Mike Stevens reports:
We are fortunate to live in a state with so many golf courses and the Florida Hickory Golfers were able to sample two excellent municipal tracks March 29 and 30, thanks to author Stephen Proctor – The Habitat and Spessard Holland courses in Melbourne. (Note: Stephen was the former editor at the San Francisco Chronicle and Baltimore Sun. He has authored two excellent golf books, Monarch of the Green, which details the life of Young Tom Morris, and The Long Golden Afternoon, a compelling account of golf in the latter part of the 1800s and early 1900s.)
On Saturday, we played at The Habitat and the wind was howling, quite common in this neck of the woods I am told. Bill Geisler led the way with 29 points and 5 positive to his quota requirements (according to the scoring method used by Stevens to track the progress of FHG golfers in the seasonal “Race to Mount Dora”). The course conditions were excellent, and the greens were smooth and pure. Geisler also teamed with Scott Middlekauff to top all in the blind draw competition. The threatened weather stayed away on Sunday as did the wind and Tug Passen blistered the course with 32 points, 8 clear of his required number. A steroid test was demanded by fellow competitors, but the test kit was unable to be located. All kidding aside, great playing all weekend by Tug. He and Todd Williams were the blind draw champs on this day.
Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Proctor for hosting us at their home on Saturday evening. It was a treat to see his collection of trophies, books and artwork and hear his story regarding the research for his published books.
We plan to make this an annual event, so keep it in mind when March rolls around next year.
The 13th green at the Spessard Holland golf course.
Stephen Proctor was the organizer for the Melbourne Hickory Golf Weekend.
The swing of Mike Stevens, captain of the Florida Hickory Golfers.