Hickory golf events grow out of passion, desire to share time with friends, and to challenge the old sticks on traditional, or mostly so, layouts. In the following short piece, Wisconsin’s Jim ‘Wally’ Koss describes the origins of one such event in the great Dairy State.
I started playing hickory in 2014. At that time, our Wisconsin clan was looking for new and additional events. James ‘Doc’ Eike asked me if I was interested in hosting a one-day event in Northeast Wisconsin and I jumped at the opportunity.
The event has varied from late July to late August. As of two years ago, it has been held at the end of July. Several years ago, Ernie Ernst wanted to name the Wisconsin events and although it has been “Pay It Forward” since its inaugural year, it officially became the “Thornberry Creek Pay It Forward Hickory Challenge.
I have had great fun searching for and purchasing the “priceless awards.” Every player goes home with a prize. “Priceless” has always been arguable.
The event has morphed into this year’s format. Last year we introduced the optional Sunday event. The course superintendent has always supported historical golf and he readily agreed to cut holes in front of the regular greens. We purchased the shorter 5-foot flagsticks because custom shorter, wooden flagsticks slightly exceeded our budget .
Thornberry has 27 holes, dating to 1995. The developer had financial setbacks and the courses and clubhouse facilities were purchased by the Oneida Tribe. The name …”at Oneida”was added. Both courses are bent grass and public. The 18 holes are within a private home community.
The original promo for the courses was “Let us be your country club for a day.” Thornberry is the official course of the Green Bay Packers. It hosted an LPGA event in 2017-19. At that time the practice facilities and range were enlarged to meet LPGA standards. The clubhouse is mammoth and the locker rooms and elevator were installed on the lower level as another requirement of the LPGA.
The course specializes in group outings, banquets, weddings, etc.
The Iroquois nine-hole course opened first with its mammoth greens or double greens and four teeing zones. The course can be mixed and matched and is popular with families. It is a nice walk and is quite gutty-friendly. I refer to it as “St Andrews West.”
The 18-hole layout is mandatory cart (it is a 7-mile walk) from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Thornberry has become a fixture of our Wisconsin hickory events.
