About the 2021 tournament
DATES
Thursday, March 25, 2021:
Swift Trophy Matches. USA vs. CANADA
Friday, March 26, 2021:
Inaugural Texas First Tee Hickory Championship
Friday and Saturday, March 26 & 27, 2021:
36-hole medal-play Onion Creek Hickory Classic
LOCATION (see map)
Onion Creek Club, Austin, Texas
EQUIPMENT
All players will use hickory-shaft clubs. Equipment will conform to Society of Hickory Golfers guidelines (click here for more information):
Hickory club rentals, contact Max Hill at 512-740-7368 or max@hickorysticks.net.
Max has agreed to rent a set of hickory golf clubs at a rate of $40. This rate is for the entire tournament, a substantial discount from the regular daily rate of $40.00.
DEADLINE for ENTRIES
March 22, 2021
DEADLINE FOR HOTEL SPECIAL TOURNAMENT RATE & TO CANCEL RESERVATION WITHOUT PENALTY:
March 12, 2021
Entrants gathered in front of the putting green.
TRADITIONAL GOLF ATTIRE
Recommended and encouraged
COMPETITIVE CATEGORIES
TEXAS FIRST TEE HICKORY CHAMPIONSHIP.
Contact Jennifer MacCurrach, Executive Director, of the First Tee of Austin, at
512-751-9351 or for more information.
All Texas First Tee chapters are invited to participate.
No-duplicate-awards policy. One cannot win both a gross score award and a net score award. We identify the top three finishers in each division and these persons are the top three gross-score winners. The top three net-score winners are then identified from the remainder of those in that division.
AWARDS
RULES
PRACTICE ROUNDS
Coming to Austin early and want to get in a practice round? Contact Pete League at
512-694-9904 or for help in making arrangements at Onion
Creek Club or at another local course.
2020 ONION CREEK HICKORY CLASSIC FEES
Thursday, 3/25/2021 only
Swift Trophy (Note 1) $100
Friday, 3/26/2021
Texas First Tee Hickory Championship (Note 2) ------
Friday & Saturday 3/26 & 3/27/2021 ONLY
Medal Play Tournament (Note 3) $235
Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 3/25 thru 3/27/2021
Swift Trophy & Medal Play Tournament (Note 3) $305
NOTE 1
Includes registration, green fee, cart, range balls, box-lunch
each day, hospitality room (with plenty of beer, wine and snacks),
keg beer each after each round, and all awards
NOTE 2
Contact The First Tee of Austin (Jennifer Maccurragh) at 512-751-9351
or
NOTE 3
Includes all items in Note 1 plus Friday and Saturday meals
NOTE 4 (ONION CREEK CLUB MEMBERS)
Onion Creek Club members' fees: Thursday only ($60)
Friday and Saturday only ($155)
All three days (185)
NOTE 5 (CANADIANS)
50% Discount for all Canadians playing Friday and Saturday
HANDICAPS
Players are encouraged to join the Society of Hickory Golfers and to establish a hickory handicap. If a player does not have a hickory handicap, his or her regular handicap will be used without adjustment according to Society of Hickory Golfers guidelines.
TOURNAMENT HOTEL
We have a block of rooms at the Comfort Suites Hotel in Buda, Texas. It is located on the northeast quadrant of Interstate 35 and Main Street in Buda, Texas (near the McDonald's restaurant)
The hotel is a five minute drive from the Onion Creek Club parking lot.
The rate is $109. per room.
For reservations, call 512-295-8600 before March 12, 2021 to get this rate.
DO NOT CALL the hotel's 800 number.
To cancel a reservation, call 512-295-8600 by March 12, 2021.
You are urged to make your hotel reservation as early as possible. The Austin hotel picture is getting weird. Rooms may be limited.
REPEAT: MARCH 12, 2021 IS THE DEADLINE FOR RESERVATIONS AT THE $109 RATE AND FOR CANCELING A RESERVATION WITHOUT PENALTY.
The hotel is located within the NORTHEAST quadrant of the intersection of Interstate-35 and Main Street. When you get to the immediate area (there is a McDonald's at the intersection of I-35 and Main Street) the Comfort Suites hotel will be in plain sight.
HOSPITALITY ROOM AT THE HOTEL
The hotel hospitality room will open on Wednesday, March 25, 2021 at around 5:00 PM. We have the room to ourselves through Saturday.
ONION CREEK CLUB FACILITIES
The Onion Creek Club locker rooms are open to all hickory players and there are no restricted areas. Players are expected to follow the same dress code as OCC members when using the clubhouse facilities, e.g., casual golf attire, no jeans or cargo pants, no tee-shirts. Jackets are not required. Gentlemen are expected to have shirts tucked in and to remove hats while indoors
("A gentleman will remove his hat while indoors." Arnold Palmer).
THURSDAY - FOLLOWING GOLF
"On your own" for dinner.
FRIDAY - FOLLOWING GOLF
On Friday evening, we will gather at the Texas Disposal Systems Exotic Wildlife Ranch's event center. Everyone may take a tour of this outstanding facility in the comfort and safety of the ranch's bus. The first tour will be at 5:00 PM. The meal will be catered by popular Austin Mexican restaurant, The Texican. Plenty of beer, wine and soft drinks are included. We expect to begin the formal program at 7:00 PM.
Go to the following link for more information about the TDS Exotic Wildlife Ranch. The drive to the ranch entrance takes less than nine minutes from the Onion Creek Club parking lot. It is another five minutes to the event center.
https://www.texasdisposal.com/exotic-wildlife-ranch/
There will be plenty of trading tables available (free of charge, but you must order your trading tables in advance).
Mobile Loaves & Fishes SILENT AUCTION items will be on display and open for bidding. The silent Auction will take the place of a raffle.
We will present awards for Friday's Texas First Tee Hickory Tournament and Thursday's Swift Trophy matches, including the fantastic Swift Trophy MVP Awards (miniature versions of Chicago sculptor Michael Roche's "Keeper of The Greens").
THE VARDON JACKET. Returning past champions of the Championship Division, who have not previously received a Vardon Jacket, will receive the jacket at this dinner.
Our guest speaker, award-winning sports commentator Vern Lundquist, will join us at the Friday night dinner.
There is no Friday night dinner charge for Canadians and First Tee players.
Dietary issues? Please send an e-mail to Lettie Garza at
SATURDAY - FOLLOWING GOLF
The Lone Star Model A Ford Club will again show some of it's wonderful 1928-1931 vintage automobiles behind the 18th green.
We will have a hamburger/hot dog cookout behind the 18th green following play.
AWARDS PRESENTATION will take place behind the 18th green (or on the veranda if we have inclement weather)
No meal charge for Canadians.
This new schedule, made in response to player suggestions, will allow players to get a head start on their return trip back home.
GUEST SPEAKER:
Award-winning sports commentator VERN LUNDQUIST will be with us for the Friday night event.
PREVIOUS GUEST SPEAKERS
2006 John Paul Cain and Rives McBee (PGA Senior Tour professionals)
2007 Joe Black (former PGA of America president, a 48-year rules official at the Masters Tournament, former director of the PGA Tour, and former Chairman of the Ryder Cup, among many other distinguished achievements)
2008 Randy Russell (noted golf course architect)
2009 Dr. Gary E. Wood (former member of the Federal Reserve Board and distinguished financial/economics authority)
2010 Curt Sampson (golf writer and best-selling author)
2011 Bill Reed (President, Golf Collectors Society)
2012 Jim Apfelbaum (golf writer and radio personality)
2013 Pat Wheeler (golf writer and radio personality)
2014 Terry Todd, Ph.D. (Director, Stark Center, University of Texas at Austin), and
Cindy Slater (Associate Director, Library Services, Stark Center)
2015 Charlie Epps (golf professional, coach of Masters and U. S. Open Champion Angel Cabrerra, member of Texas Golf Hall of Fame)
2016 Bill Eschenbrenner (former head golf professional at El Paso Country Club for 40 years, member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame and the PGA of America Hall of Fame)
2017 Kevin Robbins (author of Harvey Penick, the Life and Wisdom of the Man Who Wrote the Book on Golf. This terrific work won the United States Golf Association's 2016 Herbert Warren Wind Award for the best golf book of the year.)
2018 Robin Burke (of Champions Golf Club in Houston, TX. Member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame, Captain of the 2016 United States Curtis Cup Team, and key player in managing the 2020 United States Women's Open Championship.)
2019 Kathy Whitworth (the most successful woman golfer in history!!!) Kathy is the fifth member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame to serve as our guest speaker.
OFFICIAL CHARITY
Mobile Loaves & Fishes of Austin, TX is the official charity. More specifically, we raise funds to sponsor homes at COMMUNITY FIRST VILLAGE, an outstanding ML&F initiative to take homeless persons off the streets forever. To date, the Onion Creek Hickory Classic raffle has generated $7,000 and every cent went to ML&F. Combined with other fund-raising efforts, we were able to provide financing for a mobile home at Community First Village. Community First Village is now the permanent home for more than 200 formerly homeless persons.
Go to for more information on Mobile Loaves & Fishes and Community First Village.
This looks like Modesto's Bob Wolfensperger
Onion Creek member Don Bledsoe wearing
his marshall's uniform from the inaugural
1978 Legends of Golf Tournament
