Petra Hellmann reports (translation by Christoph Meister):
Playing golf as it was 100 years ago was on the agenda this past Aug. 13-15 at the Vechta-Welpe Golf Club some 80km south of Bremen. Forty-two participants from seven European countries and various German cities came to the county town to compete for the best player of 2021 at the 13th German Open Hickory Championship. It was not only a special sporting event – there was also a lot to see.
Hickory golf is a traditional variation of the game of golf. It is played with historic clubs whose shafts were made of hickory wood until the 1930s. But it is not only the clubs that are unusual. The outfit is also a throwback to the last century: While plus fours or plus twos, sliding caps, ties or cravats are the order of the day for the men, the ladies present themselves in calf-length skirts, blouses, and elegant headgear.
Twenty-eight players started Friday with a fourball best ball match play event titled: “Germany against the rest of the world.” Teams from Germany competed with players from Austria, England, France, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden, and Switzerland, which won by 5:2.
On Saturday the participants played the first round of the German Open Hickory Championship, a stroke-play event over 36 holes in pure 1910s style. They showed great golf again and again on both days of play – especially the pros who played for a prize money of 5000 €. With a total of 154 strokes, Englishman Brian Gee left the course as the beaming winner. Germany’s golf legend and former European Tour Player Heinz-Peter Thül from Cologne was runner-up with 159 strokes. Vechta’s golf pro, Glyn Morris, also mastered the challenge with flying colors – with 83 strokes on the first day and 78 strokes on the second round, he earned third place.
In the amateur gross ranking, 14-year-old Louis Dudzus from Berlin-Wannsee won the coveted “Tanfani di Montalto Cup” with 174 strokes, just two ahead of Dr. Hendrik Hilgert from Hamburg (176 strokes). In the women’s gross, Angela Moser from Augsburg needed 178 strokes to win the “Lilien-Pokal.” Helmut Betz from Ingolstadt won the men’s net with 133 strokes. Erika Frey from Switzerland won the women’s net with 159 strokes.
Christoph Meister, Captain of the German Hickory Golf Society, thanked the Golfclub Vechta-Welpe at the award ceremony for the perfect organization of the tournament and stated: “Everything was just right here: great course, best catering and enthusiastic spectators – we will gladly come again!
2021 German Open Hickory Champion Brian Gee and runner-up Heinz-Peter Thül surrounded by the golfers from the “Hickory Society Cologne.” 
From left: Olaf Dudzus (Berlin-Wannsee, Hon. Sec. German Hickory Golf Society); 2021 German Open Ladies Hickory Champion Angela Moser (Augsburg); and Christoph Meister (Hamburg, Captain German Hickory Golf Society). 
From left: Rolf Kinkel (Berlin-Stolper Heide); Iain Forrester (Hoenshuis G&CC, The Netherlands); and Gustavo Barrios Rivas (The Mondial International, The Netherlands). 
From left: Peter Willems (Cologne); Louis Dudzus (Berlin-Wannsee); and Joel Travers (Paris, France). 
From left: Rolf Kinkel (Berlin-Stolper Heide); Iain Forrester (Hoenshuis G&CC, The Netherlands); and Dr. Hendrik Hilgert (Gut Kaden, Hamburg). 
From left: Christian Frick (Kallin); Tatjana Thoss (Wiesbaden); and Svante Hanson (Sweden). 
Heinz-Peter Thül, Cologne. 
Glyn Morris (England), Golfclub Vechta-Welpe.