Happy New Year Everyone! (January 2020)
2020 marks a new decade and the passing of a fifth of a century already. Time flies. A new year to celebrate and for those of us feeling creaky here and there, a desire to enjoy every year and every day as much as we can before we can’t. My mother passed away last November and in December I got a new, for the second time, knee. So I’m eager to get out on the courses and enjoy, as Arnold Palmer said, the parabolic arc of the ball across a blue sky.
First, a major round of applause for Skip Platt, our founding Captain, who organized and led us for seven years. Skip was amazing in his ability to hunt down cool tee gifts, membership gifts, ball deals, and a myriad other investments. VAHGA will forever be building upon and grateful for his foundational expertise and enthusiasm. I remember having my first (and last) Scotch and cigar on his back porch overlooking lovely Glenmore golf course countryside. Thank you, Skip! Job very well done!
Second, thank you to our members who have stepped up to organize and assemble a diverse and challenging calendar of golf for the coming season. David Farrar and Paul Lynk in Richmond, Deal Hudson in Fairfax, yours truly in Charlottesville, Tom Mehigan in Arlington, and Eric Wagner in Keswick.
This year we will have an almost monthly opportunity to employ our hickory instruments and to enjoy our hickory friends. We will host hickory events including the Richmond Hickory Cup, the NOVA Cup, the Heater Cup (August), the Virginia Hickory Four Ball, and the Virginia Hickory Match Play Championships. These events along with the growing list of national events should give us ample chance to play and compete with our hickories.
The Virginia – North Carolina Hickory Challenge Cup, (VANC HICCUP) also known as “The Flame of Eternal Hope” (thanks Eric Wagner!) will be contested again at Benvenue CC in Rocky Mount, NC in late March.
We will also contest this year for the first time the Virginia Gutty Gopher, a gutty tournament held in June in Charlottesville.
Finally, we will have two annual match-play series, one for hickories and one for gutties. Both series will be “self-organized” in that you can set up matches with whomever you wish so long as both have a valid SOHG handicap. Play as often as you like. At the end of the year we will convene at Keswick in Charlottesville to play and celebrate the season-long champions. See the calendar for more details.
VAHGA’s mission is to enjoy and promote the play of hickory golf in the Mid-Atlantic region. Our members are the core of this goal. Eric Johnson has agreed to be our Web Master again, a huge thank you to Eric. Greg Whitmer and Harris Finkelstein have agreed to serve as our Digital Outreach Coordinators putting VAHGA out there in social media. Skip Platt has kindly agreed to manage our finances as the Treasurer.
We will be developing Member’s Profile pages as the year goes along. We encourage you all to draft the page you want to include in our Profile Directory. To put more information behind the faces we see at VAHGA events.
Okay! Welcome 2020 and all hickory enthusiasts! Begin to schedule your matches. Plan your calendar. Anticipate friendly, intense, and jovial competition with your favorite hickory instruments.
Rhythmic and Flush,
VAHGA Captain