He's plenty happy hittin' hickory

Sep. 17—Colin Criss McNamara does not back down from a challenge on the golf course.

He's good, which helps. The Moscow man plays with a 4.8 handicap index, which means he's better than about 97% of all golfers in the United States.

He also has a built-in excuse if he doesn't win a match. All of his clubs are more than 100 years old.

Criss McNamara is a hickory golfer, a tiny subset of the world's golf population dedicated to playing the sport with shafts made of hickory and the best club heads individually forged by expert Scottish craftsmen.

Golf's hickory period, according to Criss McNamara, lasted from the 1850s until the 1930s, when wood shafts were replaced by hollow steel shafts, which were more quickly produced and provided greater consistency and durability.

THE SHOWDOWN

On a recent Sunday evening, Criss McNamara joined the head club pro at the University of Idaho Golf Course in Moscow for a rather casually concocted back-nine showdown, the winner earning a cool $5 from the loser.

The pro had about $2,500 worth of clubs in his bag, the kind of top-of-the-line, cutting edge, high-tech hardware befitting someone who, that evening, drove balls so far they nearly vanished into the smoky Palouse evening.

Criss McNamara, meanwhile, had a handful of clubs in a small, cloth golf bag, the type of bag you might find in a dusty corner of your grandfather's garage should you dig long and deep enough. The clubs all had hickory shafts, some broken in previous battles, now glued or wrapped together with all manner of adhesives; the whole lot of them found at antique stores and estate sales for a few hundred bucks at most.

Criss McNamara knew each club well. When asked, he could rattle off the club's maker, where it likely was assembled, what region of the world it was used, even the old-time golfers who likely played a similar version.

That evening, Criss McNamara played those clubs nearly to perfection. What he lacked in raw distance, he made up for in accuracy and finesse, going toe-to-toe with the golf pro for eight holes before losing the match and his $5 on the final hole when the pro rolled home a birdie putt.

WHO IS THIS GUY?

Criss McNamara, 27, has a day job. He also claims a rich and varied past for someone about half the age of most others who've caught the hickory golf bug.

He's an assistant professor in the Washington State University Department of English, where he teaches a lot of creative writing, literature and a bit of poetry.

A native of Old Forge, N.Y. (a hamlet of "756 people and 200 jet skis," according to Wikipedia), Criss McNamara completed undergraduate studies at Harvard University before earning a masters in poetry from Washington University in St. Louis.

He considers himself a "modestly published" poet, is conversant in three languages (English, Spanish and French) and a fourth if you count trashtalk on the golf course, of which he seems quite adept.

In his teens and early 20s, he was a store clerk and shop hand at an Adirondack furniture store in Old Forge, where he helped design and build "heirloom-quality" pieces of furniture.

He played some competitive golf in high school, but only casually in college.

Criss McNamara said he frequents antique stores wherever he is traveling. He'll often call ahead when he's driving through a new town, quizzing antique store owners if they might have some hickory clubs on hand.

He's married with no children, aside from the estimated 70 hickory golf clubs he keeps in the small two-bedroom apartment he shares with his wife, Anna. As an interesting aside, Colin and Anna met while hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain; two wanderers who started their pilgrimage solo, but by journey's end were on the road to marriage.

"My wife likes to say (hickory golf) combines a lot of my interests," Criss McNamara said. "History, woodworking, antiquing. It's all involved."

THE HICKORY COMMUNITY

When dressed in his home-crafter knickers, tuck-away tie and long, dark socks, Criss McNamara is a curious site on Palouse golf courses. Yet he's far from alone in his pursuit of and dedication to hickory golf.

Perhaps surprisingly, there are two international "societies" who lay claim to loving the clubs and their role in the game of golf and its long history. The sport has roots back to the 15th century, though golf as we know it today grew from the version first played in Scotland in the 18th century.

The hickory period of golf, according to Criss McNamara, grew from the increased availability of hickory wood in Scotland, much of that exported from the United States. Prior to that, Scottish club makers used ash or lemon wood or "whatever wood they could find," he said.

Criss McNamara said the hickory shafts provided a "steely spring" to that point unseen in the golf world. They quickly became the go-to raw material for club makers and players.

Today's hickory players work to recreate the game as it was played in the early 1900s. They use clubs of the day and dress as golfers of the time would dress. There are regional and national tournaments. There are websites and social media accounts dedicated to the game, the equipment and the history.

Criss McNamara said one group, the Golf Heritage Society, is dedicated to the collecting and preservation of hickory clubs, treating clubs more as museum pieces than tools to be used.

That's not his vibe.

Criss McNamara is an active member of another hickory-loving crew, the Society of Hickory Golfers, which finds the clubs to swing the clubs — not simply display them on the wall or inside a glass case.

Several years ago, Criss McNamara gave away his modern set of clubs to his brother-in-law. He only hits hickory clubs now; afternoons after work, on the weekend with buddies and in tournaments when hickory is required or when it is not.

He even breaks out the knickers and long socks when inspiration grabs him.

"I was never a big Halloween costume kid," Criss McNamara said. "But for sure there is joy in that."

GROWING THE GAME

About three weeks ago, during a UI Golf Course tournament to raise money for course improvements, Criss McNamara waited patiently on the par-3 14th hole for foursomes to reach the tee box.

Once there, players could hit their drives from about 200 yards, or pay a few bucks to hit from about 150 yards using hickory clubs provided by Criss McNamara.

Most groups — either because of the novelty or in an attempt to appease the persistent, engaging man in the knickers — gave the hickory clubs a try with mixed success.

If foursomes failed to reach the green, Criss McNamara would calmly stride to the tee box, grab his favorite hickory club, and pop the ball onto the putting surface on almost every swing.

Bringing hickory to the masses, or at least a few more folks, is something Criss McNamara wants to make happen here on the Palouse.

"I'm trying to incubate hickory golf here," he said. "My longtime dream is to have a hickory golf tournament here, and I'd love to have the UI golf team compete."

Editor's note: Interested in learning more about hickory golf? Criss McNamara would love to share what he knows and welcomes emails at colincrisstgc@gmail.com.

Staszkow is the Opinion and Slice of Life editor for the Daily News. He can be reached at cstaszkow@dnews.com.