FRENCH LICK, Ind. — Addiction isn't always about substances.

Sometimes the pull of something like the Society of Hickory Golf and its U.S. Hickory Open drives players to forgo family, friends and a game for one with similar appeal.

Australian Alan Grieve traveled more than 40 hours to compete in his first Hickory Open, seeking a "new challenge, a different kind of golf."

When Grieve won the Championship Division with relative ease by six shots over 2009 champion Roger Andrews with back-to-back rounds of 75, he didn't talk about winning or his long trip.

"When you hit a good shot with these clubs it feels so pure," said Grieve, who has played hickory golf for 18 months. "That's what I play for. That's what will keep me coming back."

Senior Division champion Mike Just, who finished two shots ahead of Max Hollon of Evansville and Charles Mitchell of Lexington, Ky., with a 167, was hooked from the start.

"We've been in the business (Louisville Golf) of traditional wooden clubs like persimmon drivers and wooden putters since 1974," said Just. "Then, 12 or 13 years ago, I went to my first hickory tournament and decided I wanted to do this as a player.

"Guys were playing with valuable antiques then, a driver might go for $2,000, and they started coming to me and asking if we made any true hickory replicas. We gradually started making them and now it's 20 percent of our business."

The first-time Senior Champion (he won the net or 'reserve' division last year), said he still has a pair of "originals" in his hickory bag.

"Mostly I play our replicas," he said. "But I still have two, a massie (7-iron) and a massie niblick (wedge), I just can't get out of my bag. People just enjoy playing with these clubs.

"Everybody wants to score, which I didn't do very well today, but it's more about hitting the ball with one of these shafts. When you hit the ball well it just feels so good."

That's been a lot of the appeal for Hollon, too.

"It was just a great experience all the way around," said Hollon, who followed an 82 on Tuesday with an 87 Wednesday. "I didn't play to my expectations, but I think I scored about as well as I could expect for the way I hit the ball.

"I just wasn't in the fairway much today and when you're not in the fairway on this course, it's brutal. But I got to be out here with my grandson (Spencer Hollon) and I came in third (as the result of a scorecard playoff). I can't wait to do it again."

Evansville's other entry in the Hickory Open, Fendrich head professional Dave English, can't wait to play again, either.

"It's a different kind of golf all together and I'm not sure I was ready for it," said English, who followed Tuesday's 96 with a 95. "It's a grind and you have to keep chipping away at it, which I didn't do consistently enough.

"And judging from some of the comments I heard, the setup here at the Donald Ross Course was about as severe a test for hickory golf you could face. I want to try it again, because I know I can play better."

It's not cheap. Entry fees were $300, which was more than offset by three rounds of golf, carts, several meals and hospitality.

Equipment is more daunting. Woods are around $275 and irons a little more than half that.

"A starter tournament set, which is three woods, six irons and a putter, is $1,625," said Just. "But it's satisfaction guaranteed."