Joseph James Jemsek (December 24, 1913 – April 2, 2002) was an American golfer who started as a caddie, became a golf professional, and later owned and operated several public golf clubs in Chicago.
Early years
Jemsek was born in 1913.
He was the son of recent immigrants from
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
.
He began to caddy when he was six, and caddied at Laramie, Acacia, and Palos Hills.
When he was 15, he began caddying at
Cog Hill Golf & Country Club
Cog Hill Golf & Country Club is a public golf course and country club located southwest of Chicago, in Lemont. Cog Hill hosted the PGA Tour's BMW Championship from 2009 to 2011 on its championship course Dubsdread, as well as 16 times when the t ...
, founded by the Coghill brothers in 1927 at
Lemont, Illinois
Lemont is a village located in Cook, DuPage, and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a south-west suburb of Chicago. The population was 17,629 as of the 2020 census. The village is situated on a hillside along the south banks of ...
, to the southwest of Chicago.
At the age of 17, he became a professional golfer and joined the PGA Tour for a while, then returned to Cog Hill where he took various jobs. At the 1934 Chicago World's Fair, Jemsek won a trophy for driving a golf ball from the sky-ride tower, high, into Lake Michigan for a distance of .
St. Andrews
The 36-hole St. Andrews golf course in West Chicago was opened in 1926 by Frank Hough.
In 1929 Hough opened the Lakewood Course.
Jemsek moved to St. Andrews as an instructor after disagreements about salary at Cog Hill.
He married Hough's daughter Grace, and took over management of the business.
In 1939 he bought the course for $40,000 using a combination of savings and a loan.
Jemsek saw demand for golfing facilities from new immigrants to Chicago from Ireland, Russia, Greece, Italy and Scandinavia who would not feel comfortable at a private club,
and founded the "Jemsek Golf" company to serve this market.
In 1947 St. Andrews hosted a
U.S. Open qualifier, the first public course to do so, and was the first to offer
United States Golf Association
The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...
(USGA) handicaps for its regular players. Jemsek employed the champion woman golfer
Patty Berg
Patricia Jane Berg (February 13, 1918 – September 10, 2006) was an American professional golfer. She was a founding member and the first president of the LPGA. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a femal ...
as head professional for almost fifty years.
His clubhouse was air conditioned, and metal spikes could be worn inside.
Jemsek helped to launch the
Illinois PGA.
In 1947 he launched the Chicago TV program "All-Star Golf", which became nationally syndicated.
Jemsek became known for making golf accessible to the masses.
Cog Hill
Jemsek maintained good relations with the Coghill brothers.
After John and Bert Coghill had died, in 1951 the remaining brother Marty offered the course to Jemsek.
He purchased the course for $400,000, agreeing to retain the Cog Hill name.
Jemsek decided that his Cog Hill club would meet the same standards as the best private clubs, with excellent service and impeccably maintained courses.
He hired
Dick Wilson
Dick Wilson (July 30, 1916 – November 18, 2007) was an American actor who was best known as grocery store manager Mr. George Whipple in more than 500 Charmin bathroom tissue television commercials (1965–89, 1999–2000).
Biography
Dick W ...
in 1963 to build a third course at Cog Hill, which involved using part of the old course #1, and adding new holes to that course to compensate. Still wanting a course that could host a
PGA Championship
The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...
or a
U.S. Open, he asked Wilson to build a fourth course.
Wilson accepted the offer but died before finishing the job, which was completed by his partner Joe Lee.
Wilson was suffering from alcoholism while he was working on Cog Hill#4.
Jemsek ruled that he could not be admitted to the club house, since if he went in for lunch his drinking would destroy the rest of the day's work.
Instead, his lunch was brought out to him.
Jemsek's Cog Hill No. 4. course, known as "Dubsdread", became known as one of the best public golf courses in the United States.
Dubsdread was later chosen to host the
U.S. Amateur
The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...
, the
Publinx Championship and the PGA Tour's
Western Open
The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour.
The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...
.
Jemsek and his son Frank also came to own Pine Meadow and Summer Grove in
Newnan, Georgia
Newnan is a city in Metro Atlanta and the county seat of Coweta County, Georgia, about southwest of Atlanta. Its population was 42,549 at the 2020 census, up from 33,039 in 2010.
History
Newnan was established as county seat of Coweta Coun ...
, with the Atlanta-area course designed by grandson Joseph T. Jemsek, Frank's son.
In 1987, he was named the Illinois PGA Golf Professional of the year, and received the Western Golf Association Gold Medal of Appreciation. In 1988, Jemsek was the first public golfer and PGA professional to be nominated a member of the USGA Executive Committee.
That same year, he was named by ''
Golf Magazine
''Golf Magazine'' is a monthly golf magazine. It was started in April 1959 by Universal Publishing and Distributing, who sold it to Times Mirror in 1972. Time Inc. acquired it in 2000. It was acquired by Howard Milstein in 2018. It was the world' ...
'' as one of the sport's "100 Heroes of Golf". In 1991, the
PGA of America
The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...
named Jemsek golf professional of the year.
Jemsek was a believer in walking, and described power carts as "a necessary evil."
He has been called "the impresario of daily-fee golf."
He was quoted as saying "How much money do I have? If I knew I wouldn't have very much, would I?"
Jemsek died at his home in West Chicago on April 2, 2002, aged 88.
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
Family golf propertiesJoseph T. Jemsek (grandson) Golf course designs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jemsek, Joe
American male golfers
Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois
People from Summit, Illinois
People from West Chicago, Illinois
Sportspeople from DuPage County, Illinois
1913 births
2002 deaths