June 30, 2026
We recently asked JPMGC members to share a favorite golf memory; here are three.
Bruce Galvin
During the Tuesday Winter League on Jan. 20, 2026, with playing partners Jeff Williams and Tim Bowen, I recorded a hole in one on No. 17 at Jackson Park. My eyesight is not very good, so Jeff and Tim told me as I approached the pitch mark on the green that the ball went over the green. When I looked in the hole, there was my yellow ball. Jeff said, ‘You don’t play that color.’ They almost had me fooled. My first hole in one in since the 1970s.
Andy Erickson
In May of 1993, my bachelor party kicked off with a round of golf at Jackson Park.
For those who don’t remember, the 10th hole used to be a short, straight par-4 where the driving range sits today. The tee box was right outside the snack bar, where we pick up carts now.
My groomsmen and I may have purchased beers at the turn. We may not have needed more beers. And we certainly were unconcerned about pace of play.
So there we were–nine or 10 of us standing, sitting and laying around the tee box–when one of my buddies, a former NCAA soccer All-American, teed a ball ridiculously high, took 10 paces back, and, swinging the club overhead in a Scottish Highland Games sort of motion, made a running start at it. The club may have been a persimmon 3-wood.
He absolutely laced it. Purest strike you’ve ever seen. The ball flew long and straight, carried the little ridge protecting the front of the green, and came to rest on the fringe.
We lost our minds. Pandemonium. Several of us tried to recreate the shot. None of us made contact.
And to my friend’s eternal credit, he has never attempted it again. Did it once, perfectly, and let his record stand.
Legend.
Mark Ohrenschall
As a golfer for more than 50 years, I’ve had countless memorable experiences with the game, too many to list here.
So I’ll share one … Shortly after Bandon Dunes opened in 1999, we took a two-family summer vacation to the Oregon coast, and a buddy from the other family and I arranged to play a round at the then-new links course.
Standing on the 3rd tee, the only sound I heard was the roar of the ocean nearby. And as I looked out over the panorama of the par-5 bending right towards the green, in the distance I saw a procession of white-suited caddies snaking through the gorse, conjuring in my mind an image of Druids, the priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures.
A feeling of primeval wonder washed over me. This is my coolest moment ever on a golf course, I thought, between the sublime setting and the connection (even if imaginary) to the British Isles, home of golf. It was magical, and I still feel the sense of amazement a quarter-century later.