Bill Wardwell of the Massachusetts Hickory Players nailed an ace on Sept. 20 while playing with a casual foursome at Twin Hills CC in Long Meadow, Mass. He was the only one in the group playing hickories – that’s all Wardy plays. The shot came on the 13th, a 138-yard uphill par 3.
“I was using an old Wright & Ditson mashie,” he says. “Not purely a muscle-back, but with a little bulge in the back. We saw the ball bounce one, but the green is slightly elevated and we couldn’t tell if it went in. Sure enough, it was a purely struck shot and a good one – the ball was in the bottom of the cup.”
Wardy was using a mesh-style ball that he acquired from Steve Simer, a Wisconsin player who has tried his hand at re-molding modern balls.
The ace came during a pretty good round, too. Wardy shot a 78 over the 6,100-yard layout. He was really pumped about the shot. “Now I’m Jones-ing for another one,” he says.
