Photographer – Scott Nieuwenhuis, making a memory for Tom Tracy, Bill Geisler, and Paolo Quirici.

In 1924, Cyril Walker, playing at Oakland Hills in Birmingham, Mich., won the U.S. Open, the first and only major of his professional career. Walker defeated a strong field headlined by golf’s emerging young legend Bobby Jones, the defending champion who had won the 1923 U. S. Open at the Inwood Country Club in New York.

2024, at the Kenosha Country Club, a superb Donald Ross-designed course in Kenosha, Wisc., Mark Lakin won his first U. S. Hickory Open. Lakin is a club member and club champion at KCC.  He had been convinced to give hickories a try by fellow club member, Gregg Thompson, a true gentleman, who had convinced the KCC board to host the prestigious Society of Hickory Golfers’ tournament. Greg, who knows Lakin’s game quite well, assured him he had a chance to win. 

And much like the history before him, Lakin bested a field that included past USHO champions Taylor Jones (2018 at Sedgefield CC in Greensboro, N.C.; and 2020 at Happy Hollow CC in Omaha, Neb.), James Ciganek (2022 at Mission Inn Resort at Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.), and Richard Woeckener (2010 at Mimosa Hills CC in Morganton, N.C.; and 2019 at Belvedere GC in Charlevoix, Mich.).

In the Women’s Division, Rylee Stovall held on to her first-round lead to claim a second championship over 2020 Champion, Susan Marchese (at Happy Hollow CC, Omaha, Neb.), and 2023 Champion Jane Pohlman (at Inwood CC, Inwood, N.Y.), and runner up Anna Oxenstierna of Sweden by 4-strokes.


The 17thAnnual U. S. Hickory Open,
presented by the Society of Hickory Golfers.


(38 Open Players – 40 Senior Players – 38 Super Senior Players – 12 Women Players)

(2022 Mission Inn and 2024 Kenosha)

(China 3 – Switzerland 1 – Sweden 2 – Denmark 1)


The 2025 U.S. Hickory Open is scheduled for Hot Springs, Ark., at the Hot Springs Country Club. World Hall of Fame golfer Willie Park Jr. designed “The Park Golf Course” in 1898 as a nine-hole golf course. It was expanded to an 18-hole golf course years later. The course features six sets of tees and from the tips is 6,852 yards long. Bentgrass greens and views of the surrounding lakes and mountains, make this a perfect site to test those hickory skills in 2025.


Thanks to the Kenosha Country Club for hosting the 2024 USHO. The special plaque was created by Steurer & Jacoby. From left are USHO Site Selection Chair Dave Brown, SoHG President Joe Hollerbach, Kenosha Club President Mike Burke, Kenosha Club member and historian Gregg Thompson, and 2024 USHO Organizing Chairman Ernie Ernst.
The Final Group: (l to r) Joey Piatek, Dan McCallum, Paolo Quirici, and 2024 Champion, Mark Laken



Greg and Beverly Wise have been traveling the world, playing and writing about their golf experiences as “Golf the Wise Way,” and submitting to numerous publications.

Greg has played golf for more than 60 years and truly believes that “a picture is worth a thousand words…” so, Beverly and Greg both excel in getting the right photos to enhance their stories.