Inaugural South Australian Hickory Championship

Report by Andrew Baker

Early April 2023 saw the inauguration of the South Australian Hickory Shaft Championships. Run over two days, the foursomes championship was held on Sunday 2 April at Victor Harbor Golf Club and the individual championship was contested the following day at The Royal Adelaide Golf Club. Both events were played on cloudless autumn days with temperatures in the mid-twenties.

The individual championship was contested by sixteen players, twelve of whom had travelled from interstate: 6 from Queensland, 5 from Victoria, and 1 from New South Wales. The winner, with an exceptional round of 79 off-the-stick, was Bendigo Golf Club (Vic) 2-marker Justin Ryan. He outplayed PGA professional from Sydney’s Eastlake Golf Club (NSW), Alex Sutherland, by a solitary stroke. In third place was Lang Lang Golf Club (Vic) member Stephen ‘Mango’ Maguire. The individual handicap event was won by Ross Haslam from Nudgee Golf Club (Qld) with a score of 77 playing from a handicap of 14, followed by Alex Sutherland with 80 strokes playing off scratch. The youngest player in the field, local Glenelg Golf Club (SA) member Nick Lambos, was one shot further back.

On the previous day, the long and tree-lined Victor Harbor Golf Club layout provided a strenuous test of foursomes golf. Played in the Canadian variation of the game, the winners were Justin Ryan from Bendigo Golf Club (Vic) and Terry Thornton from The Royal Adelaide Golf Club (SA) with an off-the-stick score of 83. They finished five strokes ahead of Royal Queensland Golf Club (Qld) pairing Ross Bishop and Bradley Tatnell. Third place was won on countback by Queenslanders Philip Akes and Ross Haslam who finished one stroke further behind.

The championships were preceded on Friday 31 March by an 18-hole hickory shaft challenge held at Port Fairy Golf Links. This gave players in transit between the eastern states and Adelaide the opportunity to play the gorgeous seaside links located outside that historic Victorian harbour town. On Saturday afternoon, McLaren Vale Golf Club provided access to a small field of hickory golfers who were keen to play the club’s home course, Ashbourne Private Links. Providing a perfect venue for hickory golf, this rather quirky course resides on a private farming property and has remained unchanged since 1928. These two lead-up events allowed eventual individual and foursomes champion, Justin Ryan, to tune his game to a high pitch.

Preceded by state hickory championships in Queensland, Tasmania, and New South Wales, the South Australian Hickory Shaft Championships are the fourth state-level championships to exist. They augment the well established Australian Hickory Shaft Championships which will be contested in September this year at classic Melbourne sandbelt courses Kingston Health Golf Club and Woodlands Golf Club, and the newly developed Sandy Golf Links—a municipal course adjoining (and managed by) The Royal Melbourne Golf Club.