BAY LAKE -- Each golf course, whether the owner admits it or not, has a signature hole that best defines the course.
Ruttger's Resort on Bay Lake might be the only golf course that doesn't have a signature hole because the one thing that best defines the course was a man.
Jack Laimer began entertaining guests and golfers 12 years ago when he started working at Ruttger's. Now the entertainer has died, but Ruttger's reputation as a family golf destination still remains, thanks to Laimer.
"He ran the pro shop, but he called himself the director of golf, which was a title that he liked," said Jack Ruttger, owner. "His main occupation was speaking to groups and when he spoke he would refer to himself as the "director of golf at Ruttger's" Wherever he went he carried that title with him. He loved that title."
Many years ago, Laimer wrote about golf for the Waves'N Raves tourist publication published by The Brainerd Dispatch. He was a great promoter of golf, but Ruttger believes Laimer did his best promotion of golf when the tall, thin man with a style similar to a 1920s movie, was on the golf course.
"Anybody that came to within earshot of Jack, he would talk to," said Ruttger. "He talked to everybody. His communication skills were amazing. He never, ever said an ill word about anybody. If he was in a group that was talking negatively about somebody he would never add to that conversation. That was just his personality."
Quick with a free golf tip or just a simple hello, a better title for Laimer would have been ambassador of golf.
"I'm a lousy golfer," said Ruttger. "I do some things well and every time I do it I think of Jack. He's the only guy who ever gave me some tips. There were always little subtle tips that didn't disrupt your game. If I concentrated on those, then my game got better. Everything I've learned about golf I learned from him."
Laimer did it all at Ruttger's, from working at the driving range to giving golf tips to running the pro shop. But Joe Simons, a co-worker of Laimer, recalls one memorable one day when Laimer was working as a starter on the first tee box.
"The funniest thing I've ever seen in this place -- I mean he performed on the first tee. He was unbelievable," said Simons. "All of a sudden Bill, his son (the golf professional at Ruttger's) looked down and didn't see anybody going down the first fairway and he looked down at the tee and everyone was there. He hollered down, 'Dad get them going. You're backing them up.'
"He was entertaining 15 to 20 people down there. He was on stage. That happened five or six times out here. I just would giggle over it."
A number of people still frequent Ruttger's looking for their chance to once again have their day brightened by the resort's director of golf. When they find out the man with all the charisma has died, their day is almost ruined. But then they remember the day when they met Laimer and, like on the day they met, that customer is happy again.
"You could not walk up to Jack Laimer and walk away feeling bad. You always felt good having just even said 'good morning' to him because he had a special way of just even saying 'good morning,'" said Simons. "Everybody has wonderful courses and beautiful holes and all of this kind of stuff, but we had Jack Laimer."
Laimer died Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2000, at age 68.
To keep Laimer's memory alive, Simons and Bob Austin, who also worked with Laimer at the driving range, are selling golf balls found on the course.
The money will go toward a plaque that will be placed on a bench at the first tee box on the Lakes Course at Ruttger's. A place where Jack entertained, gave advice, and made everyone happy.
