The Hickory Hacker

09/26/2026

The early season nor’easter is rocking today on Long Island so it’s a workshop day for me. I like coming home to a tidy shop when I return from trips so I decided to finish cutting this full hide of brown cowhide that’s one of the nicest I’ve worked with so far. This dark brown/tan suede combo will accompany some nice shades of green and burgundy in the new batch of grips I’ll be adding to the Hickory Hacker webstore as soon as I get back from Scotland the second week of October.

09/12/2026

In the latest video now live on the Hickory Hacker YouTube channel (link below), I review the Steurer & Jacoby waxed canvas pencil bag from my previous post and share the details of my upcoming trip to Scotland with .online and

https://youtu.be/AFHY9uC_lZI?is=boEPSSTr7OvZxeBq

09/09/2026

A sneak peek at the new waxed canvas Steurer & Jacoby bag I’ll be using in Scotland next month. More info to come this Friday, Sept. 11 on the Hickory Hacker YouTube channel.

09/09/2026

09/09/2026

You may have noticed some fun news in your inbox today from regarding yours truly and an upcoming trip to Scotland.

I’ll be talking about the upcoming trip and who will be joining me very soon, but for now I’d just like to share some pics of the fantastic new waxed canvas bag S&J sent me to use on the trip.

Tune into the Hickory Hacker YouTube channel this Friday, Sept. 11, for more info about my next visit to Scotland and how Steurer & Jacoby has already made this trip a memorable one.

09/03/2026

As a follow-up to my last post about the OA mid iron I found last weekend, here’s another club I found in a Pardeeville, WI antique store but didn’t purchase even though it was only $25. Any guesses as to why I passed on this one?

09/01/2026

It’s been a while since I’ve had any luck finding quality hickories in the wild but I hit paydirt with this find last weekend while visiting my mom in Wisconsin.

I generally expect the antique stores in Wisconsin to be picked clean by the players in the large and active Wisconsin Hickory Golfers group, but I snuck this one out of the state under their noses in Wisconsin Dells. It was the last one I pulled from a barrel of fairly and accurately priced hickories that suggested the seller knew something about hickories, but this one actually ended up being the best - and cheapest - of the lot. The shaft is straight and original and it has ideal play specs for a driving iron with 21 degrees and D2 swing weight at about 38-3/4.” It was the only one I found worth buying on this quick trip but it’s a winner!

08/20/2026

If you’d like to hear a recap and see some highlights from last weekend’s Foxburg Hickory Championship, check out the latest video on the Hickory Hacker YouTube channel (link below).

Huge thanks to Tom and Karen Johnson and the staff at Foxburg C.C. for hosting and showing us gutty golfers such an enjoyable weekend. The course had some teeth thanks to the considerable amount of rain lately, but I enjoyed the challenge. I’m already strategizing how to better take on those quick greens next year!

Consider joining us next year in Foxburg and make sure to come on Thursday so that you can play in the Foxburg Featherie Challenge!

https://youtu.be/Aa4WI1GTNIk?is=sE39JvuJbcRtJU4W

08/14/2026

It’s great to be back at Foxburg!

We kicked off this year’s pre-1900 gutty Foxburg Hickory Championship with a fun round of featherie, pulled together by Ross Snellings and Bill Hamilton. The Augusta, GA duo laid out a sporting short course for us to play on the Foxburg 9 and competitors had their choice of playing Lion or Lane featheries (no contest in my opinion, Lane all the way!)

Jacob Smith took top honors with a 41 followed by Bill Wardwell with a 45 and Ryan Trembath, who took third with a 46 after defeating fellow 46er Elmer Nahum in a sudden-death playoff played from the clubhouse clock to the 9th green. And the club Ryan used to make that 3rd place winning putt? A WULFF long-nose putter, of course!

We kick off the gutty portion of our weekend this morning - stay tuned for a recap!

07/28/2026

Several recent additions to the domestic club head slab stacks. I think I’m good on wood for a while!

Patiently waiting to be turned into Wulff long-nose putters are some 3” bowl blanks of Indiana cherry, Indiana ambrosia maple and Long Island, NY spalted maple. I also have some 3” spalted American beech from Indiana that’s too soft for gutty but will work nicely for featherie.

Additionally, I’ll be experimenting with some very hard old growth pecan from North Carolina on middle spoons and short spoons for gutty golf. At the very least, they’re going to make some beautiful featherie clubs if they prove too brittle for gutty.

Finally, I have some club requests to fill with the 3” hard maple blanks from Indiana I just replenished, which is my go-to wood for a do-it-all club that works for featherie, gutty, and pre-35 hickory.

Lots of fun work ahead!