Bill Reed
“If I do vow a friendship, I’ll perform it to the last article.”
Shakespeare: Othello, III, 1604
Nov. 13, 2018
By Jim Davis
Even if you are relatively new to the Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), or just recently joined the Golf Heritage Society (formerly the Golf Collectors Society) you have likely heard the name of Bill Reed. This is only natural as Bill Reed puts more miles on his car in traveling to trade shows and hickory golf tournaments in a single season than many heads of state travel in an entire year. If the Roman God Mercury played hickory golf he would need more than a couple of wings on his feet to keep up. No doubt somewhere along the way you have been introduced and heard Reed reply to your “Nice to see you,” with “Thank you, it’s nice to be seen and not viewed.” And you will be hard put to match the biggest smile you have seen in many a day.
In November, at the Mid Pines Hickory Open, Reed was honored by the SoHG as its 2018 Mike Brown Award recipient. It is a singular honor that recognizes respect for the traditions of hickory golf; a dedication to growing the game; and a passion for promoting lasting friendships through hickory golf – all values associated with the award’s namesake and which Reed embodies beyond the letter of the award.
As well, in October the Nebraska Hickory Golf Association named Reed as one of two 2018 inductees to its Nebraska Hickory Golf Hall of Fame. The second was the late Warren ‘Ole’ Olson, whom Reed credits for his introduction to the GCS.
If you have heard Reed speak, and few have escaped the pleasure, you know well the deep, measured cadence, the humor delivered with a mock-serious demeanor followed by an inviting smile or laugh, and the absolutely genuine desire to serve.
He is a humble man of deep convictions and loyal beyond question in friendship. He is a founder of the Hickory Golf Association (2007), a past-president of the GCS, a board member of the SoHG, and has likely served on countless community boards or other projects in his home town of Des Moines, Iowa. When Warren Olson passed away in 2012, Reed assumed the directorship of the Heart of American hickory championship, a tournament Olson founded in 1978. As Reed likes to say, it is the oldest continuously held hickory tournament in the world.
The following two articles help fill out the picture of a man who one of hickory golf’s living treasures. The first is adapted from the program of the 2018 Hall of Fame Banquet of the NeHGA Johnny Goodman River City Hickory Championship.
Adapted from the 2018 NEGHA Banquet program
The first club ever placed in the hands of Bill Reed was a hickory shafted mashie forged by A.G. Spalding Bros. The year was 1948 and Bill was five years old. The club had previously been used by an uncle who was an accomplished amateur golfer. Even as a kid, it wasn’t enough for Reed to have an item, but he must also know who made those items, how and when they came to be. He had a questioning mind, a desire to know.
Bill says that, over time, he began to understand that while God was pleased to gift him with an appreciation of the game of golf, He forgot to include the talent to play it.
As a teen Bill began caddying during the week on the 1902 Grandview golf course in Des Moines, partly to learn more about the game and because it was a source of needed income for the family. After a time he learned that there were big tips to be had at the Hyperion Field Club on the weekends. Always one to move forward, he offered his caddy services there and by 1959 had earned a Master Caddy status. That included working in the pro shop where Hall of Fame PGA pro Jack Hall taught Bill the art of golf club maintenance, which included the science of whipping golf clubs. To date, Bill estimates he has whipped and re-pinned many hundreds of hickory shafted clubs over the years. Thousands, maybe?
He is the only four-time match play champion at Hyperion Field Club, where the former caddy became a member in 1977. He says he thrived on the format, often besting superior players, because he paid attention to the hole-by-hole pace of the game rather than on the stroke score alone.
Hyperion Field Club is the home of the Iowa Hickory Classic held in September of every year and Bill is the tournament’s director. Also, as the club’s historian, he writes a monthly history article for the members.
Bill is now in his 33rd year of playing with hickories and has played well over two thousand rounds plus hundreds of rounds in team and scramble hickory events throughout the country. He has won numerous times in both the senior (60-69) and super senior (70 and up) divisions of play. He is a past president of the Golf Collectors Society, co-founder and executive director of the Hickory Golf Association, and a board member and tournament director of the Society of Hickory Golfers.
He can’t begin to put a number on the many people he has introduced and encouraged to the “pains and pleasures” of hickory golf. He says that golf is not about any one individual, state, or region, or even any one country. Golf is a way of life for Bill and he has tried to live by the words “Honor the Game.”
From an interview in the Spring 2012 Wee Nip of the SoHG
WN Let’s begin with the GCS. Many people know that your wife, Penny, and her interest in Depression-era glass were indirectly responsible for your meeting with Warren Olsen at an antique show about 1989. A conversation with Warren got you going. What are your collecting interests?
Bill My collecting interests can be summed up using one word: eclectic –long noses, smooth faces, deep grooves, balls, tees, crystal, pottery, silver, trophies, caddie badges, art, early maintenance equipment, signs – and doesn’t everyone own the leather horseshoe covers for a team of horses?
WN What do you like about the GCS? What are its strengths?
Bill What I like about the GCS is that its membership is as diverse and eclectic as the items that I collect. The strength of the GCS is that it is the largest and oldest antique golf collecting society in the world and that is also its main weakness. It has grown beyond the size where volunteers can effectively handle the ongoing daily operations without such professional assistance as a paid executive directorship position and the need for a professional editor of the GCS quarterly Bulletin. The GCS is fortunate to have very qualified individuals in those positions. The GCS is also fortunate to have willing volunteers of time and expertise to handle the duties of regional directorship and the necessary committee tasks due of any large group.
WN What are the current challenges facing the organization?
Bill Reed at the 2011 U.S.Hickory Open in French Lick, Ind.
Bill Maintaining the membership level of any non-profit fraternal organization is always of the utmost importance, especially when the average age of the body of membership is eligible for AARP, and “natural causes” are a contributing factor to the organization membership level.
WN As the current GCS president, you bring years of collecting experience to the job. What are your goals?
Bill My main goal as GCS President is to demonstrate that being a “collector” and being a “hickory player” are not opposing positions. It’s high time that the various “Societies” not only share the occasional pint, but share the peace as well. That’s why I am a member of the GCS, the HGA, and the SoHG and actively promote them all. I am not the first to make this suggestion but, perhaps in the future, the GCS and the SoHG could be the respective collecting and playing branches of one combined membership. There are worse ideas out there.
WN You are also the founder of the HGA and currently serve as its executive director.
Bill I am in a unique position of not only being the president of the GCS, but a member and occasional tournament director for the SoHG (The Heart of America Hickory Championship) and a founding member and executive director of the Hickory Golf Association (The Iowa Hickory Classic).
WN What year did it organize?
Bill The HGA was officially formed in 2007 as a 501-c(4) and its mission is to preserve and further the history and equipment of the game of golf as it was played in the hickory era. The HGA is the smallest of the three societies and is truly regional (Midwest) in its membership, although the HGA has members spread all over the USA as well as internationally.
WN You are also a member of the SoHG. On the surface, it would seem that the HGA and the SoHG have competing interests.
Bill When I and fellow founders Clayton Copple, Russ Fisher, and John Ausen formed the HGA there were some individuals in the GCS and the SoHG that perceived a threat to their respective groups. No threat was intended nor has one developed. The HGA is continually adding to its inventory of playable sets of hickory clubs used in competitions that benefit numerous charities and junior golf scholarship programs. Donations to the Iowa State University Agronomy programs and donations to the Iowa Turf Grass Institute and support of the Golf Course Superintendents Association is considered vital to the health and future of the game of golf. The HGA averages six to eight charitable events per calendar year. As a matter of fact, although the HGA is years younger than the SoHG, the HGA held approximately a dozen hickory events before the SoHG held its first ever U.S. Hickory Open. Question: did the formation of the HGA spur the SoHG into positive action?….nah…but that could stir the proverbial pot a little bit!!!
WN Do the two organizations enjoy a friendly coexistence in promoting hickory golf?
Bill I truly believe that the SoHG provides the ultimate tournament experience for the existing modern hickory player. The Championship Series of hickory golf has grown from four major hickory events in 2011 to six events scheduled for 2012. The key to the success of this series is in its name – Championship. There are no scrambles in these events. This is not to discriminate against the social and recreational value of hickory play in a scramble format, but to conduct exactly what the series is named. I personally believe that the scramble format is an excellent way to introduce the beginning hickory player to the game. I also know that there exist many hickory players who prefer the social aspect of hickory play rather than individual medal play. The HGA, the GCS and other hickory state and club associations fulfill that segment of play through many regional and local events and competitions. Here’s the good news: hardly a week goes by without some type of hickory gathering somewhere in the country. It’s now hard to schedule a new event without the so-called stepping on toes of some other venue.
WN How does the GCS view the activities of the SoHG and the HGA?
Bill I have been asked from my GCS perspective how the GCS views the HGA and the SoHG. There exist GCS members who are collectors only. There exist GCS members who are players only. My personal viewpoint is that the GCS was a little slow in promoting hickory play as a way to attract new members. I was a hickory player first and foremost. Collecting was a natural progression of my thirst for more knowledge of the history of the game. That is also the case for most of the hundreds of players whom I have introduced to the hickory game. The GCS is now actively promoting hickory play through its regional directors, many of whom are SoHG members as well.
WN Do you ever foresee a day when the two groups may combine efforts, join under one name?
Bill Yes, I can envision one large United States Antique Golf Society that has two divisions: one division for collectors and another for the hickory player. That’s a much more interesting topic of discussion than whether an original 1946 Otey Crisman putter should be banned from play. Let’s sit down over a pint and see what other burning issues we can dim.
Bill Reed lives with Penny, his wife of 55 years, in Des Moines, Iowa. They have three grown daughters and six grandchildren. He is the owner of William Reed & Associates, a sales firm with an emphasis in business development. He is constantly reconditioning hickory woods and irons, for himself as well as others, and takes each newly reconditioned set out for play. He says he’s always playing with “new” clubs. He plays 90 to 100 rounds per year. Bill’s steel handicap index is 14.2 although he has only used modern equipment three times in the past six years. His current hickory handicap index is 18.5. “My favorite golf course is the one that I’m playing today. My next favorite is the one that I’m playing tomorrow,” he says. What’s in his bag is an eclectic assortment of originals ranging from a smooth face Dynamiter niblick to a no-namer brassie c. 1900 that he has used for more than 20 years. His current putter is a Schenectady. “I will not change putters unless I three putt. I have a lot of putters. They are always at the ready,” he says.