Friday
Sep102010
Jemsek on greens: "It's hard to fight the facts"
Friday, September 10, 2010 at 9:48AM
Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Friday, September 10, 2010
Usually, players on the PGA Tour toss bouquets at golf courses.
This week, they’re tossing brickbats big enough to leave a ball mark.
The greens on Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course are not in great shape, and owner Frank Jemsek admits it.
“I wish they were saying good things about the golf course, but it’s hard to fight the facts,” Jemsek said Friday afternoon. “The greens are really badly ball-marked. We’ve had a lot of golf in wet weather.”
Jemsek closes Dubsdread 10 days before the start of the tournament. This year, that wasn’t far enough in advance. Jemsek, deflecting criticism of course superintendent Ken Lapp, said that would be the case whether or not the SubAir green conditioning system, installed during the 2008 renovation of the course, had been installed.
“The greens would still be mushy whether there was SubAir or not,” Jemsek said. “They might have been flooded without that.”
But still ball-marked, he said.
“Even though we have SubAir, the profiles (cross-sections of the course) are still wet,” Jemsek said. He later added, “We need a better job of working on the customers to fix ball marks,” and said he may dedicate a staffer to following the final groups of the day and making sure ball marks had been fixed.
The criticism has been as severe as some of the pockmarks. Paul Casey wondered late Thursday if shotputs had been lobbed into them. Stewart Cink said Friday of their condition, “On a 1 to 10 scale, it’s a minus-3.”
They’re not nearly as bad as the greens at East Lake Golf Club three years ago, when the pro-am and some practice rounds of the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup’s wrapup tournament, had to be cancelled after severe heat and a drought in Atlanta. But the A1/A4 bentgrass surfaces, cut to 0.13 inches for the week and said to be running an 11.2 on a Stimpmeter, also also aren’t as good as they were last year, when they were in their first season of play.
The reputation of the greens could be difficult to overcome, at least in the short term. The problem for Jemsek is, the Western Open / BMW Championship isn’t scheduled at Cog Hill past 2011. In 2012, when the Ryder Cup is slated for Medinah Country Club’s No. 3 course, the Western will be played at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., a posh suburb north of Indianapolis. The Western Golf Association, BMW and the PGA Tour have a deal through 2014, but that doesn’t mean the Western is guaranteed to Cog Hill.
“I still think we have a chance of getting it after (2012),” Jemsek said. “We want to work out a deal with the Western Golf Association.”
The chatter might also hinder Cog Hill’s chance at a future U.S. Open, a dream that goes back decades.
Even severe critic Phil Mickelson, who tried a lob shot from the upper tier of the 15th green to the lower tier on Thursday, had empathy for what Jemsek is going through following the $5.2 million renovation, though he referenced Frank’s late father, golf legend Joe Jemsek, in doing so.
“There’s been some interesting things said in the locker room, and I think the owner here, Joe Jemsek, is such a great guy, and he’s done so much for golf,” Mickelson said. “I think we were all hoping that this would really turn out well and that we could bring a U.S. Open here.
“I just feel bad for him.”
Frank Jemsek, who does everything during the championship from welcoming fans to his four-course complex to thanking marshals for volunteering, hoped things would go better, but found perspective as well.
“You are disappointed, but one of my kids could be sick,” Jemsek said.
He has no plans to ask Jones to soften the greens, which are also criticized by some players for being too severe, but will look into additional aids for conditioning the course.
“We’ll probably add some additional fans, like on No. 13, where the hill blocks the wind,” Jemsek said. “On No. 15, we cut a hole in the trees that looks into our former parking lot (at Mount Assisi High School). You hope you learn some things.”
At it turns out, the success Dubsdread has in draining quickly worked against it. Jemsek said rounds were played on the course by players coming from courses that were closed the day after big rains. At $150 per player, he couldn’t afford to shut down.
“I want it to be the same way for the PGA Tour and for the guy buying a green fee,” Jemsek said.
At the moment, it is.
On the course
At 3:45 p.m. CT, Charlie Wi’s 36-hole total of 6-under-par 136, helped by a morning round of 2-under 69, was holding up as the lead. Matt Kuchar is a stroke back at 5-under with five holes to play, while Ian Poulter and Paul Casey stand at 4-under 138, having completed play. Tiger Woods scored 1-over 72 and is at 3-over 145, well off the pace. Phil Mickleson is at 1-over 143 after his even par 143.
– Tim Cronin
Friday, September 10, 2010
Usually, players on the PGA Tour toss bouquets at golf courses.
This week, they’re tossing brickbats big enough to leave a ball mark.
The greens on Cog Hill’s Dubsdread course are not in great shape, and owner Frank Jemsek admits it.
“I wish they were saying good things about the golf course, but it’s hard to fight the facts,” Jemsek said Friday afternoon. “The greens are really badly ball-marked. We’ve had a lot of golf in wet weather.”
Jemsek closes Dubsdread 10 days before the start of the tournament. This year, that wasn’t far enough in advance. Jemsek, deflecting criticism of course superintendent Ken Lapp, said that would be the case whether or not the SubAir green conditioning system, installed during the 2008 renovation of the course, had been installed.
“The greens would still be mushy whether there was SubAir or not,” Jemsek said. “They might have been flooded without that.”
But still ball-marked, he said.
“Even though we have SubAir, the profiles (cross-sections of the course) are still wet,” Jemsek said. He later added, “We need a better job of working on the customers to fix ball marks,” and said he may dedicate a staffer to following the final groups of the day and making sure ball marks had been fixed.
The criticism has been as severe as some of the pockmarks. Paul Casey wondered late Thursday if shotputs had been lobbed into them. Stewart Cink said Friday of their condition, “On a 1 to 10 scale, it’s a minus-3.”
They’re not nearly as bad as the greens at East Lake Golf Club three years ago, when the pro-am and some practice rounds of the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup’s wrapup tournament, had to be cancelled after severe heat and a drought in Atlanta. But the A1/A4 bentgrass surfaces, cut to 0.13 inches for the week and said to be running an 11.2 on a Stimpmeter, also also aren’t as good as they were last year, when they were in their first season of play.
The reputation of the greens could be difficult to overcome, at least in the short term. The problem for Jemsek is, the Western Open / BMW Championship isn’t scheduled at Cog Hill past 2011. In 2012, when the Ryder Cup is slated for Medinah Country Club’s No. 3 course, the Western will be played at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind., a posh suburb north of Indianapolis. The Western Golf Association, BMW and the PGA Tour have a deal through 2014, but that doesn’t mean the Western is guaranteed to Cog Hill.
“I still think we have a chance of getting it after (2012),” Jemsek said. “We want to work out a deal with the Western Golf Association.”
The chatter might also hinder Cog Hill’s chance at a future U.S. Open, a dream that goes back decades.
Even severe critic Phil Mickelson, who tried a lob shot from the upper tier of the 15th green to the lower tier on Thursday, had empathy for what Jemsek is going through following the $5.2 million renovation, though he referenced Frank’s late father, golf legend Joe Jemsek, in doing so.
“There’s been some interesting things said in the locker room, and I think the owner here, Joe Jemsek, is such a great guy, and he’s done so much for golf,” Mickelson said. “I think we were all hoping that this would really turn out well and that we could bring a U.S. Open here.
“I just feel bad for him.”
Frank Jemsek, who does everything during the championship from welcoming fans to his four-course complex to thanking marshals for volunteering, hoped things would go better, but found perspective as well.
“You are disappointed, but one of my kids could be sick,” Jemsek said.
He has no plans to ask Jones to soften the greens, which are also criticized by some players for being too severe, but will look into additional aids for conditioning the course.
“We’ll probably add some additional fans, like on No. 13, where the hill blocks the wind,” Jemsek said. “On No. 15, we cut a hole in the trees that looks into our former parking lot (at Mount Assisi High School). You hope you learn some things.”
At it turns out, the success Dubsdread has in draining quickly worked against it. Jemsek said rounds were played on the course by players coming from courses that were closed the day after big rains. At $150 per player, he couldn’t afford to shut down.
“I want it to be the same way for the PGA Tour and for the guy buying a green fee,” Jemsek said.
At the moment, it is.
On the course
At 3:45 p.m. CT, Charlie Wi’s 36-hole total of 6-under-par 136, helped by a morning round of 2-under 69, was holding up as the lead. Matt Kuchar is a stroke back at 5-under with five holes to play, while Ian Poulter and Paul Casey stand at 4-under 138, having completed play. Tiger Woods scored 1-over 72 and is at 3-over 145, well off the pace. Phil Mickleson is at 1-over 143 after his even par 143.
– Tim Cronin
Reader Comments