There was a common phrase spoken at the North Shore Grille at the Bemidji Town and Country Club on Sunday night.
“It’s good to see you again.”
Birchmont Golf Tournament legends gathered at the BTCC clubhouse for the second annual Past Champions Dinner. It’s an installment that was added to kick off last year’s Birchmont. And this year, it came with some flair.
Tournament Director Curt Howard surprised several in attendance with his announcement of the
Birchmont Hall of Fame inaugural class.
It’s aimed to honor the great golfers who shaped the tournament into what it is today.
“To look around and see a lot of old friends and get to share this with them, it’s really special,” HOF inductee Jim Strandemo said. “This golf tournament has been fun for so long. There are three big resort tournaments, and Bemidji has the nicest golf course of all three. It’s an honor to be called back here, to be recognized like this as a four-time champ here.”
Strandemo was one of 12 people included in the first Hall of Fame class. The four-time Men’s champion joined Jody and Julie Gumlia, Harry Legg, Phil Olson, Russ Simenson, Mrs. George Wilcox, Glen Hasselberg, Jeff Wiltse, Jeff Tweeton, Paul Grovum and Dick Robbins as the honorees.
Strandemo hasn’t played in the Birchmont in 20 years, but had a historic run in the 1980s and 1990s. He picked up his first title in 1983, then won three more in 1990, 1994 and 1996.
“It used to be easy for me to get up here and play; I used to live in Mahnomen,” Strandemo said. “Now I live down by Prior Lake. The last time I was winning here, Sammy Davis Jr. was singing ‘The Candy Man.’ That’s how far back I go, but it’s a lot of good memories.”
Jared Rubado / Bemidji Pioneer
Legg is credited as being the first official winner of The Birchmont in 1926, and Wilcox won four times in the 1940s in the Women’s Division. Olson went back-to-back-to-back in the 1940s as well before winning his fourth championship in 1956.
Howard spoke of the “run of dominance” from the Gumlias. Jody won six championships, with her first coming in 1956 before her final title in 1969. Julie followed suit, taking home golf in four straight tournaments from 1972-75.
Howard also called Simenson the “closest thing to Tiger Woods” the BTCC has ever seen. Simenson’s track record at the Birchmont backs up the sentiment. He won three consecutive titles in 1987, 1988 and 1989, then climbed the ladder again in 1991.
Wiltse is a seven-time champion. His first three titles were consecutive in the Executive Division from 2002-04. He then won four Senior Division championships in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2022.
Jeff Tweeton had the most individual Birchmont wins of any player in the inaugural class. He won three Senior Division titles in 2003, 2005 and 2006. He then won six Masters Division championships, including a four-peat from 2020-23.
The title wins, however, comes second for Tweeton.
“I’ve played in every Birchmont except for two of them since 1972,” Tweeton said. “It’s a golf course, it’s a golf tournament, but it’s special because of the people. I’ve made some really good friends here.
“The Birchmont is unique because you get close to people from all over. You can show up and know you’re going to see close friends that you only get to see once a year at the Birchmont. That’s the main attraction.”
Like Tweeton, Hasselberg is still playing. Both are in the Master’s Division again this summer. Hasselberg, the longtime Staples-Motley High School golf coach, won his first Birchmont Championship in 1975. He also won a pair of Masters Division crowns in 2015 and 2016.
For Grovum and Robbins, their inductions were tied to their service to the tournament. Robbins was the starter for 15 years, showing up in the early morning hours and announcing each player off the first tee box long into the evening.
Grovum was the BTCC head pro when the Birchmont entered the digital age.
“As a hobby, I always enjoyed technology,” Grovum said. “Before I came here, there was an article written in Coon Rapids – that’s where I’m from. I said that if I weren’t in the golf business, I would’ve gotten into computers. We started using technology with Lotus 1-2-3, which was Excel before Excel. In a matter of three years, we were able to do everything in less time with less people.”
For Grovum, Sunday night was a nostalgia blast that brought him back to his days inside Birchmont operations. He reconnected with the players – former and current – whom he grew close to while serving as head pro.
Jared Rubado / Bemidji Pioneer
“It means a lot to me,” Grovum said. “I came here in 1979, and Curt was a junior golfer at the time. A lot of these guys were a lot younger. It makes me feel good to see them grow up and to see them recognized as well.
“When I came up here, I was almost surprised to see the same people year after year. This tournament is a reunion of friends. They would come up here and play. They’d have parents who would play, kids who would play. Grandparents come out and watch them. It’s something that continues on and makes this event what it is.”
Howard noted that the Birchmont board of directors plans to hang a plaque with the list of Hall of Fame inductees in the future. For players like Strandemo, who look back on their past days at the Birchmont fondly, Sunday night hit home.
“Of all the three tournaments, this one is the most family-friendly,” Strandemo said. “It always has been. There’s kids putting on the putting green every night. There’s a constant buzz in the clubhouse all week. It’s been fun, and it’s the most fun of the three. I’ve played in all of them, and I have a special place in my heart for the Pine to Palm as well because I grew up close to that. I just have a lot of great memories and good friends from this.”
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