Jan. 30, 2022
It was a chilly, rainy Florida that greeted this year’s Winter Park Hickory Classic participants. Just their luck as cold weather that was affecting the entire rest of the country thought it might as well dip south and give the Sunshine State residents a slight taste of what their northern neighbors were getting; albeit, nearly 50 degrees warmer than in places like the Upper Midwest.
For all that, 46 men and eight women donned jackets, hats and sweaters on Jan. 22 to take on the lovely Winter Park golf course for the third annual Winter Park Hickory Classic hosted by Bill Geisler and the Florida Hickory Golfers. A couple of dozen of them stayed for a second round on Sunday and the Marci Maximus, a four-club walk around the nine-hole course.
Many of the state’s FHG players turned out as well as players from several neighboring southern states and even Michigan and Nebraska among others.
Will Peterson took the men’s honors and Bailey Weingandt, who works at Steurer & Jacoby with our favorite golf bag maker Will Jacoby, was the ladies champion.
We’ve posted a few photos here, but check the Florida Hickory Golfers website for tournament results and a link to more photos. If they are not up there yet, they will be soon. The photos, by the way, were taken by the professional photography team of Greg and Beverly Wise.
Men’s Gross Division:
1st Place Will Peterson
2nd Place Bo Turocy
3rd Place Wally Armstrong
Men’s Net Division:
1st Place Jeff Shafer
2nd Place Jim Davis
3rd Place David Webster
Women’s Gross Division:
1st Place Bailey Wiegandt
2nd Place Beth Chambers
3rd Place BJ Hayden
Women’s Net Division:
1st Place Marci Likens
2nd Place Kendall Capaz
3rd Place Rosemary Pabst
Bailey Weingandt was the ladies champion for the 2022 Winter Park Hickory Classic.
Bill and Elizabeth Geisler hosted the event and kept things running smoothly. Elizabeth, Bill allowed, did most of the work.
Marci Likens hosted the following day’s Marci Maximus, which was a nine-hole challenge using only four clubs.
Natalie Wells and Rich Grula are mainstays of the Florida Hickory Golfers. Not only are they top golfers, but a handsome couple as well.
Scott Staudacher, right, president of the Society of Hickory Golfers, talks with a fellow competitor.
Mike Stevens, Captain of the Florida Hickory Golfers, shows the form which has captured not a few hickory golf titles.