O/T – Hickory Golf: The Ultimate Hipster Sport

[Buck Wolter]

We've gotten a taste of golf at its timeless best at the Midwest Mashie the last two years, but you have to be pretty deep into the game before you can spend a few hundred dollars on a walking golf weekend dueling in a match play team event at a classic and timeless private club like Kingsley or Canterbury or Crystal Downs or Kirtland. If golf like that were a bit more accessible and marketed, we'd have a whole new demographic ready to jump into the game. They will have to jump gently to avoid tearing their skinny-golf-pants, but there's potential there.

If golf like that were a bit more accessible and marketed [and less expensive], it wouldn't be just the hipsters that were signing up.

It sounds like the venue for this would be old-school inner-city munis, but most of those are run badly by the city itself or by a large management company that has no idea what "cool" is.  Although I can certainly see John Ashworth's place in San Diego working for this demographic.

I think there are a certain # of urban private golf clubs where this is happening, may not be cheap compared to a muni but compared to other Private options it represents value and you can play near brewpubs, live music and maybe even ride your fixed-gear bike from your loft. Town and Country Club in St Paul profiled on the front page strikes me as a place where some like-minded younger guys have taken an interest and made an impact --not sure if that's old school, hipster or just smart. Glen Echo in St Louis is another success that follows that model. Tom, you may have been the original 'Hipster Golfer' by locating in Traverse City to be near Crystal Downs when very few other people realized how good it was.

[Ed Brzezowski]

Be careful what you wish for boys. I dabble in old cars, currently a 64 Corvette, and our hobby is dying. You cannot seem to attract younger types to the local clubs and car shows to buy these old beauties. The elite seem to show up in the GPS, Bluetooth, battery powered latest car and ask stupid questions and then leave. If I hear one more time that their Dads had a steel bodied Vette I my break my hickories over their super gelled heads. And yes you can run your Prius on the exhaust from an old car.

I would not want to see my clubs future in the hands of some of these folks. But the question is as valid for old cars as it is for great old courses, what happens when we hang up the keys?? Who will step up/in and protect the work we have so nobely advanced?

[Brent Hutto]

Ed,

What is noble about liking old cars? Or liking old golf courses.

When the last guy who likes golf dies, there won't be any more golf and it won't matter. When the last guy who likes 60's automobiles dies off there won't be any more old cars being restored but it won't matter.

Nothing that Jason describes as being "simple and timeless" or having "quality" has any moral superiority to any other consumer preference. It's fine for someone who loves a certain flavor of old golf course or model of old Chevrolet to hope for or welcome newcomers to share his love of those things. But if someone prefers Honda Civics or riding in a golf cart around a Tom Fazio course those preferences are indistinguishable to to the world at large who cares for none of the above.

[Jason Thurman]

Brent, to be clear, I agree that there's nothing morally superior about simpler versions of golf. I just think there's a market for it waiting to be tapped. Your own complaints about all the riding-only courses in your neighborhood are just one example of how golf has chosen to mandate noise and extravagance instead of appealing to people looking for a more organic experience.

Hickory golf has grown in the last ten years, even as golf overall has declined. That contrast doesn't prove anything in and of itself, but it is worth thinking about.

[Ed Brzezowski]

Brent I suffer from some rare form of brain damage I guess. I see art in old cars and great courses. I sat on
a bench and looked at TOC for an hour and thought it beautiful. The same for old cars, old buildings and items where one can see the thought and love put into something .

Last week a member at our club stated " no one gives a rat ass who designed this course". He is a 30 something and sees a golf course as a means to an end not an enjoyable journey .

Yep I am mildly insane, better than numb I guess? Playing some of Phiilys best the next ten days, I will be the kook in leather shoes with a smile on my face enjoying the works if Ross, Flynn and Wilson. Hopefully my kids can bury me in the car?

[Jud_T]

This is what we debate constantly on here.  Playing Harrison Hills and Spring Valley is hip, playing Old Head and Bay Hill isn't.  Walking and carrying is hip, cart balling isn't.  Playing match play is hip, medal play isn't.   Playing off-the-run Hidden Gems is hip, chasing the Top 100 isn't.  Getting reciprocal play and networking is hip, access-whoring isn't (ok, this is the exception that proves the rule).  F&F is hip, green and wet isn't.  Playing in 3 hours is hip, playing in 5 isn't.  A 3 Floyds and a brat at the 19th hole is hip, an overpriced wine list filled with off year 1st and 2nd growths and a filet minon drowned in bordelaise isn't.  

[Terry Lavin]

Yeah, it's huge. Nearly 700 page views on a two page thread compared to nearly 4000 on the two pager on bunkerless holes. It is what it is: fringey fun for fanatics, small in number but passionate nonetheless. But little more.

[Thomas Dai]

Reference the thread about the World Hickory Open at Panmure - http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,59675.0.html - would Sandy Lyle now be a classified a hipster?

atb

[Jason Topp]

One of my favorite golf scenes in a movie. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TscPOjzk0hI