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Pete Trenham walked across the first tee at Twining Valley Golf Club, set up his ball and calmly hit one far down the right center, just like he has done thousands of times in his distinguished career. This tee shot, however, was different. His trusty Ping G2 driver with its massive head and graphite shaft was not allowed on this day. In its place, he was playing with an Invincible brassie by Hillerich and Bradsby complete with the best of the 20s and 30s—a hickory shaft.

Welcome to the world of hickory golf. And, welcome to a two-day event sponsored by the Golf Collectors Society representing Pennsylvania and four other Eastern seaboard states. Not only was the popular Trenham playing in the GCS competition, he was the main speaker at the awards banquet in the evening. He returned the following day for the GCS trade fair offering for sale old hickory clubs, collector balls, books, ceramics, paintings and just about every collectible favored by the 1,400 members of the national organization.




			PETE TRENHAM ENTERTAINS GCS REGION TWO MEMBERS




Pete Trenham walked across the first tee at Twining Valley Golf Club, set up his ball and calmly hit one far down the right center, just like he has done thousands of times in his distinguished career. This tee shot, however, was different. His trusty Ping G2 driver with its massive head and graphite shaft was not allowed on this day. In its place, he was playing with an Invincible brassie by Hillerich and Bradsby complete with the best of the 20s and 30s—a hickory shaft. Welcome to the world of hickory golf. And, welcome to a two-day event sponsored by the Golf Collectors Society representing Pennsylvania and four other Eastern seaboard states. Not only was the popular Trenham playing in the GCS competition, he was the main speaker at the awards banquet in the evening. He returned the following day for the GCS trade fair offering for sale old hickory clubs, collector balls, books, ceramics, paintings and just about every collectible favored by the 1,400 members of the national organization.


			Participating GCS members, most wearing knickers, argyle socks and a white shirt and tie, said they admired Trenham’s style throughout the round. But most of the appreciation came after the awards dinner as Trenham delivered his 30-minute address on the history of Philadelphia golf. As the historian for the Philadelphia Golf Association for 10 years, he knew his subject and had the attention of every golfer and spouse. Trenham is also a former president of the Philadelphia PGA and served as head professional at St. Davids Country club for a remarkable 29 years. He was an original inductee into the Philadelphia PGA Hall of Fame in 1992. "About seven or eight years ago I began digging into our history and I found it so interesting that I just kept going,” Trenham said. “I became sort of an authority on Philadelphia golf. Golf started in Philadelphia in 1891. Philadelphia Country Club tried to start golf and built three holes, each 75 yards. You played in a triangle. They had clubs to rent but it was a total failure; nobody was interested. A course was being built in Devon about the same time. To show you how little they knew about golf, they had a guy on a polo pony hitting polo balls to see how long they could make the holes.” "Pete Trenham told a story of golf in the Philadelphia region that reminded us of the early careers of some of the games legends,” recalled Bob Gettis, regional GCS board member from Doylestown, PA. “He spoke of Snead at Shawnee, Hogan at Hershey and Nelson at Reading Country Club. He talked about Johnny McDermott, the first American born player to win the U.S. Open and his time at both Merchantville and Atlantic City CC. He presented an interesting history of the PGA and the exceptional players that have been part of this area.” From McDermott in the early 1900s to Ed Dudley in the 30s, Trenham detailed the accomplishments of more than a dozen area golfers during the period of 1891 to 1950. The Philadelphia PGA, he noted, is the only sectional PGA that carries the name of a city. One reason the area survived reorganizations over the years, he surmised, was because of its strong golf history and the long line of golfing greats. “One of the reasons was that years ago the big money followed the big cities, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and others,” Trenham said. Golf greats in the Philadelphia area mentioned by Trenham included: Gil Nicholls, Wilmington Country Club; Emett French, Merion; Robert White, Shawnee; Jim Barnes, Whitemarsh; Bob Barnett, Tredyffrin Country Club; Denny Shute, Llanerch; Henry Picard, Hershey; Sam Snead, the playing pro at Shawnee; Leo Diegal, Philmont; Bryon Nelson, Reading; and Ben Hogan, Hershey. "Ed Dudley was the most successful pro in the history of the Philadelphia section.” Trenham said. “I could go on a long time about this guy.” He was president of the Philadelphia PGA for seven years and was president of the national PGA for seven years. He was the pro at Concord Country Club. In the 1937 Masters, Dudley is photographed with three golfers after the first round. There was the immortal Bobby Jones, who shot a 79. A “hillbilly kid from West Virginia”, Sam Snead shot a 76. Harry Cooper, who won 31 official PGA tournaments and was the tour’s leading money leader in 1937, and Ed Dudley, playing out of Philadelphia Country Club. Both scored 70. Dudley finished third, three strokes behind winner Byron Nelson. Trenham played his entire round at Twining Valley with a brassie (2 wood), three irons and a putter, all hickories. On his first hole he would record a par five. Not bad since he had not picked up a hickory club for nearly 60 years. By Len Brown Len Brown is a member of the Golf Collectors Society and writes from his home in Yardley, PA. This article was published in Philadelphia Golf Magazine and appears here with their permission.