Hold on to your knickers! Shelter Island Country Club will take a step back in time when it hosts its first-ever SICC Hickory Golf Classic.
The event is part of the club’s 120th anniversary season and will be played with vintage hickory golf clubs — brassies, niblicks, mashies, and spoons — just like golfers who took to the links in 1902.
The Hickory Golf Class is Sunday, August 7 with breakfast followed by a shotgun start at 10 AM. (Should sign-ups exceed expectations, a second shotgun start will be added at 1 PM.)
The nine-hole tournament is open to all; no handicap is required. The format is a four-person team scramble.
The cost per golfer is $125 for those who need motorized carts and $100 per golfer for those who use their own private carts or choose to walk. Each team will share a bag of hickory clubs that will be carried by a caddie.
All players must fill out and submit a registration form with their payment. Find the form online at www.shelterislandcc.org or at the SICC pro shop. Return via mail, email or drop off at the pro shop. Don’t delay! The deadline to register is July 15.
The entry fee includes continental breakfast beginning at 8 AM, lunch after play (or before if a second shotgun start is added), hickory clubs, caddy service, and tee gifts.
Hickory Golf Classic marks anniversary
The club was established in September 1901 and saw its first rounds of golf the following summer. The SICC Hickory Golf Classic commemorates the dates of the first golf tournaments played at the course Islanders fondly call “Goat Hill.”
“We are so excited to host this event,” SICC President Gordon Cantley said. “We think golfers will get a real sense of how the game was played while raising money for a great cause.”
All proceeds from the event will benefit the SICC’s newly established Owen N. Dickson Junior Golf Program for youth ages 7 to 16. Dickson was an exemplary student and standout athlete at Shelter Island High School, who loved baseball, basketball, and golf. He was inducted posthumously into the SIHS Sports Hall of Fame last month.
In the spirit of making the tournament as authentic as possible, golfers are encouraged to dress in early 20th-century golf garb and to walk the course. The club will have caps, knickers, and Argyle socks (men’s sizes only) for sale in the coming weeks.
Chipping and “Around the Clock” putting contests, hickory-style, will take place before the tournament begins. Golfers will also try their hand at making a tee out of the sand. Mulligans and a 50-50 raffle are also in store.
