Jans National to be Renamed Receive Make-Over????

[Dan Moore]

According to the Wilmette Life the board overseeing the course has voted to rename the course to:

"The Frank Govern Golf Course, founded by Peter N. Jans."

Also there is a plan "to make over the course" by reshaping a number of holes.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/wilmette/news/297513,wi-golfchange-031507-s1.article

[PCCraig]

Dan,

Well this is quite a surprise.

I think it would be an absolute shame if they change much of the architecture. It may not be the greatest golf course in the world, but it certainly one of a kind.

I always tell people of the Professional Tournament they may or may not still hold. They would have a large purse and every spring a bunch of Hooters Tour Types would come in town for a weekend to play. I believe Tim Herron won the thing in about 1996. Anyway, I was always amazed to see how hard the golf course played. People never see the back tees on alot of the hole, and many feel like you are hitting long irons into greens that are smaller than 30 cubic yards. Not to mention if you miss the green it is all hardpan and nasty lies, which makes for an interesting up and down!

They would probably be better off taking the money for any big improvements and just putting into the greenskeepers budget.

Pat

[Phil McDade]

Questions abound:

Will the bird-lady hole disappear?

Will the overt use of roads in play on the HCRJN be mitigated, thus eliminating the odds of local police intimidation on some holes mandating a carry?

Will vestiges of MacDonald/Raynor architectural influence be eliminated, prompting another Merion-10th-like thread on GCA in some far-off future?

And, most importantly:

Shouldn't the HCRJN duo have a say in the remake?

[PCCraig]

And, most importantly:

Shouldn't the HCRJN duo have a say in the remake?

I'm curious, what do you think it would take for a park district to allow for an amateur architecture to do work on a local golf course. Assuming the person would do it for free, and has expertise.

Sorry this is semi-out there, but who better to tweak a local muni than someone who has played there a hundred times?

Look at our previous discussion about Wilmette. That course has been changed and butchered so many times over the years by people who just put a then popular green type on random holes. (IE a beach bunker on a 1920's wooded layout).

Pat

[PCCraig]

No other Chicago golfers have anything to say about the Jans?

[Tim_Cronin]

This could almost be like a college basketball arena, as is the case a few blocks over, where you have Welsh-Ryan Arena at McGaw Hall. How about the Peter Jans Course of the Frank Govern Golf Association?
The surprise to me is that it wasn't run by the Evanston (or Evanston-Wilmette) Park District, and I've played it.
If you go back, Peter and Matt Jans not only were the founders of the course, they once moved it over the course of a few months when the original land they were using was reclaimed by the owner, because it was worth $500 per foot of frontage. The Jans' bought one piece of land, then leased the rest from the Metropolitan Sanitary District, then fought the MSD a few years later when it decided it didn't want the course. Seems the Jans name ought to be on there somewhere.

[tlavin]

Frank Govern's family, to the best of my understanding, is supplying most of the money for the renovation of the golf course, and the renaming is part of the quid pro dough.  No surprise there.  The real issue is who will be selling the hot dogs?  That was one of Bill Murray's first summer jobs in 1969!  That and caddying at Indian Hill.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

I think it would be an absolute shame if they change much of the architecture. It may not be the greatest golf course in the world, but it certainly one of a kind.

I always tell people of the Professional Tournament they may or may not still hold. They would have a large purse and every spring a bunch of Hooters Tour Types would come in town for a weekend to play. I believe Tim Herron won the thing in about 1996. Anyway, I was always amazed to see how hard the golf course played.

 

I no nothing of the course.  In what way is it one of a kind?  Anybody got any pictures?

[Phil McDade]

Mark, being from the UK, will certainly be familiar with the ground-game options.....

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Shivas and Phil, Have I walked into a mine of serpents or would I feel entirely at home?  

[RJ_Daley]

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=21055;start=35

Mark, hopefully page 2 of the other post will come up for your clarification...and viewing enjoyment.

If you ever get a chance to play TRPJN and do some criminal damage to property, don't be afraid to drop my name to the local constables, and get a good lawyer, better than Shivas.

[Adam Clayman]

Shiv- Peter Jans is a relatively new name. So..other than your ability to make the reverse course famous, it will still be Canal Shores, Evanston Community or Bahai links.

[tlavin]

I think it would be an absolute shame if they change much of the architecture. It may not be the greatest golf course in the world, but it certainly one of a kind.

I always tell people of the Professional Tournament they may or may not still hold. They would have a large purse and every spring a bunch of Hooters Tour Types would come in town for a weekend to play. I believe Tim Herron won the thing in about 1996. Anyway, I was always amazed to see how hard the golf course played.

 

I no nothing of the course.  In what way is it one of a kind?  Anybody got any pictures?

At the risk of offending Schmidt (and what of that?), I would say that it isn't one of a kind in any respect other than the recurring canal crossing shots.  It's a quirky, old-timey, suburban muni that area denizens remember fondly just like they remember their  elementary school gym, the neighborhood playground and the first girl who gave them a wet kiss.  It's just a suburban Chicago oddity that has somehow survived this long because the park district has hung onto the land and because many of the people who grew up playing it (the Murray brothers chief among them) have continued to spread goodwill about the golf course.  If you visited Chicago and wanted to play all of its golf courses "in order", you'd have to visit for a year or so to get to this little patch of turf.

Okay, Shiv, lemme have it!!!!

[PCCraig]

I will post more on this when I have some time a little later.

Terry,

For the record Bill Murray sold hot dogs in the previously discussed Wilmette GC up the shore a bit. That is where he and Harold Ramis would play after getting to know each other at The Second City downtown.

Pat

[Tim_Cronin]

I seem to remember the clubhouse, as it were, being on the south side of Central, by the American Legion hall, but I may be foggy on that. Maybe I just walked into the hall by mistake.
At any rate, would it be fair to say that Jans has been one of the least remodeled courses (maybe with Evergreen) in the Chicago area in the last 40-50 years?