Team USA Captured 2023 Hickory Grail Matches

Team USA defeated Team Europe 18-10 in early September in The Hickory Grail, one of the world's premier hickory club events. The three-day Ryder Cup-style event played at northern Michigan’s Belvedere Golf Club matched 14 of the most passionate hickory players from the United States against those from Great Britain/Europe in the oldest international hickory match in golf.

The Hickory Grail was founded in the year 2000 by American’s Ralph Livingston III and Tom Stewart, both hickory pioneers and experts, along with Scotland’s David Hamilton, one of today's premier golf historians. 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. The tournament is noted for selecting many of the world’s most prestigious historical courses for its venues. Among them are St. Andrews; Baltustrol; Kilspindie, Scotland and Falsterbo GK, Sweden. 

Belvedere is the only club in the U.S. to have as many as 44 antique hickory club players and hosts Hickory tournaments annually including the Belvedere Hickory Open since 2006 and in 2019 hosted the national U.S. Hickory Open. Competitors dress in appropriate apparel, including knickers, ties, and jackets.

Belvedere, with its classic parkland layout designed William Watson in 1925, has always been considered  the perfect venue for hickory club play. Belvedere was named 2016 Michigan Course of the Year by the Michigan Golf Course Owners Association, and has hosted the Michigan Amateur 40 times. Beginning in 1963, Belvedere hosted the event for 26 consecutive years. The 41st hosting of the Michigan Amateur at Belvedere will come in 2025, the club’s centennial year.

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.

For information about Belvedere Golf Club visit www.belvederegolfclub.com.