrestored hickory shaft clubs. The heads were loose, the shafts were warped, and the grips were slick. Little attention was paid to the playable condition of the clubs, the various makers of those clubs, or to the respective quality of the clubs. I like to think that Randy and I had a big hand in changing those perceptions with our fully restored sets designed to be played on a daily basis. From my golf equipment xiii INDEX FORWARD INTRO cmyk 4/11/08 4:50 PM Page xiv Hickory Golf background and a great bit of luck, I came to realize that the Tom Stewart irons were consistently the best playing irons produced during the wood shaft era. In a very short time I had a basement full of his finest examples. Randy acquired a full play set of Stewart irons as well and today the Stewart made irons have become the most sought after among the elite hickory golfers of the world. Today there are so many hickory golf events you would not be able