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The 19th Hole: Mark Semm

By |  June 30, 2017 0 Comments

Mark-Semm_4-originalR_with_quote

Mark Semm
Superintendent // The Clubs of Cordillera Ranch, Boerne, Texas

Mark, wait… you went to Iowa State? I transferred (to ISU) in ’96, graduated in ’98. I started out in Minnesota, played some basketball there… I decided I wasn’t going to be the next Michael Jordan, so I had to grow up.

Man, I had no idea you were a Cyclone. But OK… what can I get you? I’ll take a Makers and Seven.

So now you’ve got screws in your ankle… I broke my ankle playing baseball with my boy. Now I’ve got tension wire in my ankle… it’s like when you have tension wire to keep a foundation from cracking!

Is this your worst sports injury? I’ve never had a broken bone before. It’s humbling. Today was my first day back in three weeks… I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I was worried — was I broke past the point of the 30-day exchange limit? I think the one thing I’ll learn out of this, with two kids… stop and take a breath and appreciate things.

What sports teams do you pull for? I’m Cubs, Bulls, Blackhawks. I grew up just north of Chicago in Zion, Ill. They’re my hometown teams. I spent more time my senior year of high school in the bleachers at Wrigley than I did in school.

So what did you do when the Cubs won it all last year? I was here at the house with Meg… she was conked out. When we won it, I jumped straight up in the bed and I broke our ceiling fan. I’m not going to lie, I was in tears.

How did you and Meg meet, anyway? We met in Dallas, she was living in Wilmington, N.C., finishing her Masters… it was a wedding set-up. We walked down the aisle together. It’s going to be 13 years this fall. We have a daughter, Kaitlyn, a dance fanatic, and a son, Ryan, a baseball nut.

Tell me about the first and second time you met Arnold Palmer. I am humbled to talk about my time spent at Augusta, but… when I was an intern, I was on 13 green. Palmer, Nicklaus and Player are coming through. I got off to the side. I was a ways away, but Palmer starts walking towards me, which made me nervous. He introduced himself, and I was like, “Oh, (expletive.)” We talked Iowa State for a minute… I came back to Augusta the next year as an assistant. Those same three are coming down No. 15. Mr. Palmer sees me and says — like it was yesterday — “Hey Mark! Weren’t you here last year? How’s Iowa State? Did you graduate?”

As interviewed by Seth Jones, May 23, 2017.

This is posted in 19th Hole, Featured, People

About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 18-year veteran of the golf industry media, is Editor-in-Chief of Golfdom magazine and Athletic Turf. A graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Jones began working for Golf Course Management in 1999 as an intern. In his professional career he has won numerous awards, including a Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) first place general feature writing award for his profile of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman and a TOCA first place photography award for his work covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In his career, Jones has accumulated an impressive list of interviews, including such names as George H.W. Bush, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong and Charles Barkley. Jones has also done in-depth interviews with such golfing luminaries as Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price and Lorena Ochoa, to name only a few. Jones is a member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association. Jones can be reached at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.


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