Writing from Chicago
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Jim McWethy knew what he was getting into when he took sole control of Mistwood Golf Club.
What he didn’t know was how deep he was getting into golf’s business side.
Before his revitalization program was finished, he’d spent $6 million on remodeling the golf course and building a performance center, and nearly twice more on a sumptuous clubhouse that replaced the original, a dump that appeared to have been built upside-down. While he was at it, he took over a rundown golf dome a few miles away and made it the most modern in the country.
McWethy did this not only because he loved golf, but because his business instincts saw an opportunity to make a go of it. He was right. Mistwood went from afterthought to success, with excellent playing conditions, an unparalleled staff, and delicious food. McWethy’s Tavern, the restaurant in the clubhouse, was the best dining in Romeoville and several towns beyond.
McWethy died Monday night, victim of a lung illness. He was 76.
He had taken up golf as a kid, growing up in Palos Heights near the Navajo Fields Country Club, property which is now Trinity Christian College. He never lost the love for the game, and that brought him to become an investor in the then-new Mistwood Golf Club in Romeoville in 1998. It struggled to gain an audience until McWethy bought it outright from a second group of partners in 2003.
McWethy’s total investment in Mistwood was estimated at $16 million, with $10 million sunk into the clubhouse. Asked by Illinois Golfer in 2012 why he did so at a time when others were retrenching, McWethy said, “I do believe it can be a successful venture, but I also realize I’m running counter to almost everybody else in the golf business.
“It’s a big roll. I do not expect it’s going to be paying handsome rewards. I just want rewards for it.”
McWethy graduated from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa in 1965, but never forgot his alma mater. The Berry Center there is named after his grandfather, whose bearings distribution company grew into the world’s largest before its sale.
McWethy invested in everything from software to a blueberry farm. Rarely did he meet with anything but success.
In 2009, he called himself “technically retired.” Anyone who knew him knew that was a bunch of hooey. Mistwood was a perfect example. During the remodeling of the course, he was as interested in the type of rock that would make up the facing of the bridges near the clubhouse as he was the type of grass architect Ray Hearn and superintendent Ben Kelnhofer were selecting for the fairways and greens.
In 2012, he took over the old Ditka Golf Dome in Bolingbrook, refurbished it, named it McQs and then the Mistwood Golf Dome. It boasts the first TopTracer ball-tracking system in any dome, and a new shell.
McWethy was also a member of Chicago Golf Club.
McWethy is survived by his wife Susan, grown children Todd and Gretchen, and a legion of friends. Services are pending.
– Tim Cronin