Golfers Brave Cold Snow For Eskimo Open At Cog Hill
(CBS) -- It may be snowing and cold but that does not mean it isn't golfing weather. WBBM's Nancy Harty reports some braved the elements to play a round Sunday.
It is a tradition at Cog Hill in southwest suburban Lemont. Club owner Frank Jemsek says the first "Eskimo Open" was in 1963, when the Bears were playing the Giants for the NFL Championship.
"The idea was we put a tower up to draw in the game from South Bend because it was blacked out in Chicago and we played golf and watched the Bears beat the Giants," Jemsek said.
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Ever since then, the chance to play 9 or 18 holes in the snow and cold has appealed to adventurists.
"It is a little bit crazy, just like the people who go dip themselves in Lake Michigan every year," Jemsek said.
150 people signed up for this year's event, but 83 came out to play. Over the years, they've had as many as 400 people turn out. Last year's polar vortex brought out the smallest crowd - only 35 braved what Jemsek calls "absolutely horrible" weather with the high around 12 degrees and six inches of snow on the ground.
The course is open every day of the year except Christmas, Jemsek says.
They don't clear snow off the course, so he suggest players use colored balls or drill a hole and run a ribbon through their ball so they can find it in piles of snow.
