| BENNETT MADE SURE SPRINGFIELD’S CENTENNIAL HAD STYLE |
When Springfield (Ohio) Country Club celebrated its centennial, Head Professional Pat Bennett reached back through the years looking for something special. When he found it, he slapped a Vardon grip on it.
* Bennett rented 70 sets of vintage hickory-shafted golf clubs, an ample supply of latter-day square-dimpled gutta percha golf balls and 180 pairs of knickers and blouses. He set up Springfield’s Donald Ross-designed golf course at about 6,000 yards and gave members an experience they wouldn’t soon forget.
“You really appreciated where the bunkers were positioned and it opened your eyes to how Mr. Ross dictated how you played the hole,” says Bennett, whose 40-38 - 78 was low for the one-day event. “There’s a bunker on the left corner of our 12th hole about 200 yards out. Normally, that bunker isn’t a factor. With the hickory shafts, we had to really crush a tee shot to carry it and then hit a really solid second shot to carry the cross-bunkers.“The people who played just raved about it. I think any club having its centennial or even its 50th or 75th anniversary should make the opportunity available to its members.”
Springfield Country Club rented the apparel, clubs and balls from Old Hickory Golf Co., a Portsmouth, Ohio, operation owned by Tom Book. Old Hickory can be reached at (800)349-2286.