“With Belvedere’s history and the passion that our club members have for hickory club play, it was a natural fit for us to be selected to host The Grail Cup”, said Joy. “To have been able to participate in this prestigious event at St. Andrews, the home of golf, and now to play host is a dream come true for all of us at the club. We are very proud to welcome this event and fellow hickory players from across the Atlantic to play the game as it was meant to be played.” The Hickory Grail was founded in 2000 and the biennial event is conducted under the auspices of The British Golf Collectors Society, with current membership of 700+ members in Great Britain, America and around the world. Belvedere is the only club in the U.S. to have as many as 44 antique hickory club players. It hosts Hickory tournaments annually, plus the club hosted the 2019 U.S. Hickory Open. Competitors dress in period appropriate apparel, including knickers, ties, and jackets. Conservative estimates of the total number of hickory players in the world now total about 3,000 and growing. The course has long been a favorite of many golf greats, including legend Walter Hagen, who won the first Great Lakes Open at Belvedere, and five-time British Open winner Tom Watson, who as a youngster honed his game playing summers at Belvedere. He remains a member today and calls the short par-four 16th hole one of the great par fours in America. Ohio Golf Journal
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