Big Ernie bests Eagle Springs for 2022 Keeper of Spirit title

MacDuff reports on the 2022 playing of the Keeper of the Spirit Gutty Challenge:

Tom Johnson, who hosts the annual Foxburg Hickory Championship, likes to say that pre-1900, or what is called gutta percha golf, is “The hardest golf you will ever play, but it’s the most fun you will have.”

The hardest? Well, the jury may still be out on that part. As for fun, if you count the good friends you meet and the courses you get to play, Johnson may be on to something.

Your correspondent, traveling with Scott Petersen of Grandville, Mich., gave it a go at the Keeper of the Spirit Gutty Challenge, at the Eagle Springs Golf Resort in Eagle Springs, Wisc., held this year July 14-16.

The old course, which dates to 1893, has been in continuous use and owned by the same family since its beginnings. Once an 18-hole course just nine remain, but what a nine – as memorable a group of golfing holes as you will find anywhere. 

With light zephyrs, under blue skies and very warm temps Scott and I, along with Jeff Browning, played a practice round to become acquainted with the course, guided by Jim ‘Wally’ Koss, a leading light of the Wisconsin Hickory Golfers. Thank goodness for Wally’s help. 

There are two greens with elevation changes of amusement park status, one whose approach is blind and guarded by a severe slope on the left, and one with a slope in front that will merrily roll your ball 30 yards below to the parking lot. Ponds, bunkers that completely guard the entire back half of a green or two, one fairway that narrows to become a tight alley just before the green… and then the signature hole: the Volcano, a par 3 miniature Mt. Vesuvius of but 134 yards that takes a bit of nerve to safely negotiate. All in nine holes.

Greg Smith, a former president of the Society of Hickory Golfers, and a member of the Wisconsin Hickory Golfers, hosts this annual event, one that pays homage to the late Mike Just, who passed away in 2016. Just, the former owner of Louisville Golf, had hickory in his blood. He rejoiced in making replica hickory golf clubs and doing whatever he could to advance the sport and the friendships it created. Smith and the Wisconsin players are pleased to honor Just’s memory in this way. Just’s wife, Lynn, his daughter Rachel and her husband Robert Irwin, along with their son, Michael, were all there this year to help celebrate.

Smith came upon the Eagle Springs course some years ago while searching for something to pass the time on another trip and was smitten with its quirky holes, its comfortable and familial atmosphere and its history. Cottages in the Eagle Springs Resort are never sold, never rented, but passed from generation to generation like the golf course itself. Current golf course owner Anne Krug says she grew up on the resort and remembers using the various slopes for sledding in the winter. She never thought she’d be running the place, but now says she can’t imagine doing anything else.

The clubhouse is the former laundry facility for the resort. The ancient stone fireplace inside bears the initials E S Y A. Couldn’t quite put that together until Anne said it was for “Eagle Spring Yacht Association.” In its earlier days, the Resort had a boating association that held races and recreational opportunities for kids on the adjacent 280-acre Eagle Springs Lake.

The Keeper of the Spirit is a favorite event of the Wisconsin Hickory Golfers, as friendly and welcoming a group of people as may be found in all this hickory universe. Gathered about the pavilion for the first round, and under heavy and threatening skies, Smith read out the ground rules “Play the ball down and don’t touch it till you pull it from the hole,” he said. I swear he was looking at me.

A shotgun start and we were off. The rain began within minutes and stayed all day with a few minutes break during lunch. You’ve played in a steady rain, I’m sure. Either you embrace the conditions or you do not. Some did not. Some thought they would pack it in after nine. But, they did not, perhaps fortified by the various flasks and donated bottles of special beverages found on a table near the fireplace, which, by the way, was putting out some hefty and welcome BTUs thanks to whomever laid that cheerful blaze. Not a few jackets and sweaters were dried in this way, as well as a few backsides.

The second round fairly mirrored the first with the rain somewhat lighter. Later, and much dryer, some dozen or so players met for dinner at the Fork in the Road restaurant in nearby Mukwanago, about 7 miles away. Good stories and good food plus all the commiserations of a difficult day of golf, played with gutties and pre-1900 clubs under relentless rain. 

Not sure about great fun, Mr. Johnson, but, you know, the shared miseries. (He was there, too, by the way, and played quite well.)

The second round was warm and dry and gave everyone a chance to appreciate this wonderful course, one of the two oldest in the country in continuous use as a golf course. Smith had the tees changed up to give everyone a better opportunity of reaching greens in regulation, whatever that might be with gutties. 

(Your correspondent, hitting a massive driving iron, put it to within 3 feet on the second par three, about 133 yards, missed the birdie, but absolutely exulted in the par. Darn guttie ball is so light, short putts must be spot-on or look to make a knee-knocking 7-inch come-backer.)

Playing divisions were renamed to honor past hickory dignitaries.

The Mike Just Open division
The Frank Boumphrey Senior Division (an early light of the SoHG).
The Ed Ronco Statesman Division (from Michigan, Ed was a former SoHG president and founder of the Wyandotte Hickory Organization)
The Vicki Gibboney Ladies Division (an early leader and organizer for the SoHG)
And the Old Tom Morris Reserve (net) Division.

For their second rounds, both Ernie Ernst (74) and Tom Johnson (73) posted scores well below the listed 78 par for gutties. The course’s normal 18-hole par is 70.

My traveling buddy, Scot, was bummed that he lost three expensive gutty balls in that pond on No. 5, and that he shot a rather high number. He may feel a little better when he finds out that he beat my score by one.

The 2022 Keeper of the Spirit Gutty Champions are:
Ernie Ernst – Mike Just division
Tom Johnson- Frank Boumphrey division
Greg Smith- Ed Ronco division
Erin Hallbauer- Vicki Gibboney division
Dave Long – Old Tom Morris division 

Each was presented with a gift. Smith had a special gift for Steve Simer, a WHG regular and very good player – a book on improving his golf skills. “I found it in an antique store and couldn’t resist,” Smith said with a grin.

Wally Koss presented the event’s annual Mike Just Keeper of the Spirit award to Smith for his contributions to hickory golf, which are many. That was celebrated with a wee nip by all from one of those donated bottles.

Smith, who was positively beaming, was pleased by the turnout and positive feedback for the course and its gracious host, Anne Krug.

Hugs, handshakes, laughter and warm memories.

“As far as I’m concerned,” said Lynn Just, “all of you are ‘keepers of the spirit’.”

That’s why we play.