Carolina Hickory Golf Association
Captains Page
March Letter and Years schedule
2007-28-01
Yo Hickories!
Unfortunately we endured a major downpour here in Pinehurst on Friday, March 16th right on top of our scheduled hickory event at Southern Pines CC. I believe this is the first time we've had to cancel an event although we did shorten the last Pinecrest CC event in Lumberton due to rain.
Here is a list of the scheduled CHGA events as of today. Please mark your calendars accordingly.
1. Friday, April 20th - Highland CC, Fayetteville - Gregg Parks, host
2. Wednesday, May 23rd - Carolina Trace CC, Sanford - Barry Markowitz, host
3. Saturday, June 23rd or Sunday, June 24th - Gillespie Park GC, Greensboro - Pete Georgiady, host
4. Saturday, July 21st - Mimosa Hills CC, Morganton - Michael Fay, host
5. August TBD
6. September (date TBD) - Alamance CC, Burlington - Charles Millender, host
7. Saturday, October 27th and Sunday, October 28th - Southern Pines CC, 2nd
Annual Hickory Haggis Cup Match Play tournament (open to CHGA members only) - Bill Engelson, host
8. November TBD
9. December TBD
Selected Upcoming Hickory Tournaments - check Society of Hickory Golfers website www.hickorygolfers.org and click on Upcoming Fixtures for details and contact info:
1. Thursday, May 31st and Friday, June 1st - Carolina Mountains Hickory Tournament, Asheville, NC - Ed Woeckener, host
2. Thursday, June 7th through Saturday, June 9th - National Hickory Championship, Oakhurst Links, White Sulphur Springs, WV - Pete Georgiady, host
3. Friday, September 14th through Sunday, September 16th - CB Macdonald Hickory Tournament, Niagara-on-the-Lake GC, Canada - Doug Marshall, host
4. Saturday, October 13th and Sunday, October 14th - Arkansas Hickory Championship, Hardscrabble CC, Fort Smith, AR - Breck Speed, host
5. Friday, November 2nd through Sunday, November 4th - Mid Pines Hickory Open, Southern Pines, NC - Rob Pilewski, host
Far and Sure,
Bill
Wm. L. Engelson
Captain, Carolina Hickory Golf Assn.
29 Devon Drive
Pinehurst, NC 28374
910.295.2857
WLE@Profiles24x7.com
www.carolinahickory.com
January Tournament at Pinehurst # 5
2007-28-01
Thursday night the temperature in Pinehurst dipped into the low 20s and the forecast for Friday was a high in the low 40s. Nonetheless, 16 hickory lads showed up at Pinehurst CC to slap the ball around this famed venue. Due to a scheduling snafu we were shifted over to course #5 from course #1 which we had intended to play. Maybe a blessing in disguise since two holes of course #1 are out of service as the maintenance crews install irrigation lines.
As frost was in the air and on the greens we were held up until 11:00am with a shotgun start; about 90 minutes later than scheduled. Jay Harris did a great job of forming up the teams. We played our regular game of one best net ball and one different best gross ball. The course was in great shape and was set up well for hickory play from the green tees at about 5700 yards in length.
Jay Harris and his team of Phil Hill (1st timer), Bob Georgiade and Graham Anderson posted the low score of 74/59/2133 (par 72) to grab the first place prize consisting of 70% of the prize pool. Michael Fay and his team consisting of Frank Boumphrey, Rick Myxter (1st timer) and Bill Engelson came in second at 66/76/142, but no cigar. Team 3 was Chris Deinlein, Dean Carpenter (1st timer), Jack MacDowell (1st timer) and Bill Parris (1st timer) with a score of 76/72/148. Team 4 posted a score of 78/72/150 with Jan Ludwig, Doug Marshall, Stephen Spring (1st timer) and Charles Millender. Special note: Kudos to CHGA charter member Stephen Spring who came all the way from Baton Rouge, LA to play hickory golf with us. Jay Harris captured another 15% of the prize pool for posting the low gross score: 74. Bob Georgiade and Jack MacDowell tied for low net at 65, so they split the remaining 15% of the pool. Congratulations on your fine rounds, lads.
UPCOMING EVENTS (mark your calendars and save the dates): I'll send out more details as we get closer to each event.
FEBRUARY: We'll be returning to Midland CC on Midland Road in Pinehurst on Saturday, February 24th. We'll be playing with either 1890s equipment or 1920s equipment...your choice. A good chance to start working on your pre-1900 game so you are sharp for the NHC at Oakhurst in early June. For those of you who do not yet have pre-1900 equipment, contact Doug Marshall at Dougmarsh7@aol.com He'll help you out with loaner equipment. More details to follow, but if you plan to play e-mail me back with your commitment before your forget it.
MARCH: We'll be playing Southern Pines CC in Southern Pines on Friday, March 16th with the first tee time at 11:30am. Green fees are at $28 including a cart and they are always happy to have us play there.
APRIL: Our April match is on Friday, April 20th at Highland CC in Fayetteville, once again hosted by Greg Parks. That's always a fun venue, so plan to join us. First tee time will be about 9:30am with lunch between the nines.
MAY: Wednesday, May 23rd will find us at Carolina Trace CC in Sanford, NC hosted by Barry Markowitz. I've played at this club and it should be a nice test for hickory golf. The courses are designed by Robert Trent Jones, so you'll most likely enjoy this outing. First tee time is 11:30 with buffet lunch set up afterwards.
JUNE: This is a full month for hickory golf with the Carolina Mountains Hickory Championship scheduled for the first week in June. Contact Ed Woeckener at MARLA4MUSI@aol.com for details on this one. June 7, 8 and 9 is the National Hickory Championship at Oakhurst. Contact Pete Geordiagy at nhc-golf@earthlink.net for further info. Michael Fay will be setting up our June event which we will schedule sometime during the 3rd week of June.
JULY: Michael Fay will also schedule our July event which we hope will be a return visit to Mimosa Hills CC in Morganton. Those of us who played there last July will confirm that this is a do not miss opportunity to play a splendid DJ Ross course.
OCTOBER: The Hickory Haggis Cup CHGA Match Play Tournament is scheduled for Saturday October 27th and Sunday October 28th. This tournament is only open to CHGA members. Cough up the one-time fee of $100 and you're in.
More later,
Bill
Wm. L. Engelson
Captain, Carolina Hickory Golf Assn.
29 Devon Drive
Pinehurst, NC 28374
910.295.2857
WLE@Profiles24x7.com
www.carolinahickory.com
Oct. 29th 2006
Twelve lads competed in the first annual CHGA Hickory Haggis Match Play Tournament conducted over two days on the Donald Ross Southern Pines CCcourse. The heavy rains on Friday caused me some concern, but the Sandhills allows the water to percolate down through the sand layer so the course was surprisingly dry when we teed off at 10:00am on Saturday. For those of you who accuse me of winning all the CHGA matches, you can take a certain amount of delight in knowing that I was blown away by the field. Southern Pines CC is a hidden gem of a course, which some of you know is owned by the Elks Club. The local rumor is that the course is in bad shape, but I played it a couple of weeks ago and found it ideally suited to hickory play. I spoke with the leader of the Elks Club who told me that his members spread those rumors to keep down the outside play. All of us found thecourse in great shape and well suited for hickory play, although just on the high side at 6,000 yards with many uphill approaches to elevated greens, but a worthy Ross design. We'll be playing our monthly hickory event on Friday, November 17th. Watch this space for details.
We played a variation of the traditional match play tournament where each hole in each 9 hole match was worth one point and the match was worth an additional point, so the max for a 9 hole match was 10 points. Each lad played four 9 hole matches over the two day tournament. On day one we formed the matches based upon hickory/USGA indices. Most of the players have hickory handicap accounts, with most of them resident upon the Society of Hickory Golfers website...SoHG is hosting our hickory postings for free. There was only a 12 point spread in indices amongst the field, and we played at 80% of the course handicap, so most matches involved only a stroke or so difference between the players. At the end of day one we had a tie for first between Ed Watters and Frank Boumphrey with Doug Marshall one point off the lead and Jay Harris and Jan Ludwig only down another halfpoint from Doug. We all gathered at the Engelson residence for a wine and cheese reception where we swapped hickory war stories. Many thanks to Donna for her efforts in pulling off the reception. Day two was another spectacular Chamber of Commerce day in the Pinehurst area with clear Carolina blue skies, light winds and a high temp of about 73 degrees. Fine hickory weather. We set up the matches based upon point totals from Satuday's matches and the most strokes given because of handicap differences were three strokes a match, with many at one stroke or at scratch.
Final results:
Founding member Jay Harris is the 2006 CHGA Hickory Haggis Match Play
champion with a total of 27 points. He had 12.5 points from Saturday and won both his Sunday matches worth a total of 14.5 points. Congratulations Jay.
One of our newer CHGA members, Ed Watters from Northern Virginia and Pinehurst, came in a close second at 26.5 points.
Charter member Barry Markowitz of Sanford came in third with a score of 23.5. Ed and Barry each were awarded plaques to commemorate their fine performances.
Special mention should be given to Gary Briggs of Vass who came from well back in the pack (2nd from the bottom at the end of Saturday's round) to capture 17 points on Sunday and finished up one half point behind Barry, the third place winner.
Jay Harris was also the medalist at 78/77/155 and was awarded the Low Gross plaque.
Ed Watters was the low net winner at 144.
See the attached pix, again courtesy of Donna Engelson. I hope that more of you can play in the Haggis Tournament next October.
Best regards,Bill
Wm. L. Engelson
Captain, Carolina Hickory Golf Assn.
29 Devon Drive
Pinehurst, NC 28374
910.295.2857
WLE@Profiles24x7.com
We will conduct the first annual CHGA Hickory Match Play Championship on Saturday and Sunday, October 28 and 29, at Southern Pines CC in Pinehurst. This event, also known as the Hickory Haggis Cup, is open only to CHGA members. Those who are not yet members may join CHGA for a one-time fee of $100. Go to our website to download the app. We'll be playing primarily off established hickory handicaps with probably a minimum of 6 to 8 posted scores, so get out there and get 'er done. Otherwise, you'll be playing off your USGA index.
This is the weekend before the Mid Pines Hickory Open, so it is a good venue to hone your hickory playing skills. Who knows, you might win a trophy two weeks in a row. Full details and costs will be announced when we figure them out, but basically, we'll have two days of hickory golf followed by a banquet where the winner(s) have to eat a haggis...and keep it down for a measured length of time.
Best regards,
Bill
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Aug 28 2006
Yo Hickories
Our September hickory event will be hosted by John McKee, Lea Hepler and Bryan Andrews, all members at Pinecrest CC in Lumberton, NC. As you will be able to discern, the hand of Donald Ross is apparent on this course. We are set with the first tee time at 11:28 on Sunday, September 10. This should be a good warm-up for Doug Marshall's tournament the following week-end. The cost is $40.00 each which includes green fees, cart fees, buffet and prize fees, so I expect no pushback on the costs. We'll be playing the same game as we did at Mimosa Hills CC and Pinehurst CC #3: 2 best balls; one gross and one net. We've increased the prize pool from what we've had before so that we can give prizes to total 18, front and back nines and individual recognition for best gross and best net medalist scores. That assumes we have four or more teams. If we have a light (number-wise) field we may adjust the payouts accordingly. Ladies will play from the red tees at 5203 yards, men 65 and over will play from the gold tees at 5520 and the young guys will play from the green tees at 5899. We'll try to balance the teams across abilities using hickory handicaps for those who have them and using USGA handicaps for those who have not established a hickory handicap.
Take I-95 to exit 17 then West on Highway 711 toward UNC-Pembroke. Pinecrest Country Club is on the right about 1 mile from I-95. Easiest way from Pinehurst is 211 South to I 95 South to next exit 17. Please let me know as soon as you can whether or not you can commit to join us. Also send me your hickory/steel index as of September 1.
Best regards,
Bill
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July 16 2006
Here is the latest list of upcoming hickory events. Please mark your calendars and save the dates.
1. Saturday, August 19, 2006 at Pinehurst CC course #3 with first tee time at 9:20am. Thanks to Jay Harris for setting this up for us. Lunch will be served following play in the Members Club overlooking Course #2. Total cost is $60 per person and we can accommodate a maximum of 24 players, so first come, first serve. E-mail me and I'll start counting down. Actually, there are only 22 slots left as Jay and I have already taken the first two.
2. September TBD -- at Pinecrest CC in Lumberton, NC set up by John McKee. We'll get the details out to you as soon as we firm them up.
3. Eastern Canada Hickory Championship at Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Club from Friday September 15 through Sunday September 17 celebrating the first US/Canada Amateur Competition organized by Charles B. Macdonald in 1895 on the oldest North American golf course still on its original site (ca 1875). [Macdonald won the first US Amateur Championship in 1895 at Newport after arranging with the fledgling USGA to have the 1894 event declared null and void.] This event will be a combined International match (Canada vs US) and medal play tournament featuring one day 1890s golf and one day 1920s golf. Contact Doug Marshall at dougmarsh7@aol.com or 519.471.9774 for details.
4. October 2006, date TBD. First annual CHGA Hickory Haggis Cup Match Play Tournament. What we envision here is a two day match play tournament open to CHGA members only (anyone can join for a one time fee of $100). The winner of the event will be the 2006 CHGA Champion. Donna and I will donate the trophy for the match play winner. I'll line up an appropriate venue and send out the details when we get them firmed up.
5. November 3-5, 2006 Third Annual Mid Pines Hickory Open played on one of Donald Ross's best [my opinion] courses for hickories. One practice round and two tournament rounds are included in the entry fee. Contact CHGA Founding Member Rob Pilewski at rob.pilewski@rossresorts.com or voice 910.692.9362 for information.
Contact me with any questions, comments, suggestions, etc.
Best regards,
Bill
© CHGA 2006