Ottawa Hickory Golf Challenge

The Ottawa Hickory Golf Challenge began with a simple invitation: step back in time, pick up a hickory-shafted club and rediscover golf as a game of imagination, fellowship and fun.

The photographs tell that story beautifully. There are plus fours, argyle socks, ties and flat caps—but also broad smiles, new friendships, proud champions and a remarkable gathering of golfers around the green. The trophies matter, yet they sit beside something larger: a community brought together by golf's history.

What began with 54 players in 2024 has quickly become one of Canada's most distinctive golf celebrations. In 2026, 128 golfers filled the International Friendship Scramble at Manderley on the Green, while 40 additional competitors continued to Stonebridge for the Ottawa Hickory Open Championship. Players arrive from across Canada and the United States, ranging from experienced hickory golfers to people holding the old-style clubs for the first time.

The challenge is genuine. Hickory clubs reward rhythm, creativity and thoughtful shot-making rather than modern distance. But competition never overwhelms the welcome. As The Grateful Golfer observed, the event is for every level of player and is "not purely about golf"; it is a chance to make friends and relive the roots of the game.

That combination—history without stuffiness, competition without exclusion, and generosity woven through the laughter—is the heart of the Ottawa Hickory Golf Challenge. It does not merely recreate golf's past. It invites everyone to become part of its continuing story.