Learn
Build useful context
Start with the basics, compare evidence, and follow the connected changes that shaped equipment and play.
Our purpose
Preserve the evidence. Share the story. Welcome the next player.
Preserving golf history through education, competition, community, and responsible stewardship of historical resources.
Why the Foundation exists
Golf history belongs in active hands and curious minds.
Hickory Players Foundation is being developed as an educational home for people who want to understand the old game—not just admire it from a distance.
Guided learning, careful object documentation, responsible stewardship, and historically grounded play help connect artifacts to the people, technologies, places, and choices that gave them meaning.
Play
Experience the old game
Use hickory equipment, ground-game strategy, and fellowship to understand history through practice.
Preserve
Care for what survives
Document before intervening, state uncertainty clearly, and protect the details future learners may need.
WWR
Founder · Historian · Player · Ambassador
William W. “Bill” Reed
Bill has spent decades learning, playing, collecting, repairing clubs, leading tournaments, and bringing hickory golfers together.
He has always wanted to know ‘who built it and why.’ Now he can help you uncover those answers for yourself.
- Golf Heritage Society Hall of Fame · Class of 2021
- Past president of the Golf Collectors Society
- Co-founder of the Hickory Golf Association
- 2018 Society of Hickory Golfers Mike Brown Award
- Longtime tournament director and hickory-golf ambassador
Begin where you are
Curiosity is enough for the first lesson.
You do not need a collection, a special set of clubs, or years of historical knowledge. The learning paths begin with observation and guide you forward one question at a time.