16 year old Jimmy sat on the front porch of a beautiful Long Island house. The sun was starting to come down on a summer’s evening, an hour outside New York.
The house was one of those old money houses in a wealthy neighborhood of a wealthy part of America.
Jimmy and his buddy, ‘Quack’ were taking a moment’s rest after a long day’s painting. As they sat there in the overalls the owner of the house came out to inspect their work. The 2 young lads stood up. The owner walked around the house saying nothing.
He came back to the 2 lads who were standing on the front porch.
He was impressed. Jimmy and Quack were diligent in their work.
“I hear you guys are caddies as well as painters?”, asked the owner. “That’s right sir” said Jimmy.
“Well how would you boys like to play Shinnecock Hills tomorrow?”.
Jimmy looked stunned. He had peered over the wall a few times trying to get a glimpse of what was apparently one of the best golf courses in America.
Shinnecock Hills was a place reserved for the wealthy elite, not two 16 year old painters/caddies. But Jimmy and Quack had a 3pm tee time the following day.
They made their way through the course on that special summer’s day, giddy with excitement.
As the 2 lads walked up the 18th fairway, clubs on their back Jimmy said to Quack, “I think that’s the greatest golf course in the world”. Quack laughed back, “Jimmy, you’re 16, you’ve played like 5 golf courses. How could you make a statement like that?”
Jimmy stood by his statement.
Big Boy Jobs
In the years that followed, the two young lads got big boy jobs.
Jimmy served his apprenticeship in the investment banking world and over the course of 10 years he worked hard, learned the trade before, in 1988 he decided to go out on his own. He and some colleagues set up a company called Sandler O’Neill & Partners. Jimmy was a New Yorker having grown up an hour out of the city so it made sense that they would have their HQ in New York City.
Investment Bankers are one of those job titles that we’ve all heard but most of us don’t know what they actually do. My understanding is they do a few things but one of the things they do is, say you want to sell your company or merge with another company, you need to hire someone to facilitate that deal. That’s what Jimmy Dunne and his company did. They help facilitate the transaction.
Jimmy was a deal maker.
His next deal was to bring his pal, Chris Quackenbush or, ‘Quack’ into the firm. The same Quack who he painted that house with in Long Island when they were 16 and who he played that first ever round at Shinnecock with.
Quack joined as a partner to Jimmy and other founders in their New York office.
Three Rules From Dad
Jimmy once got advice from his Dad. He said, “son, there are 3 important things in life apart from your health and your faith:
Marry the right woman
Go to the best college you can get into
Get good enough at golf so you’re not scared to death on the 1st tee”
Jimmy married a girl that grew up on the same street as him on Long Island. He went to college at Notre Dame and he got pretty good at golf.
In fact, Jimmy had fulfilled one of his boyhood dreams and had become a member of his beloved Shinnecock Hills.
Round Hill or Bedford?
But one of Jimmy’s big goals was to qualify for a USGA event, like the US Amateur or the US Mid-Amateur (the Mid-Am is for good golfers over 25, so they avoid all the young college bucks).
Around 2001 Jimmy was playing good golf. His handicap was down to 2 and his buddy, Quack said you should try to qualify for the Mid-Am. Qualifying for the Mid-Am would take place in the 2nd week of September.
Quack asked Jimmy which qualifying site are you going to play? Jimmy said, “I’m gonna go to Round Hill in Connecticut on the 10th.”
“Nah don’t go to Round Hill, you should go to Bedford the day after. You can get it under par at Bedford”.
Jimmy took Quack’s advice, as he often did, and went to Bedford for qualifying.
Bedford
Qualifying for a USGA event is a big deal so Jimmy was nervous but he got off to a decent start. He was +1 through 7 holes when an official approached Jimmy’s group.
Something had happened at Jimmy’s office.
Jimmy didn’t know what the official meant.
About 30 minutes prior, a plane had hit the building where his office was on the 104th floor of the South Tower, two World Trade Center.
Jimmy’s best friend Quack was in the building at the time, alongside 82 other people in his company who reported for work that morning. 17 people in the company managed to get out and survived.
Quack was not one of them.
Jimmy would have been in that building had Quack not told him to play at Bedford that day.
Not Something He Was Obliged To Do
In the months and years that followed, Jimmy did everything he could for the families of the people on his team that died that day, raising millions of dollars and putting a lot of the children through college. Not something he was obliged to do but something he did.
Q - In the Hole
9 years later, Jimmy teed it up at Shinnecock on a similar July day to that first ever day he’d played it with Quack. He got off to a good start, was under par after the front 9 before he stood up on one of the most difficult holes on the course, the par 3 11th. He had 7 iron in his hand but his caddie told him to switch to an 8. He hit a shot straight at the flag but couldn’t see where it ended up.
When his caddie walked onto the green he looked in the hole and saw the ball with a big “Q” on it. Jimmy always marked his ball after his mate Quack.
A hole in one.
Jimmy finished that glorious round in 63 shots. A course record at Shinnecock. His favourite golf course in the world. His old buddy Quack was smiling down at him that day.
One More Dream
Jimmy fulfilled one of his other dreams in July 2018 when he qualified for the US Senior Amateur Championship after a +1 round at Tavistock Country Club.
The Most Connected Man in Golf
Jimmy Dunne is now a member at Augusta National, Pine Valley, Cypress Point, Royal Portrush, he’s the President at Seminole and of course Shinnecock Hills. After Rory McIlroy won the 2026 Masters, one of the first people he embraced after his family coming off the 18th green was Jimmy Dunne.
He also helped negotiate the framework agreement between the PGA Tour and the PIF, the backers of LIV, in 2023.
Jimmy Dunne has lived a life and if you ever hear him speak you can see how he’s managed to have all the experiences that he’s had. He says, there’s not a day that goes by that he doesn’t think of his old pal Quack. He maintains to this day, Shinnecock Hills is the greatest course on earth.
Two lads painting houses on Long Island at 16.
The Read:
The Golfers Journal interview with Jimmy Dunne (podcast) which you can listen to here or other podcast platforms.
The Caddie’s Line:
Jimmy Dunne is the President at Seminole and he invited & sponsored Gerry McIlroy to the club where Gerry is now a member.