February 15, 2025
JPMGC 2024 Tournament Summary: A Year of Growth,
by Jeff Schoening, Tournament Director, Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club.
As we close the books on the 2024 tournament season for Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club, following are some highlights from this year.
A common theme was growth, notably in participants, payouts and money for Jackson Park.
Leagues: Saturday tallied 246 players this year, up from 241 in 2023. Tuesday recorded 133 players, up from 134 last year, and Wednesday player numbers were 190, jumping from 160 in 2023. League money-winners were Dan Fabela, Saturday/Match Play, with $779.50; Jeff Williams, Tuesday, with $1,126; and Kellan Kinney, Wednesday, with $333.70. Repeating as Sandbagger of the Year (i.e. leading overall money-winner) was Dan Fabela with $1,680.40.
Leagues and Rounds: For the first time, total tournament participation numbers in both Tuesday (1,215) and Wednesday (1,149) exceeded Saturday/Match Play (1,129).
Points and Purse-Equitable Distribution: Distribution of payouts across the handicap range looks equitable for all the leagues. Flights are based on player handicaps. We pay gross and net payouts, filling the net places twice as fast as the gross. When there are 18 or 19 players in a flight, then five gross and five net places can be paid. By emphasizing net payouts, we give more players a chance to win book money. And that is a key to creating more fun tournaments for golfers of all handicap levels.
Tuesday League: The Tuesday League welcomes golfers with a diverse set of abilities, and the average gross score shot by our players this season was 87.9 (about bogey golf). We held 29 daily tournaments (22 individual and 7 team events) including our majors: the Tuesday 2-day Championship and the three rounds of playoffs of the Tuesday Cup.
Congratulations to Andy Graham for winning the 2-day Championship (with a two-round total of 153, 13 over par) and to Dylan Fitzgerald for winning the Tuesday Cup (with an adjusted net score of 66, 4 under par). The leading Tuesday points winner this year was Jeff Williams (with 1,126 points); the most improved player was Gino Nathan (with an improvement factor of 1.134); the best average gross scorer for the season was Mark Ohrenschall (with a 74.6 average); the best average net scorer for the season was Jay Clark (with a 70.5 average); the lowest handicap at the close of the season belongs to Justin Kim (with a 3.0 handicap); and the lowest round of the year was shot by Andy Graham (a 68!). Hopefully, we will see you out there next year on Tuesdays!
2024 JPMGC Growth by The Numbers:
- Membership up 3 percent;
- Tournament attendance up 4.9 percent;
- Number of payouts up 6.5 percent;
- Tournament fees up 5.8 percent;
- Club share of payouts up 5 percent;
- Total payouts up 5.6 percent;
- Honey pots up 4 percent;
- Jackson Park sum (total greens fees and payouts) up 6.5 percent.
Top Twenties for all tournaments are posted at the Jackson pro shop and restaurant and on the JPMGC website. This list is dominated by players active in both Saturday and Tuesday leagues. The 20 top point winners include three players in their 80s; seven in their 70s; five in their 60s; three in their 50s; and one apiece in their 40s and 30s.
Thank You’s:
- To the tournament directors and Venmo managers for a most successful 2024. Dan Fabela ran Saturdays with Venmo; Jeff Schoening ran match play with help from Patrick Wilson on Non-Championship Gross II; Karl Meier ran Tuesdays with Walt Dickhoff managing Venmo; and Ryan Coghill and Brian Asplund ran Wednesdays with help from Dan Fabela, with Brian also managing Venmo and Patrick Wilson assisting with Wednesday tee-sheet adjustments.
- To the Jackson Park management of General Manager Bo Lewis and Head Golf Professional Matt Lipe, along with Ben Simpson and staff, for helping our tournaments run as smoothly as possible.
- To Superintendent Jon Fulmer and his staff for keeping the course in as good a shape as possible and for continuing to improve the golfing experience, such as clearing out the growth along the pond on No. 14 and limbing up trees on the right side of No. 15.
- To Walt Dickhoff for building a sand-and-seed holder for 36 bottles. It is located at the crossroads between the 6th and 15th greens and 7th and 16th tees.
For more detailed information, check out the following year-end reports posted on the JPMGC website:
- 2024 Money Lists, Saturday League Champions, Top Twenties, and Year-End Statistics
- JPMGC Tuesday League Season Recap, including Tournament Winners
- Some Statistics from JPMGC Tuesday League for Off-Season Consideration
- Wednesday Night League Wrap Up
2025 Schedule: Preliminary discussions have been about tweaks, and no major changes.