Shelter Island Country Club’s Hickory Golf Classic ended in a blistering
finish on the first playoff hole after two teams tied for first place with
scores of 31.
The Aug. 7 tournament, played with vintage hickory clubs and scored on SICC
scorecards from the early 1900s, was part of the club’s year-long 120th
anniversary celebration. It also paid tribute to the first tournaments
played on “Goat Hill” in 1902.
The team of Ian Kanarvogel, Ron Holmes, Matt Dunning and Jimi Rando took
top honors after Holmes took out a Spoon (equivalent to today’s fairway
wood) and launched a high, arching drive on the 201-yard, par 3 ninth hole.
The ball landed softly about 12 feet from the pin to the delight of the
hickory golfers watching from the clubhouse porch.
No one among the team of Gordon Cantley, Bruce Taplin and Jim Buckland hit
the green off the tee but Cantley made a brilliant chip shot to put the
ball about two feet from the hole. The audience erupted when Kanarvogel
sank his team’s putt for a birdie and the win.
All proceeds from the event will benefit the SICC’s new Owen N. Dickson
Junior Golf Program. Thanks to the efforts of SICC Trustee Linda Springer,
PGA pros Bob DeStefano and Eric Schultzel, and Fr. Peter DeSanctis, the
program launched this summer with 15 young golfers, ages 7 to 16.
On Sunday, 36 golfers swung hickory-shafted Brassies, Mashies, Spoons and
Niblicks as they rounded the nine-hole course in snappy knickers, argyle
socks and vintage caps. They were accompanied by their dutiful caddies —
Reese Keller, Jude Martucci, Oliver and George McDonald, Kaitlyn Gulluscio,
Noah Green, Lexi Jernick, Lauren Gibbs and Maeve Springer. Goat Hill’s
course mascots, dwarf goats Harry and Sally, also made an appearance with
their owner, Kim Cannon.
Linda Kraus won the longest drive for the women and John Wallace won
longest drive for the men; Michael DeSanctis was the only golfer to hit the
green on No. 5 for closest to the pin honors.
Holmes won the “Around the Clock” putting contest while Rando made a
spectacular chip-in on his first attempt to win the Chipping Contest.
The club’s 120th Anniversary Committee — Mary Fran Gleason, Cathy Kenny,
Maria Razza, Theresa Andrew, Nanette Lawrenson and Casey Hannabury — offer
their heartfelt thanks to the tournament’s 43 hole sponsors, to Bill
Hannabury, who spotted on the fourth hole, to Tom Bliss and Artie Springer,
who picked up the hickory clubs in Queens, to the pro shop staff led by
Laurie Walther and the crew at the Flying Goat restaurant. The committee is
also grateful to Cantley, SICC Board president, for restoring the
120-year-old Roman numeral clock face around the practice green.
Caddies from left: Lauren Gibbs, Oliver Mc Donald, Lexi Jernick, Maeve
Springer, Reese Keller, Kaitlyn Gulluscio, Noah Green, Jude Martucci and
George McDonald with goats Sally and Harry.
Winners of the SICC HICKORY golf Classic from left: Ron Holmes, Ian
Kanarvogel and Matt Dunning.
