Joe Jemsek

[Tom_Doak]

 yes, Joe should be in the World Golf Hall of Fame. He was the only public course operator named one of the 100 Heroes of American Golf in 1988. He's the only PGA professional who served on the USGA Executive Committee. He helped create "All-Star Golf," the first filmed TV golf show. He was one of eight charter members of the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame, along with CBM and Chick Evans, among others.

Golf would be the lesser without him. The Hall is the lesser without him.

Hi Tim:


You've made the best case here.


As I said earlier, it's really a matter of campaigning for his inclusion to the people who vote for the WGHOF, which, unlike baseball or football, is not the prerogative of golf writers, but of the administrators and Hall of Fame players.


You should be part of that campaign.


But, do you think you can get through to them?  The voters have a way different perspective on golf than any of us do.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Just FWIW...There is no place called "Cog Hill" per se. The town is Lemont, IL.


Joe Jemsek bought the facility from the Coghill family of Orland Park, IL.
The family still operates Spring Lake Golf Club - a 36 hole public track in the same area.

Actually, Cog Hill was in unincorporated Cook County next to Lemont, and recently, along with nearby Gleneagles, arranged to be annexed by Palos Park.


The Coghills own Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park, which has 45 holes.


Carry on.

sorry, Tim. Having worked directly with one of the family members for 18 months, I may have misplaced some data. And, as I am a client of another one of the Coghill family members, I sought to only provide context.


My point is/was that there is no "hill" called "Cog Hill" and that name came from a family.
That is THE point.


Your corrections are, however, superfluous. But, if you look at the Cog Hill golf web site, you will see a "Lemont" address.
12294 Archer Avenue, Lemont, IL 60439


"Carry on". Your details are "accurate".

[Terry Lavin]

Just FWIW...There is no place called "Cog Hill" per se. The town is Lemont, IL.


Joe Jemsek bought the facility from the Coghill family of Orland Park, IL.
The family still operates Spring Lake Golf Club - a 36 hole public track in the same area.

Actually, Cog Hill was in unincorporated Cook County next to Lemont, and recently, along with nearby Gleneagles, arranged to be annexed by Palos Park.


The Coghills own Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park, which has 45 holes.


Carry on.

sorry, Tim. Having worked directly with one of the family members for 18 months, I may have misplaced some data. And, as I am a client of another one of the Coghill family members, I sought to only provide context.


My point is/was that there is no "hill" called "Cog Hill" and that name came from a family.
That is THE point.


Your corrections are, however, superfluous. But, if you look at the Cog Hill golf web site, you will see a "Lemont" address.
12294 Archer Avenue, Lemont, IL 60439


"Carry on". Your details are "accurate".

I wrote the legal opinion affirming the annexation. It’s in Palos Park.

[Tim_Cronin]

 yes, Joe should be in the World Golf Hall of Fame. He was the only public course operator named one of the 100 Heroes of American Golf in 1988. He's the only PGA professional who served on the USGA Executive Committee. He helped create "All-Star Golf," the first filmed TV golf show. He was one of eight charter members of the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame, along with CBM and Chick Evans, among others.

Golf would be the lesser without him. The Hall is the lesser without him.

Hi Tim:


You've made the best case here.


As I said earlier, it's really a matter of campaigning for his inclusion to the people who vote for the WGHOF, which, unlike baseball or football, is not the prerogative of golf writers, but of the administrators and Hall of Fame players.


You should be part of that campaign.


But, do you think you can get through to them?  The voters have a way different perspective on golf than any of us do.

Tom,


Thank you. Halls of Fame are curious things. To the outsider, they celebrate achievement. To the insider, they are more complicated.


I write that as an insider. I chair the selection committee for the Illinois Golf Hall of Fame. All the major golf groups in Illinois, plus a sprinkling of media and Hall members, are on the panel. We elect inductees every two years via a multi-stage selection process. If it was a matter of just ranking worthy candidates and tallying the votes, that would be one thing. Striving for the best to be inducted, we meet to narrow the field, then meet again several weeks later to hear presentations from those proposing the candidates.


That second stage changes opinions. Sometimes, those who were seen as locks after the first stage don't get inducted in the second stage. It's my view that every worthy candidate gets in eventually, but it's not easy. (There are several outstanding people from yesterday and today who need to be nominated.)


Before I was chair, I was amazed it took several tries for Tommy Armour, who only won the U.S., British, Western and Canadian opens and the PGA, plus wrote an all-time instructional, to be inducted. (He was a Medinah mainstay for more than a decade.)


The same was true more recently of Carol Mann, who learned to play at Olympia Fields. Finally, she made it, alas after her passing.


I suspect those on the selection committee of every Hall of Fame have similar stories. It's still amazing to me it took Nellie Fox so long to get into baseball's shrine.


I would think it would be difficult to convince an international panel of Joe's standing in the game unless a Tour or major tournament visited Cog Hill again, especially as the World Hall inducts by category. (Illinois has all candidates in a single pool, players and architects and superintendents, etc., all together.) I would be happy to offer an endorsement, backed by evidence, to anyone who wishes to carry the torch.

[Mark Smolens]

As someone who benefited from Mr. Jemsek's (and his family's) creation of a "championship golf experience" in a public setting by playing in a group with three tee times at Dubsdread for about 20 years, I am certainly biased in his favor. I would add one more check mark in his qualifications for membership in the HOF  -- the donation of his facility without charge to the Western Golf Association to host the Western Open (after the exclusionary membership policy of Butler National caused its removal from the roster of sites for PGA Tour events). I recall being told by a WGA board member that Butler charged the WGA a significant fee off the top (something in the area of $500,000), money which Joe and his family forsook -- all to the gain of the Evans Scholars, the principal beneficiaries of the Western Open. It was the Jemseks who purchased large tracts of farmland across the street from Dubsdread so that patrons of the Western Open could park close by for free (anyone who has experienced the shuttle buses to and from Conway Farms will remember Dubsdread fondly for that reason alone). The Jemseks went on to donate the land upon which the Chicago District Golf Association constructed its headquarters, along with the 3 hole Sunshine Through Golf Foundation's course for golfers with disabilities.


I can still remember Joe holding court on the first tee at Dubs while our group was teeing off, giving guys grief about everything from their outfits to their swings, all the while bending over to pick up scraps of paper that were littering his baby. Mr. Jemsek was everything that is good about public course golf in Chicago.

[SL_Solow]

Mark, I agree with your sentiments but the facts are a little off.  The land on which the CDGA headquarters and the Sunshine Course sit was not donated.  The Jemseks hold on to land, parting with title is out of character.  We have a very favorable long term lease which is tantamount to a donation and the CDGA constructed the building and the course.  I am not certain when the parking property was acquired.  The family has been extremely generous to the CDGA and amateur golf so do not take my statement as anything but an effort to clarify facts which are public record.


Barney, I know you don't like raters but the Jemseks brought Rees in not in an attempt to impress raters but rather to try and convince the USGA that Dubsdread was US Open worthy.  Not only did that fail, but several Tour Pros dissed the changes which led in large part to the course losing the Western, now a part of the playoffs with several names over the years.  Several of us have commented on the lack of decency shown by the Pros to a family that had benefited them for many years.

[John Kavanaugh]

Shel,


So you don't sense any elitism as the tour shifted from the South Side to the North Shore? Is Conway really a better course? I don't thinks the players acted alone. The raters could have just been ignorant pawns in the process from all I know.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Shel,


So you don't sense any elitism as the tour shifted from the South Side to the North Shore? Is Conway really a better course? I don't thinks the players acted alone. The raters could have just been ignorant pawns in the process from all I know.

This is not a valid comment at all.


Olympia Fields is set to hold the tourney this year: [size=78%]https://www.chicagogolfreport.com/event/bmw-championship/[/size]


FWIW, Conway is not very well regarded by Chicago area golfers.
Doesn't make most "Top 25" lists.


Cog Hill #4 is on everyone's list.
Oly Fields on most's "top 5-10s".

[John Kavanaugh]

I could be wrong. Golfweek has Cog Hill #4 at 161 modern right next to Rustic Canyon.

[SL_Solow]

Barney,  I wasn't in any of the meetings so any conclusions I have reached are based on reasoning from known facts.  I know that when the playoffs were instituted they began to move the tournament around.  But at the time Cog was the host and the tournament was scheduled for July 4 the Tour enjoyed record crowds every year and, as noted, paid nothing.  But after the work from Rees tour players led by Phil panned the changes and suggested that they might pass on the tourney.  Additionally, while Cog is not located in a "toney" area of town, it is certainly not blighted in any way.

[Mark Smolens]

Shel, the following is taken from the CDGA's website, on the "Midwest Golf House/Sunshine Course" page:


"In its origin, the Chicago District Golf Association offices were housed in downtown Chicago. In the late 1970s, the organization made the move to suburban Oak Brook, however, by 1998, after nearly 20 years of residency in Oak Brook, the CDGA began to look for a new home. It was during a meeting in 1998 between CDGA personnel, Frank Jemsek and Nick Mokelke of Cog Hill, that the seeds were planted for the Midwest Golf House. After a $1.4 million land donation by the Jemsek family (owners of Cog Hill), planning and fundraising for the 22,000 square foot facility began."
[/size]
[/size]I had no first-hand information, only what I had previously read there. . .

[Terry Lavin]

Barney,  I wasn't in any of the meetings so any conclusions I have reached are based on reasoning from known facts.  I know that when the playoffs were instituted they began to move the tournament around.  But at the time Cog was the host and the tournament was scheduled for July 4 the Tour enjoyed record crowds every year and, as noted, paid nothing.  But after the work from Rees tour players led by Phil panned the changes and suggested that they might pass on the tourney.  Additionally, while Cog is not located in a "toney" area of town, it is certainly not blighted in any way.

Spot on. Unfortunately, the Rees re-do, in an effort to make the course tougher for the pros, made the course less interesting for all. I played it on the re-opening day and was highly disappointed. Too bad, because it was a summer staple in Chicago.

[Tim_Cronin]

The pairing of Cog Hill and Rees Jones came about largely because USGA boss David Fay was a fan of Jones' re-dos. The USGA effectively whispered in Frank Jemsek's ear, "Have Rees come in and tweak Dubsdread and you'll get the U.S. Open."


In comes Rees. The tweaking is done. Meanwhile, Mike Davis replaces David Fay, and is not a Jones fan. No Open.


The BMW left Cog Hill not because of one bad conditioning year and barking from Steve Stricker and Phil Mickelson and more because the then-boss of BMW North America didn't want to be on the South Side. He wanted to be on the North Side in the years the Western Open was in Chicago.


Thus, the deal with Conway Farms, a lovely spot but too small a ballpark for the big hitters. He also wanted to be around the Midwest to sell cars and the WGA complied – realizing after a big revenue week at Bellerive that the Evans Scholars would benefit by taking the circus to places that don't see big-time golf that often (Indianapolis, Denver, Philadelphia, soon, Baltimore). But that BMW NA boss is no longer there, so Olympia Fields is the place to be this year (we hope).

[SL_Solow]

Mark,  We'll have to revise the website.  I was general counsel to the CDGA before I ultimately became President. I negotiated a long term extension of the initial lease.  I have direct knowledge of the title papers.  Not important to Joe's qualifications or the family's generosity.  Easiest deal I ever negotiated.

[SL_Solow]

I will bow to Tim's expertise regarding the behind the scenes development.  No one better for knowledge regarding the history of golf in our town.

[Tom_Doak]

The pairing of Cog Hill and Rees Jones came about largely because USGA boss David Fay was a fan of Jones' re-dos. The USGA effectively whispered in Frank Jemsek's ear, "Have Rees come in and tweak Dubsdread and you'll get the U.S. Open."


In comes Rees. The tweaking is done. Meanwhile, Mike Davis replaces David Fay, and is not a Jones fan. No Open.


The BMW left Cog Hill not because of one bad conditioning year and barking from Steve Stricker and Phil Mickelson and more because the then-boss of BMW North America didn't want to be on the South Side. He wanted to be on the North Side in the years the Western Open was in Chicago.

Thank you for this history.


It recounts how much whispering is done at the highest levels of golf administration, and how fickle they can be.


And, as far as the Tour is concerned, sponsors rule.

[Don Mahaffey]

I wrote an article on greenkeeping years ago...titled something like "25 things you can do to reduce maintenance costs"...or something like that, I think it had a catchier title than that but that's not the point. I got some feedback including a note from Mr Jemsek that basically said "...every supt can find something to use from your article...well done".
He didn't know me and I was working 1000 miles away but that was an very thoughtful of him.

[Mike_Young]

The pairing of Cog Hill and Rees Jones came about largely because USGA boss David Fay was a fan of Jones' re-dos. The USGA effectively whispered in Frank Jemsek's ear, "Have Rees come in and tweak Dubsdread and you'll get the U.S. Open."


In comes Rees. The tweaking is done. Meanwhile, Mike Davis replaces David Fay, and is not a Jones fan. No Open.


The BMW left Cog Hill not because of one bad conditioning year and barking from Steve Stricker and Phil Mickelson and more because the then-boss of BMW North America didn't want to be on the South Side. He wanted to be on the North Side in the years the Western Open was in Chicago.

Thank you for this history.


It recounts how much whispering is done at the highest levels of golf administration, and how fickle they can be.


And, as far as the Tour is concerned, sponsors rule.

USGA is not good for golf....

[Mike_Young]

Shel,
 The raters could have just been ignorant pawns in the process from all I know.

JK,The course with the Peter Millar shirt will always rate higher than the one giving the rater the Fairway and Greene...

[Ronald Montesano]

See, all it takes is one ignorant a$$hole to light a fire, and the fury brings forth an eruption of knowledge, history, and facts (some of those might resemble the others.)


It is YOUR duty to make more than a superficial statement on someone's validity. Dig deep and tell me what I don't know, and why he is deserving.


From these impassioned defenses, it is clear that the man belongs in the WGHOF. Problem is, how many others like him are there, in countries around the world? Will there be space for all of them?