Strong start for inaugural GHSC Fall Hickory Classic

Report by George Supol, GHSC board member and tournament statistician

The Golf Historical Society of Canada’s Fall Hickory Classic was held Saturday, Oct. 1-2, 2022 in the Niagara Falls, Ontario area. This inaugural event was a successor to the well-attended C.B. McDonald tournaments run by Paul Dietz and others at the historical Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Course, in prior years.

Over the two days, players generally played hickory golf using original and replica hickory-shafted clubs from the period 1900 to 1935, in conjunction with modern golf balls and modern rules of golf. This was a “friendly competition” and a Modified Stableford points scoring system was used to award prizes for individual and randomly-selected partners in pairs team play.

Whirlpool GC
On the first day, 32 registered players attended and played 18 holes of hickory golf at Whirlpool Golf Course, situated on the edge of the Niagara Gorge, near the Falls. Forward yellow tees were used, so Whirlpool played at about 5,200 yards, lush and soft, with speedy greens. Before the start of the Whirlpool round, players were welcomed by the Society’s Official Bagpiper, Patrick Potter, who played beautiful piping music during the ceremonial procession to the first tee.

After the round, the players enjoyed both hot and frosty beverages on the Whirlpool patio before retiring to their hotel rooms, to get ready for the planned Fall Hickory Classic dinner at Johnny Rocco’s Italian Eatery in the City of Niagara Falls. During the dinner, a special visitor (the Mayor of the City of Niagara Falls – Jim Diodati) stopped by to say hello and wish us well with our GHSC hickory event. This was a nice touch organized by Allan Lew, GHSC’s Event Coordinator. Mayor Jim handed out city pins to all our attendees at the dinner.

Sawmill GC
On the second day, 34 registered players attended and played 18 holes of hickory golf at Sawmill Golf Course in Fenwick Ontario, a 30-minute drive from Niagara Falls. Sawmill also played at almost 5,200 yards (green tees) and was also in great shape with its rolling fairways, well-placed fairway bunkers, and large and fast greens.

Both before and after the Sawmill round, a dozen or so collectors’ show tables were provided to those who registered as collectors and paid $10 to rent a trading/sale table. Attendees to the event could purchase, sell, or trade clubs and other golf-related collectibles. This certainly added to the fun of the two-day event, and again thanks to Allan Lew for organizing it.

The Hickory Winners 
The Gold Medalist and Individual Open Trophy Winner was Tom Johnson, of Tallmadge, Ohio, with 55 Stableford points. Tom also had the highest overall Stableford points cumulative for the entire tournament and was awarded the Low Score – Hickory Classic Tourney Trophy. The Individual Open Silver Medalist was Bill Wardwell (53 pts) of Turners Falls, Mass. Patrick Potter(49 pts), of London, Ont., was awarded the Individual Open Bronze Medal.

In the Masters Division (70+), the Champion, Gold Medalist and Individual Masters Trophy Winner was Jim Palk, of London, Ont., with 22 Stableford points. In a tightly contested Division, the Masters Silver Medalist was Dennis Wilkinson of Brantford, Ont., with 21 Stableford points. John Duffy (16 pts) of Toronto, Ont., was awarded the Masters Bronze Medal.

Amanda Sly (17 pts), of Kingston, Ont., was the Ladies Champion, Gold Medalist and Ladies Individual Trophy Winner.

DAY 1 Team Pair Play Champions and Gold Medalists
Tom Johnson, Tallmadge, Ohio, and Ian Clarke, Stoney Creek, Ont. (46 pts).

DAY 1 Team Pair Play Runners-up and Silver Medalists
Dave Brownlee, Bracebridge, Ont., and Paul Ready, Guelph, Ont. (45 pts).

DAY 1 Team Pair Play Very Honourable Mention
Chris Cade, Angus, Ont., and John Medeiros, Mitchell, Ont. (44 pts).

DAY 2 Team Pair Play Champions and Gold Medalists
Pat Potter, London, Ont., and Bill Wardwell, Turners Falls, Mass. (47 pts).

DAY 2 Team Pair Play Runners-up and Silver Medalists
John Medeiros, Mitchell, Ont., and Bob West, Kingston, Ont. (45 pts).

DAY 2 Team Pair Play Honourable Mention
Jeff Rogers, Whitby Ont., and Tom Johnson, Tallmadge, Ohio (42 pts).

The Hickory Shot Skills and Contest Hole winners were awarded a prize selection from the finest VQA wines from the local Niagara Region wineries and vineyards as follows:

Closest-to-the-pin Contest Hole Winners
Bill Wardwell, Turners Falls, Mass.; Vaughn Perusse, Georgetown, Ont.; Gerald Achtymichuk, Cambridge, Ont., and Jon Beauchesne, Waterloo, Ont.

Hickory Long Drive Champions
Frank Gunn, Toronto, Ont., and Bob West, Kingston, Ont.

A full set of scoring results for the tournament is available on GHSC website, ghsc.ca or by direct link, https://ghsc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GHSC-Fall-Classic-Full-Results-2.pdf

Concluding Remarks
Including a few collectors not actually playing, we had a total of 50 registrants for this event. Many players played both days, but some only played one of the two days.

So, we used a new Guestlist Registration website to register everyone for each day’s play, for the dinner, and for the collector’s show tables. In addition, the new system was used to communicate by e-mail with all attendees before, during and after the event was concluded. From the comments this observer heard, the new system seems to have been a success, so we’ll undoubtedly continue to use it with our larger hickory play and collecting events, in the future.

Many Thanks to Frank and Donna Collis, GHSC’s official photographers for the really nice pictures taken of all activities from the weekend event. The photos helped give a great perspective on what it was like to attend the two days and have been archived on GHSC’s website with the tourney event report for both members’ and public viewing.

Thanks also to Walt Soetens, Dennis Wilkinson and Andrew Biancaniello for their donated prizes.

A special thanks to the Pro Shop Staff at both Whirlpool and Sawmill, and also to George and Jeremy Julie, Sawmill’s owner-managers, who have really supported both GHSC and this event in various meaningful ways.

We look forward to seeing everyone next year for an even better event!