Founding Member (2012) now Garrettsville, Ohio
Golf started for me when I was 6 years old. My father moved us down to the Miami area, and purchased a house right in back of the 4th tee at the Country Club of Miami. I played lots of junior golf in the Dade Amateur Golf Association, then golf teams at Miami Lakes Junior High, American Senior High School (captain), and Florida International University. During my years at F.I.U., I played in numerous U.S. Amateur, U.S. Amateur Public Links and U.S. Open qualifiers, never having the success of making it to the match play rounds. But, it all was great competition and experience with modern golf.
After college, I answered the call to enlist in the United States Marine Corps, serving from 1992-1996 in the First Marine Division Band. While stationed at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California, I played on the base golf team and competed in the All-Marine Championship tournament series, from 1994-1996, winning the Western Regional Championship in 1995. After being discharged from the Marine Corps, my wife Kristie and I relocated to North Carolina, and I began my current career as a nutritional supplement salesman. We currently reside in Fredericksburg, VA.
I started playing hickory golf in the fall of 2006, when my father, who had started getting hooked on hickories in 2003, suggested we play a round with the hickories while visiting him in Asheville, NC. After hitting the typical tops and dribblers of most players’ first hickory shots, I hit a well-struck Mashie, which flew straight, true and landed softly on the green. After that round, I was hooked. Fortunately, my father had been collecting clubs for a while, so I was able to comb through his selection and pick out a basic set that looked good, and I have been able to do some swaps over the years to find the most playable clubs to put in my bag.
The first hickory tournament I played in was in May of 2007 at the Country Club of Asheville, winning the event with a 73-79. I have since gone on to win the 2010 U.S. Hickory Open at Mimosa Hills CC, the 2011 S.O.H.G. Championship Series, the 2012 & 2014 Mid Pines Hickory Open, and the 2013 Broken Jigger Tournament at Benvenue CC. I have been a member of the Society of Hickory Golfers since 2010, and was a founding member of the Virginia Hickory Golf Association, and have recently applied for membership with the British Golf Collectors Society.
I have competed in the World Hickory Open in Scotland in 2012, 2013, and 2014, and have been on the winning U.S. Team for the 2013 Hickory Cup match at Arbroath Golf Links, and the 2014 S.O.H.G. Team USA at Monifieth Golf Links in Carnoustie Country. What I love most about hickory golf is the purity of it. The good shots executed with hickory clubs during a walk on the links, are more satisfying than with the modern, technology-driven equipment. When you hit a good, pure shot, knowing that it is you making it happen and not the club doing it for you, makes hickory golf very special.
Rick’s Hickory Bag
- Brassie: (Name unreadable) – 13°
- Spoon: Hillerich & Bradsby Grand Slam – 16°
- 2 iron: Tom Stewart – 24°
- 3 iron: Kryodon – 30°
- 7 iron: Chas Heaney Kro-Flite – 35°
- 6 iron: Aero Mashie – 40°
- Spade Mashie: George Nicoll – 45°
- Niblick: Tom Stewart – 50°
- Niblick: J. Hagen – 55°
- Putter: Forgan putting cleek
Contact Rick
phone: (801) 592-6745
e-mail: rick.woeckener@hotmail.com