Golf Society members and guests enjoyed a ‘double-header’ hickory day at the delightful Frankston Golf Club on Thursday 22nd May. Friendships and connections that hickory golf seems to foster so well were renewed and formed as 21 golfers enjoyed 18 holes of stableford play over the historic course. The course has changed little since its 9 holes were laid out in 1913 by Melbourne-born pioneer professional Richard Shaw (Dick) Banks, and so is a perfect venue for hickory play.
The day was the scene for two concurrent events. In the first, a team of 11 players was selected to represent Australia in the 2nd annual Hickory Golf Test Match, which pits Australia against our traditional sporting rivals England to compete for the ‘Hickory Ashes’. One day after our hickory day at Frankston, the England team played its event at Royal North Devon Golf Club, in the south-west of England.
England won the first Test in 2024, and this year the Australian team wrested back the trophy. The best 10 cards from each First XI were added to create the team scores. Australia scored a creditable 305 points at Frankston, bettering the England team’s total of 274 points at Royal North Devon.
Andrew Thomson was the standout player for the Australians. Andrew carded 44 stableford points, followed by Kim Hastie and Ian Weir both with 33 points.
RND is a course with even more history than Frankston. It is the oldest golf course in England (not Scotland, or course), and was laid out in 1864 by old Tom Morris. The course is on the Northam Burrows, a large area of common (or public) land near Westward Ho! on the northern coast of Devon. Being common land, the golfers share the links with walkers and ramblers, and sheep and ponies graze over the land with fences taped around the greens to keep off the livestock.
At Frankston, the other 12 golfers played a regular Hickory Heroes monthly event on a day of mild autumn weather. Two newcomers to hickory, Ancel Greenwood and Marcus Lancaster, were welcome additions to the field, and Ancel scored 35 points off a handicap of 9 in just his second-ever game with the antique clubs. All players enjoyed post-game drinks and snacks over conversation in the Frankston club room.
The Golf Society is very grateful to Frankston Golf Club president Ross Eddy and the committee for permission to play on their delightful course.
