Ambassador for the game: Connell, Dalhousie's director of golf, has always focused on making sport enjoyable

In November of 1980, a golf pro from Mounds, Ill., left the nine-hole Egyptian Country Club after five years and headed west.

The short trip over the Mississippi River to Cape Girardeau might not have qualified as a journey, but the ensuing 25 years have.

The 30-year-old professional went to work at Cape Girardeau Country Club, equipped with a growing knowledge of the intricacies of operating a golf course, a transferable grasp of the golf swing, a love for people and the game, and the perfect golf name -- Jack. He even had a few key letters -- 'N', 'C' and'L' -- in a two syllable last name that rolls off the tongues of golfers.

To be sure, this was not the great Jack Nicklaus, an 18-time majors winner and a world-wide ambassador of the game.

No, this was Jack Connell, and he has become the unofficial but widely regarded ambassador for the sport in Southeast Missouri.

"When I think of golf in Southeast Missouri, I think of Jack Connell," said Dalhousie Golf Club member and former Cape Country Club member Ken Smith, who has known Connell for 20 years.

Added Cord Dombrowski, a managing partner at Dalhousie: "If there's a Mr. Golf in Southeast Missouri, in my opinion, it's Jack Connell.

"Jack is an institution to golf in this area," said Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson, who joined Cape Girardeau Country Club in 1992. "I'm not saying that he necessarily earned that through his golfing prowess, but I think he's an above average golfer. When I say that, it's his ability to make golfing fun. Ever since I've met Jack Connell, he's always had a smile on his face and been laughing, and he's always trying to make the experience better for you. He really is what a golfing community is all about."

Over the past 25 years, he's used a fun, positive approach to enhance a sport that has grown by leaps and bounds. His affection for the game has touched golfers of all walks -- men, women and children, members and nonmembers, good golfers and bad golfers.

"There's absolutely no favoritism with Jack Connell whatsoever," Smith said. "Whether you're a 1-handicapper or a 25-handicapper, he'll spend the same amount of time with you."

Dombrowski went a step further: "He doesn't care whether you went to college, junior college, didn't go to college, are a physician or someone who works in construction. He treats everyone the same, as well as we all should. But he's even more that way."

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Connell grew up in a golfing family in Cairo, Ill. His mother and father belonged to a club and he took up the sport around the age of 8. Jack defers most of the golf talent in his family to his older brother Byron (Connie), who played collegiate golf and for the Air Force.

Jack's path into golf was less glorious and didn't forecast a lifelong impact in the game. Connell attended Meridian High School, which didn't have a golf team, and he later failed to make the team at Murray State, where he did graduated with a degree in business management.

His decision for a life in golf seemed like the only logical path.

"I knew I liked people, I knew I liked to serve people, and I knew that if I was going to spending any spare time it would probably be at the golf course, so I ought as well get paid for it," Connell said.

His first job came at Egyptian Country Club, where longtime friend Gary Squires was greens chairman. There began a working relationship with Squires that has been intertwined since and come full circle. Squires later worked for Connell at Cape Girardeau Country Club and does so now at Dalhousie.

"I guess on paper, when he was the president and greens chairman, he really was the boss," Connell said. "But I don't feel I'm Gary's boss. We just work together and try to get the job done."

Their friendship has been tested and forged at all three locations, and left the two men loyal to the end.

"He's the best friend I've got on earth," Squires said. "We've had times where we had a little hollering and shouting going on, and people that don't know us might think, 'Whoa, they're about to get after it.' But that's part of being friends."

With Squires' tutelage, Connell learned the intricacies of maintaining a golf course.

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When the pro position opened at Cape Girardeau Country Club, Connell was ready to move up to an 18-hole challenge. And with a family started, it also presented a better financial opportunity.

"The Cape Country Club and all the members helped raise me," Connell said. "I was 30 years old and it allowed me to have a bigger, better 18-hole course."

It also allowed him to defer the ground duties to a superintendent.

"I felt like I could do more good working with people," he said.

In his early days in Cape, Connell found himself working out of a pro shop that was removed from the clubhouse. That had to change with the people-oriented pro, and it eventually did.

"I needed to be hearing about their good scores and their bad scores," Connell said of the relocation of the pro shop. The relationship between pro and its members grew tight as they grew accustomed to his loyal service.

Dombrowski was previously a member of Cape Country Club, and recounted how he used to see Connell spending the night during some of the club's big events.

Connell admitted a habit of sleeping in the pro shop on Friday and Saturday nights during the annual Braves and Squaws events, where he guarded visitors equipment from vandals and charged the golf carts throughout the night.

"I was kind of guarding the premises and was making sure I woke up the next morning on time," Connell said. "That was my one nightmare -- oversleeping at a major tournament. I never did, and I never wanted to."

While golf pros frequently jump to different clubs, Connell ended up spending 20 years at Cape Girardeau County Club.

He began working with juniors almost immediately, and has been involved ever since. He's been the district director for the Gateway Junior Golf Association since the 1980s. He was presented the Junior Golf Leadership Award by the Gateway Section in 1989 and has been nominated numerous times.

He also became a close partner with the Central High School golf team, which has used the Cape Country Club as its home course approximately 40 years.

Dick Wadlington, who has been the Central golf coach for 30 years, lauded Connell for his support of the team and for helping the club understand the importance of supporting high school golf. Wadlington said there were years when 30 to 40 players tried out for the team, which put extra demands on the course.

"I don't think Jack ever said, 'Coach we can't do that,'" Wadlington related. "It was, 'We'll find a way to do that.' I feel fortunate for all those years I got to work with Jack and his wife Cathy at the country club."

Wadlington recalls Connell taking the coach's son, Jason Hartling, to golf tournaments during the summer, driving a van and spending the night on the road with a group of players.

"He's the most influential person in youth golf for the last 20 years," said Wadlington.

Connell has three children of his own, and his eldest son, Jack Jr., is a sophomore and one of the top players this year for the Tigers, who are undefeated in duel play this season. His daughter, Casey, 25, played for the Southwest Missouri State golf team, and his son Corey, 12, is also active in the sport.

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After 20 years at Cape Country Club, Connell encountered one of the most difficult decisions of his life, and it eventually led to leaving many good friends behind for a unique opportunity.

When several members of the Cape Country Club developed plans to build a private, high-end championship course in Cape Girardeau, they wanted Connell to be a part of the project.

The new facility would be called the Dalhousie Golf Club, and it was the course that Connell had always dreamed about, and more.

"It was something I had to pray about," Connell said. "It was a decision that once I saw the vision of ownership at Dalhousie, I felt like I wanted to be a part of."

Connell became the first person hired by Dombrowski, becoming the director of golf. It was a position that could showcase Connell's enthusiasm for golf, people abilities and also distance him from the everyday chores of running a golf course.

"Literally, Cape Country Club lost a terrific ambassador when Jack went to Dalhousie," Knutdson said. "But what the country club lost was Dalhousie's gain.

"And I applaud Cord Dombrowski because he was smart enough to know that going into an endeavor like this. You can have the best facility and best course, but if you don't have the right people to sell your investment, you're in trouble, and he knew what Jack was all about.

"Cord is a a smart businessman, and he knew that Jack would bring a sense of communication and friendliness to make this successful."

While Connell had to leave many friends at Cape Country Club, not all were left behind.

Ron Seabaugh was among the group that left the Cape Country Club when Connell went to Dalhousie.

"The Cape Country Club lost about 60 or 70 members," Seabaugh said. "He's the reason a lot of us are here -- along with the course."

For Connell, taking the job was a leap of faith that has paid off. Dalhousie, designed by Gary Nicklaus, was selected as one of the top 10 new private courses in the nation by Golf Digest for 2003, was named the state's second-best golf course by Golf Digest in 2005, and already has been awarded the Missouri Men's Amateur Championship among other tournaments.

"I know in the 30 years I've been in the golf business, Dalhousie is the most dynamic golf course that has been established in the Midwest," Connell said.

The course has enrolled Karen Stupples of the LPGA as a touring professional and has begun its own youth golf program, with which Stupples and Connell are both heavily involved.

Connell said the course will provide for the growth of golf in Cape Girardeau, presenting the type of challenge needed to develop higher level players in the area.

"I'm a little kid," Connell said. "I've got a great imagination. And I tell people all the time that it is very hard for me to imagine that this golf course and complex could already grow to how great it is now."

Connell's primary duty is what he does best -- making sure golfers are enjoying the golf experience. He sets up games for members, provides helpful swing tips -- "He knows guys' golf swings from three holes away," Dombrowski said -- during players' rounds, will give hole strategy to players unfamiliar with the course, provides yardages, spots balls and whatever else is necessary, or even unnecessary.

He's a general go-between for members and management. The perfect place for a man who loves both golf and people.

"The Lord has definitely blessed me and changed my life," Connell said. "He's blessed me throughout the years to serve people with an attitude that He's hopefully proud of."