Old-time hickory golf tourney in Riverhead

Long Island’s first hickory golf tournament will take place this weekend at the Long Island National Golf Club in Riverhead.

Practice rounds begin today. A few foursomes will head out on the links tomorrow at noon, with their knickers and ties and newsboy caps, swinging clubs made a century ago.

“This is the first year. You start small,” said Long Island Hickory Players club founder Brian Schulman.

There are about 3 million hickory golf players across the country. In an odd mix of past and present, they use eBay and other sources to look for hickory-shaft golf clubs handmade in Scotland in the early 1900s.

“They’re good, but they have to be made playable,” Schulman said. “You have to re-grip them and epoxy the heads. They are 100 years old.”