However brief his stay at Sunday River might have been, John Hickson didn’t mind making the trek to Newry this week for a pro-am, his first trip back to the course where he spent a short time as the head professional.

“The advantage at that place is probably less than at some,” Hickson said, “because it’s so wild. It’s such a judgment call on some of those shots. It’s like, ‘O.K., what’s going to happen this time.'”

Hickson partnered with a group of golfers from Bath Country Club in one of the more popular Maine pro-ams of the summer season.

All he did as an individual was shoot a 69 at the long, scenic and very difficult course, good for first place among the professional entered.

And he almost didn’t get to play at all.

On his way through the winding, hilly roads near Hebron Academy, Hickson started to feel ill.

“I was riding with Shawn Arsenault from Bath, and in those roads I told him, ‘Hey Shawn, if I tell you to stop, we need to stop,'”Hickson said. “I’d never had motion sickness like that before.”

Upon arrival, he settled down. And once he was on the course, he really settled in.

“I was pretty happy to be able to just function,” Hickson said.

Hickson continues to practice and maintain his membership in the PGA while working in retail at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Topsham selling – what else – golf equipment.

Hickson still plays often and will again enter the Maine Open at Fox Ridge Golf Club in Auburn later this summer.