Changes Come to Cog Hill

Scott Pavalek takes over as course superintendent in order to ready the Chicago area’s biggest golf facility for the BMW Championship

I’ve always felt that the most underappreciated people in golf are the course superintendents. After all, they’re the ones who must deal with the weather on a daily basis so that you have a course that’s challenging and enjoyable, or at least playable.

Few superintendents have been high-profile guys, but there have been some in the last two decades. Most notable in the Chicago ranks was Oscar Miles, whose battles with the elements made good copy when he was at Butler National and the Western Open was played there.

This year, for not altogether pleasant reasons, superintendents are in the spotlight again. Cog Hill, the Chicago area’s biggest golf facility, brought in Scott Pavalek to ready its Dubsdread course for September’s BMW Championship. He’ll work with the long-respected Ken Lapp, who has been employed by the Jemsek family for 61 years at its various courses.

More on that scenario later, but the role of the superintendent at every course will be more closely scrutinized this year following the difficult 2010 season. Extraordinary weather problems made things tough for more superintendents than Lapp, whose plight was put in the spotlight because some top PGA Tour players complained about the conditions at Dubsdread during the BMW Championship.

“It was one of those years,” said Luke Cella, executive director of the Midwest Golf Course Superintendents Association and the overseer of the Illinois Turfgrass Foundation. “Every golf course is different, and there are so many things going on with growing conditions. But last year showed that, despite all the tools that [a superintendent] has at his disposal, bigger things can get out of control.”

Cella and his colleagues are hoping for better—not bigger—things for this season.
“Everybody’s hoping for an easier year,” said Cella. “We had a pretty decent fall for recovery, and we’re having a so-so spring, with the temperature being cool. The courses are pretty well cleaned up. Now it’s time to get going.”

Despite the tough conditions at Chicago’s courses last year, there was little change
among the head superintendents, an indication that players, club owners, and managers realized the impact the weather was having in an even tougher economic climate. Three
of the changes in head superintendents were routine promotions for promising assistants. Elliott Dowling took over at Cress Creek after working as an assistant at Ivanhoe, former Cantigny assistant Mark Kosbab is now in charge at Sportsman’s, and Glen Flora hired Justin Olmstead, formerly an assistant superintendent at Milwaukee Country Club.

The move at Cog Hill, though, was an eye-catcher. Hopeful of keeping Dubsdread as a PGA Tour site in 2013, the Jemsek family brought in Pavalek, a superintendent recommended by the PGA Tour staff. Lapp, 74, is now director of grounds at the Lemont facility and will direct maintenance at Cog Hill’s other three courses.

“With the tenure that Ken has, this is a way for him to back off gracefully,” said Cella. “Plus, Cog Hill being such a large facility, bringing in someone new would make for a tough transition.’’
Katherine Jemsek, who has taken over the day-to-day business operations of Cog Hill from her father Frank, said the move wasn’t a demotion for Lapp. Lapp, in fact, endorsed it.

“[Lapp’s] knowledge, dedication, and commitment to excellence has made Cog Hill one of the top public golf facilities in the country,” Katherine Jemsek said. “I can’t thank him enough for the tremendous job he does for Cog Hill. We’re very fortunate to have both Ken and Scott on our staff.”

Pleasing PGA Tour players is never easy, but this year it could be critical for Cog Hill. The Western Golf Association, which already had moved the 2012 BMW Championship to Crooked Stick in Indianapolis to avoid conflicts with the Ryder Cup matches at Medinah, announced that the 2014 BMW would be played at Cherry Hills in Denver. Bad reviews could hurt Cog Hill’s attempts to retain the tourney in 2013, as well as 2015 and beyond.

That puts some pressure on Pavalko, 31, who was the assistant superintendent at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. He started there when he was student at Ohio State and rose through the ranks under head man Paul Latshaw. Muirfield Village, long considered one of the best-conditioned courses on the PGA Tour, is the site of Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial tournament.
“There’s a lot of similarities between Muirfield Village and Dubs,” said Pavalko. “Both have bunkers that are tight to the greens and the same kind of grass on the greens.”

The courses also have similar irrigation systems. Pavalko worked in that environment for eight years at Muirfield, and the hope is his experience will avert a repeat of last year’s complaints by the PGA Tour players when they return to Cog. Pavalko heard the complaints only from afar and suspects the conditioning problems were due to extreme weather conditions.

“It was a hot, hot year,” he said. “There weren’t many places anywhere that didn’t have problems with their grass.”

And that included Muirfield Village, which hosts the Memorial in May. That tournament has had its share of weather problems over the years.

“Last year might have been the worst,” said Pavalko. “We had six rain delays and the bunkers washed out four times.”

Working with Lapp, Pavalko hopes to implement new practices to reduce the damage of traffic on the greens, a problem for all public courses that get heavy play.
“This is the opportunity of a lifetime for me,” said Pavalko. “Cog Hill’s a very special place. Every golf course is different, but I feel I have the tools to make it better.’’

Meanwhile, Cella is calling attention to the World’s Largest Closest to the Flagstick contest, a June event that will provide long-range benefits for all superintendents. With both public and private courses participating throughout the month, the event will raise funds for a good cause: the Illinois Turfgrass Foundation. It’ll also enable superintendents to interact with golfers. They’ll man the selected holes at the participating clubs. Last year, when the event was held for the first time, more than 1,000 golfers took aim, and prizes were awarded in six age groups.

“It’s a nice idea because historically, we’ve done a lot of our fundraising within our organization, hitting our vendors and members to support turf research,” said Cella. “Now, for the first time, we’re targeting golfers. It has been well received.”

More information on the contest is available on the website bigpar3.com. CG