McCormick’s Place: Golf’s Ultimate Collection Area
Tags: Chicago, Cdga, Museum, Golf, Collection

McCormick’s Place: Golf’s Ultimate Collection Area

Golf’s preeminent private collector displays more than 2,000 items in his home museum CDGA Feb 5·6 min read

By David A.F. Sweet

Jim McCormick holds the clubs Donald Ross used when he won the 1905 Massachusetts Open. McCormick purchased the 4 irons and 3 woods from a Boston collector in 2002.

From the outside, Jim McCormick’s stately brick house in Lincoln Park mirrors the design of many of its neighbors. Open the door, though, and it’s quickly obvious the abode is distinct — because a museum-quality collection awaits inside.

McCormick possesses what is easily the highest-quality private assemblage of historical golf artifacts and memorabilia in Chicago – and most likely the world. Over there rests the oldest book that mentions golf, one listing the acts of the Scottish Parliament from 1566, which banned play. Nearby is the golf ball Harry Vardon used during the last nine holes when he successfully defended his championship at the 1899 British Open. Next to it is the gold medal Chick Evans won for his victory in the 1920 U.S. Amateur. In another display cabinet sits a group of golf balls dating back to 1840, including both a featherie and a hand-hammered gutta percha ball made and stamped by Old Tom Morris.

And that’s just a handful among scores of golf treasures — in the sitting room. It’s an appetizer for the feast that graces the rest of his three-story home, where McCormick and his wife, Laura, have lived for nearly half a century. This from a man who didn’t play golf until after college.

“I didn’t touch a golf club growing up. I played tennis,” said McCormick, 73, who now is a member of three golf clubs — including Royal Troon in Scotland, site of nine British Open championships. He spent his career in Chicago’s trading business.

Jim McCormick tells visitors that the only place they can see more handmade wooden clubs from the 18th and 19th centuries is at The R&A’s British Golf Museum in St. Andrews, Scotland. He regards these clubs among the highlights of his collection.

A passion for collecting emerged early. As a youth, he won a purple ribbon for his insect collection at the Indiana State Fair, and after college, he acquired signed documents from all past U.S. presidents. In 1980, as a budding businessman based in London, he attended a local Christie’s auction. Before the night was over, he owned a Tom Morris putter and a driver crafted by Scottish clubmaker William Frier. That was the start.

“My wife (Laura) didn’t raise any objection to buying those items and she never really has, so that’s been a big plus on my side with regard to this collection,” said McCormick, who estimates he holds well over 2,000 items overall. “When I do occasionally sell something, I usually have the buyer make the check out to her. At least it proves to her that the purchases do have some value.”

McCormick said 90 percent of his collection — easily worth millions — has been gathered through auctions with the balance being purchased privately. Often, families do not want to be seen selling publicly, he explained; for example, when descendants have little interest in their forebears’ relics.

His passion for his collection is boundless. Before he shows a visitor an extremely rare spoon from the 1700s, he’ll demonstrate how to hit a feather ball with a hooked wood. One could spend a full day with the stocky, energetic McCormick and still not see every item and hear all of his colorful stories behind each one. He is an encyclopedia of dates, and when he casually refers to an item from ’72, often he means 1872 — or maybe even 1772.

The most prominent display case in the McCormick home contains a number of rare items, including Chick Evans’ gold medal from his 1920 U.S. Open victory and the ball Harry Vardon used in his 1899 British Open victory.

In one oddly shaped room of less than 100 square feet (still on the first floor), putters of all shapes and sizes pack the room — including one whose blade is “backassward,” another shaped like a mallet and a third whose sweet spot bursts forward from the face. Massive-faced wedges and other clubs never seen on courses today also dot the space. Asked his favorite club in the room, like many collectors requested to name a beloved, McCormick’s answer is succinct: “Impossible.”

The bulk of the collection is organized and lit with a curator’s care on the third floor. A full sliding wall is devoted to Old Tom Morris, including the check he wrote to buy his famous shop in St. Andrews. Gold medals won by Gene Sarazen at the 1935 Masters and Willie Park Jr. at the 1887 British Open (McCormick lent the medal to the World Golf Hall of Fame for display at Park’s induction ceremony) are nearby. McCormick said it’s almost impossible to uncover medals won by one of the greatest of them all, Bobby Jones, since the vast majority are in the hands of the USGA Museum. No surprise, though, that McCormick owns one; Jones’ 1920 semifinalist medal from the Western Amateur, purchased during a bidding war at a London auction house.

Chicago golf is well-represented in the collection, including Chandler Egan’s Olympic individual silver medal won in 1904, Chick Evans’ personal putter with “CE” carved in the shaft and an array of trophies and other memorabilia involving early 20th century Chicago golfers, including Robert Hunter, Warren Wood and Robert Gardner. A crystal duck decanter won by Walter Travis at Onwentsia Club in 1912 is one of the more unusual items on display.

From time to time, McCormick receives offers to buy certain pieces of his collection — in fact, for one prized item that he did not want mentioned by name, $1 million was suggested. He said no. A few years ago, he was asked to name a price on an item once owned by Ben Hogan. McCormick said $320,000. The other person immediately said, “I’ll buy it!”

“I gulped,” McCormick said. “I obviously sold it at too low a price, and to this day, I wonder how high he would have gone.”

One of the remarkably few photographs of Charles Blair Macdonald is captured on this postcard, which shows the native Chicagoan and co-founder of the United States Golf Association playing at Jackson Park Golf Course on Chicago’s South Side.

When discussing the challenges he’s faced in collecting golf artifacts, McCormick notes that although money was at times a factor, more importantly, “the real challenge is to find all the stuff. It takes a lot of time and effort.”

Which brings us to the inevitable question: What will happen to all this stuff many years from now when McCormick no longer is around?

“I would suspect it will be monetized at some point and passed along to other collectors,” said McCormick, whose youngest son is familiar with the collection and the market for it. “There’s a saying in the collecting community: ‘We really don’t own the stuff; we’re just caretakers of it.’” ●

David A. F. Sweet is the author of numerous books, including the recent “Onwentsia at 125,” a history of Onwentsia Club.

Several of Jim McCormick’s Favorites

Asking a collector to pick his favorite items is a little like asking a parent to pick his or her favorite child. Jim McCormick has 2,000 “children,” more or less. When pressed, he did pick specific categories.

1. His collection of clubs from the 1700s — “I love my 18th century clubs. Other than in St. Andrews, one cannot see as many of these old bulky and heavy ‘war-clubs’ anywhere.”

2. His collection of ‘featherie’ golf balls, all pre-1860 — “Possibly the finest and most complete collection of various stamped feather-balls of the different makers anywhere.”

3. Trophies and medals, “particularly those of ‘major’ tournament winners and a few other significant gold medals as well.”

4. His collection of personally owned and used clubs and balls — “This group would include items belonging to Old and Young Tom Morris to those of Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods.”

5. Golf documents from the 18th and 19th centuries, “including many from the Society of Golfers at St. Andrews (predecessor of The R&A) and from the Prestwick Golf Club (first site of the British Open Championship) regarding the early Opens and modifications to the formats of major professional and amateur tournaments.”

6. Chicago-related artifacts, particularly those dating to the 1890s and the first two decades of the 20th Century.

— David A.F. Sweet