Heading For My Hickory Rehab Assignment!

The reason I haven't posted anything in three weeks is two-fold: I was up in the Toronto area, undergoing a candidate assessment for an international disaster response team, followed by a family reunion in Sacramento, Californinia...AND I returned home to undergo surgery to remove a badly-infected gall bladder.

Both events combined to keep me from taking part in this summer's premier Pacific Northwest hickory golf tourneys; The AP National Chambers Bay Invitational, Gamble Sands Invitational, and the Gearhart Links gathering. All were held in excellent weather and course conditions, and I'm quite envious of the participants!

On the other hand, I was able to vicariously stay involved with the world of hickory golf, thanks to Inside Golf publishing an article I wrote about the attractions of our sport.
My article appears on page 11.

So now that I'm recovering slowly but surely from last week's surgery (shout out to Dr. Gatta and the amazing staff at Allenmore Hospital, by the way!), my hickory clubs are sitting forlornly in the corner, silently begging me to get them outside for some work. While I took a couple of my wedges and a modern putter down to the course for some gentle efforts this morning, I'm thinking that doing the same thing tomorrow with my old clubs might be in order. "Slow and Smooth" pays off when swinging the hickory sticks, and it's definitely how I should be taking my rehab work.

Okay, then, I've convinced myself...some easy hickory work is in order, either tomorrow or Monday! (It's another advantage to working at Chambers Bay; free range time!) By the way, while working myself back into playing condition, I've volunteered to guide a Canadian golfer around the course for his first time playing Chambers, next Tuesday. I won't be carrying his bag or raking bunkers for him, but I will give him course advice, and read greens...I hope to make his first round at Chambers Bay a memorable one!

Far and Sure!

Hickorookies (and a veteran) Hit Chambers Bay Today!

Taking advantage of an unusual dry day in this Monsoon April, I joined my hickory golf mentor, Tom Kennedy (Twitter handle: @Golf_Pig_1) and a friend of Tom's, Augusta resident and former Augusta National Golf Club caddie/current co-founder of the awesome Tour Junkies website/fantasy golf handicappers David Barnett. (@Tour_Junkies), for a round of hickory golf at Chambers Bay.

Sorry for that last mother of all run-on sentences...

Anyway, it was a double first for David Barnett: First time playing Chambers Bay, and first time playing with hickory-shaft golf clubs. David's a very social media adept individual, and also a very skilled golfer. For a hickorookie, he picked up the nuances of our century old clubs faster than most. (I'm not even going to compare his first performance to mine, which was definitely less than impressive!) While we made our way around my "office", David broadcast live video (called "periscoping", for any of you readers belonging to my demographic), via his Twitter account. Those videos will be up on Twitter for a few days, so check 'em out!

I'll post photos later, but thanks again to Tom and David for a thoroughly enjoyable day on the links!

(FULL DISCLOSURE: I shot a 99. Those guys scored considerably better.)

Caddie Dreams

I'm on track to begin working as a professional caddie this summer, at Chambers Bay...just part-time, mind you, when it gets really busy.The regular veteran caddies at Chambers are a really talented bunch of folks, and several have offered to take me under their wing and train me how to do it right. (I'm really grateful for this, fellas!)

Anyway, since I've been reading a lot of golf-related books this rain-sodden springtime, a suggested title popped up in my Amazon feed; "An American Caddie in St. Andrews", by Oliver Horovitz. I'm about two-thirds of the way through it, and thoroughly enjoying the read! So, what does this have to do with Hickory Golf? Well, many of my mentors have mentioned their intention to play The Old Course at St. Andrews with their hickory sticks as well as with modern clubs, so I thought I'd add this to the pre-trip reading list. Oliver Horovitz's insights into how Old Course caddies view their golfers are hilarious, and dead on. His efforts to gain acceptance into the exclusive "inner circle" are also worthwhile lessons for anyone considering becoming a paid caddie.

Since I plan to fulfill my dream next year and play a couple of rounds at St. Andrews, including (God willing) the Old Course, I'm glad Oliver Horovitz pulled back the curtain just a bit, so that I can hopefully avoid being "That Golfer" who fails to take full advantage of thais "Round of a Lifetime" opportunity.