President’s Posting
President’s Report: JPMGC Membership Survey Responses Heartening and Illuminating By Mark Ohrenschall, President, Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club exists to serve… Read More »President’s Posting
President’s Report: JPMGC Membership Survey Responses Heartening and Illuminating By Mark Ohrenschall, President, Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club exists to serve… Read More »President’s Posting
Jackson Park Golf Course is under new leadership. General Manager Bo Lewis worked his last day at Jackson on May 16, and was succeeded in… Read More »Jackson Park Report: General Manager Bo Lewis Departs; Matt Lipe Takes Over as GM
By Jeff Schoening, Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club Tournament Chairman All three leagues and six of the seven match play tournaments are underway for Jackson Park… Read More »JPMGC Competitions in Full Swing
Below is an accounting of Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club income and expenses for the year to date, along with year-beginning and YTD balances. For… Read More »Treasurer’s Note: JPMGC Finances Through May 15
By David Foreman, Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club Treasurer Julius Jorgensen, a PGA professional and Washington state golfing world icon, recently shared his ties to Jackson… Read More »Julius Jorgensen: Washington Golf Icon Shares Ties to Jackson Park
By Mark Ohrenschall, President, Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club Late spring and summer are busy for Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club, with club competitions in full… Read More »News and Notes: JPMGC Special Events, Service Project
Winterfest Results, January 25 What a cold one today, hopefully you were able to stay warm and caught some lucky breaks with the bounces today.… Read More »Results for January, February, March, and April Saturday League Tournaments
Our Men’s Club has multiple leagues, so to run them, we have multiple tournament directors. We used to have thirteen tournaments each year and one… Read More »2025 Leagues, Tournaments, Tournament Directors, Fees, and Timetables
Our 500-plus regular members vary in golfing skills, ages and backgrounds, but unite in their passion to play and support this great game. We invite… Read More »Welcome to Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club!
by Mark Ohrenschall,
President, Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club.
As the 2024 golf season concludes (although many of us diehards will keep playing during the cold, wet months into 2025), it’s a good time to look back and assess the year soon ending.
For Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club, I view 2024 as a year of growth and service.
Tournament Director/Handicap Chairman and data maven Jeff Schoening recently compiled and shared figures illustrating our club’s growth.
For 2024 through Nov. 14, JPMGC total membership tallied 1,181–the fifth consecutive year of increase, and more than doubling since 2019, when the overall number was 481. Our regular membership has likewise more than doubled since 2019, from 237 then to 499 in 2024 (that excludes a smattering of junior, super senior, upgrades to regular, allied and honorary members). Our total membership now prominently includes associate members, also more than doubling since 2019, from 241 then to 666 this year.
The rate of growth in these membership categories has slowed since 2021, but the overall rising trend persists. This undoubtedly owes partly to the pandemic-fueled golf boom. As most of us have found in recent years, tee times at local courses, especially during peak season, are increasingly harder to get–including in our club competitions.
I think this growth also shows members value what they find in JPMGC.
Tournament participation is a key indicator. In 2019, according to Jeff’s data, we had 1,119 tournament players. That number more than tripled in 2024, to 3,493. Total payouts in club competitions have followed a similar trend line, rising from $26,624 in 2019 to $78,932 in 2024. It’s a pretty simple formula: More participants lead to more payouts for more players (see Jeff’s tournament report in this issue for more details).
Growth poses challenges (did I mention tee-time availability?) but it also reflects popularity.
To help us better understand what members like (and would like to improve) about our club, we plan to send out a membership survey in early 2025. Look for more information on that coming soon.
A second aspect of 2024 worth highlighting, IMHO, is our club’s commitment to service.
JPMGC co-sponsored two benefit tournaments at Jackson Park this year, in June and July, which raised a total of about $14,000 for local organizations: $9,700 for Harvest Against Hunger and $4,300 for the First Tee of Greater Seattle. Kudos to Lee Jones and Jeff Schoening for their central roles in organizing these highly successful events.
We also conducted the 15th Annual Jackson Park Junior Golf Classic in late August, giving 55 boys and girls an opportunity to experience tournament golf in a lower-key setting. Dan Puetz Sr. is our club’s ringleader for this truly special event.
JPMGC member (and immediate past president) Walt Dickhoff constructed a sand/seed bottle rack to facilitate members and other golfers filling in divots at the course.
You can read about these (and more) elsewhere in this newsletter; together they represent our club’s spirit of service to the course, the game and to larger communities.
We also serve when we play by the rules of golf and follow golf etiquette; when we play at a reasonable pace; when we fix ball marks on greens and fill in divots on fairways; when we show good sportsmanship regardless of outcomes; when we support our fellow golfers through the trials and triumphs we all experience, with empathy, humor and/or trash-talking, as appropriate for the occasion; and when we take other positive actions that help make golf the greatest game of all.
Thanks to all who helped create a memorable 2024 for Jackson Park Men’s Golf Club: members, tournament participants and guests, tournament organizers, board of trustees, Jackson Park staff and others who joined our golfing paths this year.
Happy Holidays, and here’s a toast to another great year in 2025.