March 29, 2024

Old School Golf on the Upswing

April 15, 2016

Golfers are always looking to improve their game, but Howard Vogel and Tom Thornton don’t believe that means 300-yard drives down the fairway — quite the opposite, in fact. The pair has traded the dream of crushing the ball with oversize club heads and graphite shafts for the feel of hitting it just right with hickory shaft golf clubs.

“We like a little challenge. It’s how golf was meant to be played,” said Vogel.

The two are not alone. They’re part of a golfing movement that adheres to the rules, regulations and mores of golf from the early 1900s. The Hickory Golf Association, Golf Collectors Society and Society of Hickory Golfers are among the groups whose members take to the fairways each year clad in their plus fours, long argyle socks and sweater vests (golf skirts and polos for the ladies.)

It’s all part of the quest to bridge the 80- plus years between today’s bags of Big Berthas and the traditions of golf pre-1935.

Their love of the game and its heritage has led Vogel, a builder by trade, and Thornton, a retired pharmacist, to a new business venture: ThornBird Hickory Golf.

They founded the company to rehabilitate equipment from days gone by, discovering clubs in antique stores, flea markets, estate sales and on Craigslist and eBay — anywhere people were looking to get rid of them. After all, who in their right mind would want to play golf with ancient equipment?

It turns out, quite a few people do. There are tournaments held across the region and around the globe, with a Michigan circuit, national circuit and international circuit. The Hickory Golf Association boasts it provides direct access to more than 3 million golfers who take to the fairways each year sporting sticks with wooden shafts.

A new set of clubs showcasing today’s best technology can be pretty pricey, fetching upwards of $2,000, possibly double that. A complete set of hickories is between $300 and $600, including a bag — if you can find them.

That’s where Thornton and Vogel come in. ThornBird specializes in straightening and rehabbing clubs to which time has not been kind. A video on YouTube shows Thornton in action and the two plan to have a website live in the near future.

Their immediate goal is to provide rental clubs for tournaments with upwards of 16 foursomes, though each foursome would have to share a set. They may have found their niche, as there are only a few other companies in the entire country providing this service.

Hickory golf is dedicated to the idea that less is more, and not just in the score: less distance on the shots, less height and even fewer clubs to hit those shots. A complete set of hickories often consists of only a driver, three irons and a putter.

So instead of attempting to hit each shot the same and depending on various clubs to direct the ball, the idea is to hit the ball differently based on the distance.

“I can’t outhit someone. Hitting the ball 300 yards is in my rear view mirror. I have to out-strategize them,” said Vogel.

Not only that, but you won’t see hickory golfers pop the ball into the air and have it back up on the green.

“It’s played on the ground, not in the air,” said Thornton.

That fact reflects how golf courses were first designed. As Thornton points out, when courses were being built in the early 1900s, there was no irrigation. Without regular watering, the ground was much harder than what golfers are used to today. The idea was to hit the ball so it would run more.

Some courses, such as Elmbrook in Traverse City, cater to hickory golfers with special tournaments. Others, such as the Donald Ross course at Elk Rapids Country Club, date back to when the technology ThornBird focuses on was state of the art.

“There are a couple courses in Michigan built in the 1800s. It’s fun to play a hundredyear-old course with hundred-year-old clubs,” said Vogel.

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