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Jim Sweeney

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Courses for Hickories
« on: May 01, 2007, 08:26:06 AM »
Are there certain characteristics of golf courses that make them particuarly amenable to playing with hickories? Are there particular characterisitecs of golf courses that make them not amenable to playing with hickories?

What course(s) in your area are particuarly amenable to being played with hickories?
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"Hope and fear, hope and Fear, that's what people see when they play golf. Not me. I only see happiness."

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Ken Moum

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Re:Courses for Hickories
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2007, 10:14:45 AM »
Quote from: Jim  Sweeney on May 01, 2007, 08:26:06 AM
Are there certain characteristics of golf courses that make them particuarly amenable to playing with hickories? Are there particular characterisitecs of golf courses that make them not amenable to playing with hickories?

What course(s) in your area are particuarly amenable to being played with hickories?

My home course opened in 1915, with a new nine and nine remodeled by Ross in 1921 (that date isn't rock solid), and not a lot of work since is pretty darned good.

With irrigated fairways, the "senior" tees at 5950 are a nice length. When it's fast, I can play the regular tees at 6300, but it's pretty tough on me.

It has almost no forced carries, and most of the greens offer some chance to play the ball on the ground.

Ken
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Over time, the guy in the ideal position derives an advantage, and delivering him further  advantage is not worth making the rest of the players suffer at the expense of fun, variety, and ultimately cost -- Jeff Warne, 12-08-2010

Mike_DeVries

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Re:Courses for Hickories
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2007, 10:23:30 AM »
Jim,

I love playing my hickories at Kingsley, as the tight, fast turf responds well to the multitude of shots you want to play along the ground with the old clubs.  Open approaches to greens and the variety of slopes to use (or maybe be abused yourself) to achieve certain shots is great fun.  At Kingsley, you can get yourself in situations that are not impossible but have several options, and then when you try, and succeed with, a certain shot that may not be in your "normal" repertoire, it is very satisfying -- more so than any score.  It really is what the essence of the game is about.

Mike
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RSLivingston_III

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Re:Courses for Hickories
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2007, 01:19:38 PM »
If you can play to a single digit handicap with hickory clubs, you should be able to play any course at 6500 yards with them. Most everything by Doak, C&C and Mr. DeVries stands up well.
Obviously in-era courses that are maintained firm are the best test for the clubs. I have yet to find a course in the UK that is not appropriate for playing with them.
I always work under the assumption that people are playing these clubs to see what an in era course might have been like before the changes started to happen.
I do find my working assumption is wrong many times.
Try going to a favorite Ross course that has been modified with the original plans in hand, visualize the bunkering that was there and see how the course was intended to play. You have my blessing to do this with any other Golden Age course & archie. I think many here would find there understanding of "strategic design" change.

Ran, any comments?
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"You need to start with the hickories as I truly believe it is hard to get inside the mind of the great architects from days gone by if one doesn't have any sense of how the equipment played way back when!"  
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Willie_Dow

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Re:Courses for Hickories
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2007, 08:07:53 PM »
Merion - West, is a good framework.  By the way it is best when the ground is frozen !
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