"Always be sure to smell the flowers along the way," was one of the favorite sayings of golf great Walter Hagen.
CINCINNATI -- It's a saying that's being strongly challenged this week at the U.S. Hickory Open Championship at French Lick (Ind.) Resort's Donald Ross course. That's because there are no flowers on the course, a traditional Scottish links design, where Hagen won the PGA Championship in 1924.
Among those teeing up on the course in the U.S. Hickory Open Championship, which ends Wednesday, is Bill Scheben, 74, of Crestview Hills. He played at the University of Cincinnati and still plays to a nine handicap at Summit Hills and Triple Crown clubs in Northern Kentucky.
The U.S Hickory Open Championship must be played with the hickory wood-shafted clubs that were in style before 1935.
"The ball goes only about two-thirds the distance they go with my TayorMades," Scheben said, "but I've seen PGA club pros hit them a long, long way. I've found myself shooting for position on some long par 4's here, because I just can't get there in two (shots)."
He took time to answer some questions Tuesday from The Enquirer:
Question: What got you started playing with hickory sticks?
Answer: I'd been collecting hickory clubs for many years - I've got over 200 of them - and like any player, you start thinking, "I wonder if I can hit 'em?" and it kind of went from there. This was the closest tournament (to Greater Cincinnati), so I thought I'd give it a try.
Q: What kind of people tend to play in these hickory tournaments?
A: All walks of life. Some of the players, hickory is all they play, even during their regular rounds. I'm not sure how you'd handicap that if you had a (money) match going on within your foursome, or how your playing partner might feel about you not getting any strokes if (an allowance wasn't made), but in this tournament we're of course all playing with them.
Q: Other than distance, what are some other differences?
A: The (clubhead) is (narrower on the bottom), so it's harder to get it through the rough, where the higher, heavier grass is. And if you hit a fat shot with these clubs, that's what you get - a fat shot. You don't get any roll. Also, on a course like this with elevated greens, you can't play the bump-and-run shots. The Ross courses in the Carolinas are probably more conducive to playing with hickory because there aren't as many (sand) traps - so it's a little more difficult because of that. But this is a beautiful course. I just can't get any spin on the 7-, 8- and 9-irons (hickories), so that just makes it harder, that's all.
Q: Can you swing at the ball just as hard as you want, like you can with metal clubs?
A: Sure. If you were to catch it on the toe and there's a weakness in the wood somewhere, you might break the shaft, but the same is true with a (wooden) baseball bat.
Q: What kind of hickory clubs are you playing with this week, and what vintage are they?
A: Spaldings. The (vintage) is probably 1922-23.
Q: I understand there are hickory club tournaments in Europe - England, Scotland, Germany. Any differences in the tournaments there versus in the States?
A: In the (hickory) tournaments in England, Scotland and Germany, you have to play with actual hickory clubs from previous to 1935. In the States, you can play with new (hickory), but they have to be built with the same specifications as existed before 1935. There's no advantage playing with the new hickory.
Q: How do you think Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones would have done playing now with the modern equipment, or Jack Nicklaus would have done back then with hickory?
A: They'd have won a lot of tournaments no matter the era. The golf swing is the golf swing, and those guys had great swings ... It's a game of character and mental makeup. They had it.
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