Florida Hickory Golfers visit The Habitat and Spessard Hollands
Mike Stephens – Florida Hickory
Photos by Beverly Wise
MELBORNE, FL – We are fortunate to live in a state with so many golf courses and the Florida Hickory Golfers were able to sample two excellent municipal tracks thanks to author Stephen Proctor – The Habitat and Spessard Holland in Melbourne. (Note: Stephen was the former editor at the San Francisco Chronicle and Baltimore Sun. He has authored two excellent golf books “Monarch of the Green” details of Young Tom Morris’ life and “The Long Golden Afternoon”.)
On Saturday, we played at The Habitat and the wind was howling, quite common in this neck of the woods I am told. Bill Geisler led the way with 29 points and 5 positive to his quota requirements. The course conditions were excellent, and the greens were smooth and pure. Geisler also teamed with Scott Middlekauff to top all in the blind draw competition. The threatened weather stayed away on Sunday as did the wind and Tug Passen blistered the course with 32 points, 8 clear of his required number. A steroid test was demanded by fellow competitors, but the test kit was unable to be located. All kidding aside, great playing all weekend Tug. He and Todd Williams were the blind draw champs on this day.
Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Proctor for hosting us at their home on Saturday evening. It was a treat to see his collection of trophies, books and artwork and hear his story regarding the research for his published books.
We plan to make this an annual event, so keep it in mind when March rolls around next year. Our next event will be in conjunction with World Hickory Golf Day in May. Details will be forthcoming.
