2010 Illinois PGA Senior Masters Honorees Jim Holmes and Dick Wagley

By Len Ziehm

There is a common thread between Jim Holmes and good friend Dick Wagley, the honorees at this year's Illinois PGA Senior Masters Championship. Both got their starts from their fathers in small towns, though their situations were different. Wagley's dad was a club pro, Holmes' worked for a manufacturing company. Holmes, though, took to the sport as quickly as any son could.

"I was seven years old when my dad first took me out, and I got kind of addicted," said Holmes. "After that I rode my bike out with four-five-six guys. First the goal was breaking 50 for nine holes, then 45, then 40."

And then the goal was beating Dad.

"I played with him about once a week," said Holmes. "I'd tell him how well I was doing playing with the kids, but when I went out with him I never could beat him."

Well, it did take quite awhile, at least. Neither father nor son took a lesson. They taught themselves the game, and evidently did a good job of it. His father's job change brought Holmes from Ludington, Mich., to Park Ridge when he was 13. That was a culture shock, as Ludington was a town of about 8,000 with one golf course and a high school that had 120 students total. His new high school, Notre Dame in Niles, had 100 in the freshman class alone.

There was a telltale moment during his high school days there. One day a friend asked, during a science lab, what he wanted to be when he grew up.

"I told him I wanted to be a golf pro," said Holmes, "and then I asked him what he wanted to be, and he said `a chef'."

Well, several years later Holmes took a job at Westmoreland CC — as an assistant golf professional — and his buddy was a chef at the same club. Some things just seem meant to be, and that was the case with Holmes and his golf career. He eventually became a PGA member in 1976.

The family lived five blocks from Park Ridge Country Club after the move to Chicago, and Holmes went to work there in 1963 when the long-respected Ken Weiler was the head professional. Holmes cleaned clubs, picked up balls on the range, worked as a starter and also was a caddie.

He played golf and basketball at Notre Dame, then spent two years at Northern Illinois University before joining the Navy. During his military stint he served on a riverboat in Vietnam.

"It wasn't the best year of my life, but when I got out in 1970 I knew I'd continue working in golf," Holmes said.

He returned to Park Ridge and resumed doing the routine jobs before Weiler advised him to move on, that his opportunities at that club were limited. Holmes worked at Westmoreland for two years, then became assistant to the late Pete Mazzetta at Ravinia Green CC in Riverwoods. After six years there he moved to Highland Park CC for six years as head professional at a time when that facility was a private club. Ravinia Green contacted him in 1985, and Holmes has been there ever since. This is his 25th year as that club's head professional.

Now 61, Holmes isn't thinking retirement yet. Whenever retirement does come Holmes will have some good memories and good friendships to look back on. High on the list will be his first stroke play win at Shoreacres in 1976. He advanced through sectional qualifiers to play in the Western Open in 1994 and 1995, won some IPGA senior events, played in the PGA Club Pro Championship and then, later, its version for senior players.

"I wasn't a great player, just a decent player," said Holmes. "Steve Benson (Hillcrest) was a great player."

Holmes' self-assessment as a player was impacted by his two experiences in the Western.

"I played so poorly. I was out of my league," he said. "I shouldn't have been there."

He wasn't the first club pro to feel that way over the years, but Holmes put the experiences in perspective. He had a major ladies event at his club before one of those Westerns, so he was at the club at 6:30 a.m. getting things organized, as any good club pro would.

"I stayed until about 10:30, then had a 12:40 tee time at Cog Hill," he said. "I got there, hit some balls and walked to the 10th tee wondering how many of the players in the tournament had done what I'd already done that morning."

The answer, of course, was hardly any.

Holmes didn't stop competing, though.

"I love it. It keeps you young and feeling good," he said.

Married 33 years with his children now ages 29 and 23, Holmes has come a long way from his first golf job in 1963, when he was paid $225 a month and worked long, long hours. Life is generally better now.

"When you're 61 you're on the back nine," he said. "How many 75-year old guys are still competing. I still like to compete with these young guys — and a lot of times I do!"

Holmes has no regrets about sticking with golf as a career.

"It's been a good run. I've had a good time, and I'm not done yet," he said. "I've never used an alarm clock. I just wake up, and I'm (at his job). You can't do this job without enjoying it."

Dick Wagley had no trouble getting a good start in golf. His parents made sure of that. His father Richard, a long-time teaching pro, worked at Kishwaukee Country Club in DeKalb when Dick was growing up. He taught Dick the fundamentals, and his mother June played, too. In fact, she played more rounds with Dick in his early years than his father did. They would play at Sycamore Golf Club, a public facility, while Richard was working at the nearby private club.

"She was a bogey golfer. She'd shoot 95 to 100, and she encouraged me to play. I used her hand-me-down clubs," said Wagley. "Sycamore was the perfect course to grow up on, about 6,000 yards, and golf was a big part of our life from the beginning. I feel fortunate to have had that kind of family life."

Father Richard was a good example throughout and he had an interesting start in golf as well, working as a caddie for Al Huske — one of the local stars of that era. In addition to Kishwaukee, Richard Wagley worked as a professional at Sunset Ridge CC and was the caddie master at Edgewood Valley CC. After leaving the club pro business he owned a driving range and continued to teach the game until he was 80. Dick would have the same kind of staying power in golf.

He played in his first junior tournament at age 15 and went on to play collegiately at Northern Illinois, where he graduated in 1973 with an education degree.

"All my friends played," recalled Wagley. "We had a school teacher who helped all the kids, and we were all pretty much the same. But I practiced more than all my friends did."

That paid off — for awhile.

"At first I wanted to be a better player and wondered, is 72 good enough?" he said. "I found out it wasn't. Even par doesn't win anything."

Eventually it was time to find a job and, at his father's urging, Wagley checked out the business side of the sport within the Chicago area after a brief start working at Kishwaukee. He hooked on at Indian Hill Club in Winnetka as an assistant to the late Dick Wetzel in 1974, and there began a happy marriage that continues today.

There was only a brief interruption. After three years Wagley ventured into the financial world, but found he missed golf.

"I loved hitting balls," he said. "I'd hit 300 a day when I wasn't in the golf business. I just loved being around the game, and didn't want to be just a weekend hacker."

Don Wegrzyn, the head professional at Old Elm, brought Wagley back into the game as an assistant in 1978, and then Wetzel lured him back to Indian Hill the next season. When Wetzel retired Wagley became the club's head professional, a position he still holds.

Wagley found Indian Hill, which dates back to 1914, a special place. Its caddie program has long been among the best. One of the bag-toters there was Bill Davis, who started Golf Digest magazine. Another was Bill Murray, star of the classic golf movie "Caddyshack."

"Indian Hill is a great little members' course," said Wagley. "It gets busy at 4 o'clock every day. The challenge for me is exceeding the expectations of the membership. These people are members everywhere. If they're not playing (at Indian Hill), they're out playing golf someplace else. They tell me about what they've seen elsewhere. I don't think I've had an original idea."

In that setting Wagley has found a comfort zone. His wife and four children have taken to sports just as he did growing up, and one son Andrew is now working at Indian Hill.

"The last 40 years have been amazing," said Wagley. "They've been so much fun. I feel like a family member, with my staff and membership both."

As the head professional he's had to make regular changes in his staff with each passing year.

"I've always felt like a coach," he said. "You've got to pick your players and put them in different positions."

One constant, though, has been teaching. He runs 10 weeks of youth camps every summer, giving his students the same style of instruction that his father gave him.

"My dad kept it real simple — proper grip, posture and a balanced finish," said Wagley. "That's it, and it's worked well for me and my students. I've read a lot of instruction books, but I focused on his principles."

Along the way Wagley had benefitted from his friendships made within the business but beyond Indian Hill — Don Chavez, Bill Heald, John Marschall, Bill Ogden, Errie Ball, Bill Erfurth. They've enhanced a most enjoyable working life.

"The love of the game — playing it and teaching it. That's the foundation of the game from my perspective," said Wagley. "Golf's a wonderful way to spend a day — and a career, too."