The Hickory Hacker

10/04/2026

Kilspindie - a genuine Scottish links experience with sharp winds and rolling terrain.

The weather smiled on us once again with another beautiful day of golf. Riding the high from our opening round at Dunbar the day before, we felt Kilspindie had its work cut out but it was up to the task with a wholly different kind of links experience than the one we had at Dunbar. And, as a connoisseur of Cullen Skink, which is like clam chowder but with smoked haddock instead of clams, I can say the Kilspindie club house makes the best I’ve ever had.

Timewarp Golf - Gavin Bottrell
Practical Clubmaking

10/01/2026

09/27/2026

With a stubborn nor’easter still doing its thing today, I took advantage of another wet day to wax my canvas rain gear for Scotland.

I was fortunate to not need rain gear at all on my first two trips, but I’m a firm believer in the old adage that if you carry an umbrella it won’t rain. So, I’m preparing for the worst in order to stay dry no matter what.

Since we’re going to be playing pre-1900 gutty and featherie exclusively on this trip, I did some research into 19th-century Scottish working man attire for most of what I’ll be bringing for clothes including rain gear.

Shown here is me applying a second coat of Otter Wax to the seams and shoulders on a canvas fisherman’s smock made by Alfredson of England. In a light rain, this will be worn over my shirt and vest or wool sweater if it’s chilly.

For rain pants, I went with pair of vintage Patagonia work pants in duck canvas. Not exactly period correct but I think the oversized fit and classic color will work. I treated these with two coats of Otter wax, too, and bought them oversized so they’ll be easy to wear over my dry clothes.

In the event that things get really wet and windy, I’ll have a vintage Barbour Durham rain parka with a hood, but I’m hoping the above will be enough for whatever rain we might encounter.

09/26/2026

The early season nor’easter is rocking today on Long Island so it’s a workshop day for me. I like coming home to a tidy shop when I return from trips so I decided to finish cutting this full hide of brown cowhide that’s one of the nicest I’ve worked with so far. This dark brown/tan suede combo will accompany some nice shades of green and burgundy in the new batch of grips I’ll be adding to the Hickory Hacker webstore as soon as I get back from Scotland the second week of October.

09/12/2026

In the latest video now live on the Hickory Hacker YouTube channel (link below), I review the Steurer & Jacoby waxed canvas pencil bag from my previous post and share the details of my upcoming trip to Scotland with .online and

https://youtu.be/AFHY9uC_lZI?is=boEPSSTr7OvZxeBq

09/09/2026

A sneak peek at the new waxed canvas Steurer & Jacoby bag I’ll be using in Scotland next month. More info to come this Friday, Sept. 11 on the Hickory Hacker YouTube channel.

09/09/2026

You may have noticed some fun news in your inbox today from regarding yours truly and an upcoming trip to Scotland.

I’ll be talking about the upcoming trip and who will be joining me very soon, but for now I’d just like to share some pics of the fantastic new waxed canvas bag S&J sent me to use on the trip.

Tune into the Hickory Hacker YouTube channel this Friday, Sept. 11, for more info about my next visit to Scotland and how Steurer & Jacoby has already made this trip a memorable one.

09/03/2026

As a follow-up to my last post about the OA mid iron I found last weekend, here’s another club I found in a Pardeeville, WI antique store but didn’t purchase even though it was only $25. Any guesses as to why I passed on this one?

09/01/2026

It’s been a while since I’ve had any luck finding quality hickories in the wild but I hit paydirt with this find last weekend while visiting my mom in Wisconsin.

I generally expect the antique stores in Wisconsin to be picked clean by the players in the large and active Wisconsin Hickory Golfers group, but I snuck this one out of the state under their noses in Wisconsin Dells. It was the last one I pulled from a barrel of fairly and accurately priced hickories that suggested the seller knew something about hickories, but this one actually ended up being the best - and cheapest - of the lot. The shaft is straight and original and it has ideal play specs for a driving iron with 21 degrees and D2 swing weight at about 38-3/4.” It was the only one I found worth buying on this quick trip but it’s a winner!