This year, the annual three-day event at the historic Charlevoix, Mich. club—which features 50 players from around the U.S. and Canada who play with authentic, pre-1935 hickory-shafted clubs and dress in period-appropriate apparel—will be filmed by documentary filmmaker Erik Anders Lang from Scratch TV. Belvedere GC has also been named the site of the 2019 U.S. Hickory Open, which will bring in between 100 and 130 players from across the U.S. and the world.
The Belvedere Golf Club in Charlevoix, Mich. is going back in time once again, the Petoskey (Mich.) News-Review reported, as the historic club, which was founded in 1925, hosts its 13th annual Belvedere Hickory Open, which began on Thursday, June 14, and is running through Saturday, June 16.
This year’s event will feature 50 players from around the U.S. and Canada who will compete in the three-day event, the News-Review reported, which is played with authentic, pre-1935 hickory-shafted golf clubs and for which competitors dress in period-appropriate apparel, including knickers, ties and jackets.
New to the event this year, the News-Review reported, is the presence of documentary filmmaker Erik Anders Lang from Scratch TV, who will create a film story on the Open while also playing in the event. Scratch TV gives viewers an inside look at some of the most intriguing golf stories around the world.
“[The documentary will] give us more exposure nationally and expose hickory golf, too,” Dennis “Marty” Joy II, Belvedere’s Head Golf Professional and a two-time winner of the Belvedere Hickory Open, told the News-Review.
The competition is held under the auspices of the Society of Hickory Golfers, a national hickory organization that celebrates and promotes the hickory game of the 1910s–1930s.
The event is also the third of four Hickory Major Championships in the Society of Hickory Golfers Association Championship.
Four past champions of the Belvedere event will return this year, the News-Review reported, except for last year’s winner, St. Louis native Zach Kratofil, who won’t defend his title, leaving the door open for a new champion.
The Belvedere tournament separates the competition between those with authentic restored sets of clubs, and those who play with the replica hickory clubs.
The historic golf course has been around for close to a century, and is the perfect place for such a time-jumping event year-in and year-out, Joy saud.
“Membership loves it,” Joy said. “It’s a great form of PR for the club. We really concentrate on the history of the golf course here. It just adds to that mystique about 1920s golf and hickory golf. The course was built in that era, so it was planned out for hickory golf.”
Not only does the hickory golf event bring back the memories from days past, it also highlights the difference in play from the modern game and how the game was played a long time ago, the News-Review noted.
“It’s a lot of fun actually,” Joy said. “It’s much more difficult than the modern game. Today’s game, the modern clubs are meant to straighten out your bad shots. You have all this new technology to make the game easier, but back then, the sweet spots on the clubs were the size of a dime to a nickel.
“So, if you don’t hit that sweet spot, the ball could go anywhere, or nowhere,” Joy continued. “So it’s a much more difficult game. Guys who play hickory golf, when they go back to play with their real clubs, it’s like cheating because it’s so much easier.”
Aside from its historical appeal, the News-Review reported, Belvedere Golf Club has also made a name for itself for its hospitality toward players, which has allowed its event to be nominated numerous times by the Society of Hickory Golfers as one of the best tournaments in the country.
Thanks to the great reputation of the golf club, Belvedere Golf Club will also host the 2019 U.S. Hickory Open, which will bring in between 100 and 130 players from across the U.S. and the world, the News-Review reported.
“We treat the guests like they’re members of the club,” Joy said. “They’re treated like members for the weekend at the Belvedere Golf Club, where at other venues, they’re just another group or another outing. But they’re treated very special here and membership loves it.”
For Joy, seeing Belvedere’s annual event grow from around 12 to 15 players in its first year in 2006 to where it is now has been a enjoyable experience, the News-Review reported.
“It is an accomplishment,” Joy said. “The sport of hickory golf has taken off the past seven to eight years, nationally. It’s gotten very popular. We’re very proud to be a part of it.”
For the News-Review’s full story, go to https://www.petoskeynews.com/sports/belvedere-golf-club-to-host-th-hickory-open/article_3b0e1e33-3e8d-5455-94e7-2b1fd0c05b20.html
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