Exchange trophies Dutch Golf Museum Hickory Open (2017 – )

At the opening of the Dutch Golf Museum on April 22, 2016, a hickory competition took place, which later turned out to be the reason for the founding of the Dutch Hickory Society. The tournament thus became a first unofficial performance of the start of an annual hickory tournament circuit in our country (see figure 2).

On April 22, 2017, the first official edition took place, from that moment on the tournament on the Bleijenbeek golf course forms annually on the occasion of the birthday of the Dutch Golf Museum the start of the Dutch Hickory season as the first tournament on the tournament calendar of the Dutch Hickory Society. The circuit included seven tournaments in 2017 and 2018 and in 2019 there have been eight.

In 2020, due to the corona pandemic, only two tournaments could take place. In 2021, it remains to be seen which tournaments can take place. At the end of the hickory season, the ‘Order of Merit’ is awarded. The tournaments are open to both professionals and amateurs and the winner is the one with the best gross score. For amateurs there is also a prize for the best net score.

For the NGM Hickory Open, the Nederlands Golfmuseum has two special exchange trophies as first prize, one for the best gross score Women and one for the best gross score Men. These are the sticks that we see here in the holders, with old silver flags and silver rings of the winners. So every year a ring is added.

For the Ladies, the exchange trophy is a Cleek (long iron of 39 inches) from ca 1895. It is a Ton Stewart, St. Andrews club with ladies marking (serpent) and the L of Ladies. The old silver flag and the silver winner’s rings come from the studio of Kim van Arensbergen in Gennep. It’s the shorter stick.

Winners to date: 2017 Yvonne van Mulken, 2018 Marja Kom, 2019 Lily Waller, 2020 Marja Kom.

The slightly longer stick is the exchange trophy for the Gentlemen and is a late longnose brassie from around 1895. Handmade in the guttie period by George Forrester (born 1847), clubmaker of Elie and Earlsferry. All of Forrester’s artisanal skills are reflected in the construction of this club.
The old silver flag and the silver winner’s rings again come from the studio of Kim van Arensbergen in Gennep.

Winners to date: 2017 Iain Forrester (no relation to the maker of the stick), 2018 Brian Gee, 2019 Brian Gee, 2020 Brian Gee.