First Set: Adoring Her Lady Ben Hogans

Julie Crichton proudly owns a vintage set of Ben Hogan Princess model clubs similar to these offered on eBay.

I HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO MEET Julie Crichton recently. Julie is a writer, editor and webmaster for Virginia Tech. She is also a golf enthusiast. During a conference call on another topic, Julie couldn’t resist bringing up golf.

“What do you think of Seve Ballesteros?” she asked me when it was her turn to pop a question.

In the last few days Julie told me about her first set of golf clubs. They were Hogans. Her brother reminded her of that fact the other day when they talked on the phone.

“He began to tease me,” Julie said. “‘Sister, your first set of clubs were Lady Ben Hogan Princesses in a baby-blue bag.'”

It didn’t bother her a bit, though.

“I had to remind him that the clubs were hand-me-downs from my grandmother,” Julie said.

“I adored the Lady Ben Hogans and used them well past their prime into the ’80s, though of course I had them all regripped and replaced the miserable blade putter with a Bullseye. I still have them in my closet as a keepsake of sorts—my grandmother did, after all, win a few Emporia Country Club ladies championships with them back when the greens were sand. Unbelievable.”

Julie also reminded her brother that she wasn’t the only one to inherit a set of used clubs.

“His first clubs were hand-me-downs from our uncle, who played golf for University of Virginia in the late 1950s.”

Obviously, sister and brother received clubs with very good history.