Rick Woeckener on the top of the hickory golf world as 2019 U.S. Open Champion.
By Jim Davis
If you want to grow up to become a U.S. Hickory Open champion, it helps to have a father who loves golf, as well as a country club course adjacent to your backyard. Rick Woeckener had both.
The youngest of three children, Woeckener, 50, was born in New Brunswick, N.J. and moved to the Miami area of Florida with his family in 1976.
“I grew up with the Country Club of Miami West Course in my back yard,” he says. The club is a Robert Trent Jones design that hosted the National Air Lines Open in 1960s.
Father, Ed, taught the kids to play. Woeckener was 6 when he began. “My dad taught us the basics of swing, etiquette, rules, and how to play quickly and not hold anyone up on the course.”
Woeckener played competitively through the junior golf program of the Dade Amateur Golf Association based at Melreese Golf Course in Miami. “Living by that world-class Robert Trent Jones-designed course gave me a great place to work on my game,” he says.
A summer membership for kids was just $50, so Woeckener played as much as he could, about 45 holes a day, he says. “Fortunately, we had a swimming pool at the house, which was great after a hot, humid day in south Florida.”
Woeckener was captain of his American Senior High golf team that played 9-hole stroke matches against other schools and such players as future PGA veterans Briny Baird and Dudley Hart. He later played for Florida International University.
After college he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, serving three years at Camp Pendelton. “I played on the base golf team and won the 1995 All-Marine West Coast Regional Championship,” he says.
“My dad introduced me to hickories in 2006 after getting involved in the Society of Hickory Golfers in 2004,” he says. “In spring 2007, dad hosted a hickory tournament at Country Club of Asheville, which I won, shooting 73-79.”
The hickory golf bug bit hard and Woeckener turned almost exclusively to the sport. He’s a near-regular at the Mid Pines event and won the U.S. Hickory Open in 2010 on his first try at Mimosa Hills.
In 2011, Rick decided to take on the challenge of the SoHG’s inaugural Championship Series (CS). He has competed at the Southern Hickory 4-ball, the U.S. Hickory Open and the Heart of America.
He was second both in 2011 at French Lick (Indiana) and in 2014 at the Country Club of Ashville (North Carolina). His father was the Senior Division champion at Mimosa Hills in 2008, the first playing of the USHO.
“Dad doesn’t play as much as he used to,” Woeckener says, “but does when he is healthy. My brother, Phil, plays all the time, but is a modern guy.”
In 2019, nine years removed from his last USHO title, Woeckener said it was a little more special. “I was really exited to have the chance to be competitive in golf again,” he says. “This was I think, more special, as I am older and honestly didn’t think I would have a chance to win this championship again. Being able to win at such a historic venue made it all the more sweet.”
No stranger to championship golf courses, Woeckener said there’s something more to Belvedere that makes it delight to play, whether you are scratch or just out for enjoyment.
“Belvedere has some of the most interesting short par fours I have ever played,” he says. “The green complexes with the undulation make them as challenging to read as the greens at Mid Pines. Marty (Joy, the Belvedere PGA pro) really set up some tricky hole locations which forced you to really think about what club to pull and what type of shot you needed to execute, which is exactly the way a championship of this caliber needs to be. Requiring precise approach shots and a good short game is the hallmark of a major championship. The course represented that very well.”
One of the skills he’s perfected is lag putting, a shot he says is the best part of his game and one that came in very handy on Belvedere’s often tricky greens. It took a deft hand to judge.
The victory wasn’t a cakewalk. Woeckener had some tough competition with Peter Flory of Illinois and Taylor Jones of Alabama, the 2017 USHO champion. He recalls making a double on 12 on Saturday that set him back on his heels for a moment. A birdie on 13 quickly got him settled again. An up and down for par from a tough spot on the signature 16th hole settled the matter, but not by much. He would eventually best Flory by one shot and Jones by two, both young men making it close every step of the way.
“Peter is a solid player,” Woeckener says. “I have no doubt he will win this championship soon.”
Two others finished in the 150s – Jeff Hunt of Illinois and Fred Muller of Michigan, the latter the retired professional of the storied Crystal Downs Country Club. Four others were within eight shots.
Woeckener also took home from the 2019 USHO the John Fischer II Low Amateur Award, given to the lowest scoring amateur player. The award honors one of the country’s top amateur players from the early hickory era. Fischer, in fact, was the last person to win a “major” with hickory clubs – the U.S. Amateur in 1936.
“Rick Woeckener is a fine champion and an exceptional representative for hickory golf,” said Ed Ronco, SoHG president. “Not only is he a repeat USHO champion with several hickory titles to his credit, but Rick also captained the U.S. team at the 2016 U.S. International Hickory Cup (now the Lionel Freedman Trophy Matches) at the Mission Inn Resort and Club in Florida.”
The U.S. team won that event – 24 1/2 to 7 1/2 – held bi-annually as a Ryder Cup-style tournament against a European team of hickory players.)
Woeckener, who plays to a handicap of -1.7 at the Sugarbush Golf Club in Garrettsville, Ohio, plays hickories most of the time, but says that “once in a blue moon I will play modern clubs.
“I really like to switch over to my 1880s set and my 1900 set to keep things interesting.”
He plays in about three or four hickory events a year and three days ago would have said that Mid Pines was his favorite. “But now that I have experienced Belvedere, it is a tie between the two,” he says.
Woeckener and his wife of 22 years, Kristie, live in Garrettsville, Ohio, where he is a territory sales representative for Life Extension, a company that offers high-quality nutritional supplements.
In Rick Woeckener’s golf bag:
Driver: Maker unknown. I had it refurbished and it has my wife’s nickname “Bubbles”
Driving Iron: Tom Stewart, 18 degrees
Mid Iron: Tom Stewart, 22 degrees
Strong Mashie: Davega, 26 degrees
Mashie: Aero cleek mark, 32 degrees
Spade Mashie: Tom Stewart, 38 degrees
Strong Niblick: Tom Stewart, 44 degrees
Niblick: Tom Stewart, 50 degrees
Flanged Niblick: MacGregor OA 56 degrees
Putter: Burke small mallet
Rick Woeckener’s Hickory Golf Tournament Record
2010: 1st Place/Low Amateur – U.S. Hickory Open (Mimosa Hills Country Club)
2011: 1st Place – SoHG Championship Series
2012: 2nd Place – Vermont Hickory Open (Copley Country Club)
1st Place – Mid Pines Hickory Open (Mid Pines Resort)
2013: 2nd Place – Southern Hickory 4-Ball Championship (Brian Schuman-partner) Highland Park Golf Course
2nd Place – Virginia Hickory 4-Ball (Brian Schuman-partner) Fredericksburg Country Club
1st Place – Broken Jigger (Benvenue Country Club)
2014: 1st Place – Mid Pines Hickory Open (Mid Pines Resort)
2nd Place/Low Amateur – U.S. Hickory Open (Country Club of Asheville)
2015: 1st Place – Fall Hickory Classic (Mimosa Hills Country Club)
2017: 1st Place – Foxburg Hickory Championship
2019: 1st Place/Low Amateur – U.S. Hickory Open (Belvedere Golf Club)
