GHSC News Item: December 27, 2022 – Cedarhurst Anniversary (2022)

Reported by: Allan Lew, GHSC Hickory Ambassador

On July 17, 2022, GHSC and its Hickory Ambassadors made their July return to Cedarhurst GC to support the Club’s Centennial week of festivities and the Sunday Hickory scramble event. Cedarhurst GC is a Stanley Thompson designed golf course, built in 1922. More than 50 Cedarhurst members and guests awaited cheerily with smiles and under glorious summer sunshine. The participants were a good mix of all ages—guys, gals and junior players. The golf course was in great condition. It could not have been a finer day for 9 holes of Hickory Golf. Spirits were high and everyone was anxious to get a hickory-shafted club in their hands to take a few practice swings. 

However, first-things-first. An introductory briefing on Playing Hickory 101 was conducted for the group, especially for those totally new to the golden era game of hickory golf; emcee’d by Doug Gleed, Cedarhurst & GHSC member and led by GHSC Hickory Ambassadors, Lorne Emery and David Burgess. Other ambassadors included Dave Brownlee, Wayne Hein, Allan Lew, Norm McPhedran and Mike Stevenson; providing additional moral, visual and vocal chorus support (“smooth & steady swing”, tempo… tempo… tempo is everything!) for the club audience and on-the-course mentorship/coaching for the Cedarhurst hickory participants. 

The hickory round got off to a rousing kickoff with all the teams scrambling into their starting groups in a timely fashion. There were resounding cheers and snapping of group photos at the eventual pass-through at hole #1’s tee-off pad. These Cedarhurst hickory group photos are attached below with this article. 

And a glorious round of historical hickory best-ball golf it was!  With each successive hole, the skills and the shot making with the hickory-shafted clubs improved immensely in all the foursomes. There were plenty of great shots off the tee and some very brilliant shots landed on the Cedarhurst greens. There truly was some inspirational hickory golf play, many a high-five and then some, reminiscent of some of the great shots of 100 years earlier on this very same course by its founding members. 

All hickory participants and observers retired to the newly renovated clubhouse/restaurant and patio for cool refreshments, recounting the day’s golfing highlights and a continuation of the club anniversary activities. Everyone was treated to a delicious buffet of appetizers and a piece of the Club’s special 100 year anniversary cake. 

After a tally of the hickory scorecards, the winners of the hickory best-ball event were the Cedarhurst junior team of Austin Brianka, Aidan Hodgkinson and Carter Avery, accompanied by Hickory Ambassador Lorne Emery. The young men on this junior team were hitting their hickory shots straight and well. Fittingly, this next generation of Cedarhurst golfers were most deserving of their hickory accomplishment today. 

By all accounts, the Cedarhurst Centennial Hickory Stick event was a truly enjoyable and fun day. Everyone had a fantastic time. There were many positive comments on how much fun it was. “Every single group said they had a fabulous time”. Other comments and quotes include: “GHSC…be congratulated for bringing the great game back to its roots”; “how relaxing this type of golf experience is”; “junior team with lowest hickory score was icing on the cake”; “GHSC… helped make our Hickory Stick golf day an overwhelming success!” Happy 100th Anniversary to the Cedarhurst Golf Club! 

An interesting post-event anecdote surfaced about a number of ladies who participated in the Cedarhurst Centennial Hickory Stick golf event. Some of these same ladies subsequently played together in an annual interclub match and won by an impressive margin. It was noted that their recent hickory golf experience and coaching really can help improve your golf swing! The coached technique of the hickory swing and a forced concentration on “slow and smooth” appears to have paid significant dividends.