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The dream of bringing golf to Portland, Indiana came alive in 1920 through
seven local men: Carl Bimel, Orville Easterday, Jim Fleming, Walter
Guedel, Paul Jaqua, George Smith and Louis Weiler. The proper corporations
were formed in 1921 and Bill Diddel, a very prominent golfer and course
architect from here in Indiana, was hired to design the course. Assisting
Mr. Diddel was golf professional Chandler Egan. Forty acres, purchased
for the course, came from Ervin Black and eleven more acres from the Crowell
Farm located just south of the city. The course and clubhouse were
completed and dedicated in November of 1922. Furnishings for the
clubhouse were purchased from Marshall Field's of Chicago.
The
first caretakers of the clubhouse were Tom and Katy Thornburg. They
earned a salary of $30 a month. They served vegetables grown in their
own garden and they took care of the cows, pigs, and chickens that were
on the farm that was on the course. The first club pro was Floyd
"Boots" Wile. Green fees were 50 cents for 45 minutes, with free
club membership. Caddies worked for 15 cents per nine holes.
Fairways were mowed by Tony Clark and Charlie Caster for 15 cents an hour.
As the years went by, some renovations were made to the greens and some
tee stations changed locations. In 1950, the east porch of the clubhouse
was enclosed and made into a dining area. Also, ten more acres, north
of the Salamonia River, were added. In 1964, an automatic sprinkling
system for the greens and a manual sprinkling system for the fairways were
added. The clubhouse went through another renovation in 1970.
From 1950 through 1970 the Portland Forge was a great friend of the club.
The Forge furnished equipment, materials, and labor to rebuild bridges
and help maintain and rebuild greens, parking areas and roadways, at no
charge to the club.
The biggest changes for the club came in 1986. A major renovation
of the clubhouse took place in 1986-87 at twenty times the cost of the
original clubhouse. At that same time, fifteen members bought 62
acres south of CR 200 S. The board of the country club and developer,
Steve Myers, who owned the land just south of the 62 acres, decided to
trade off some land to make more interesting fairways and building sites.
In 1988, Tim Dykstra of LaGrange was hired to design holes on that land.
The original drawings called for current hole #8 to become hole #2.
Also, the holes on the south side that make up holes #2-#7 were to go in
a counter clockwise direction. However, plans were changed to how
the present 18 holes are currently laid out. The new 18 holes were
dedicated and opened for play on July 4, 1990.
Changes began to occur in east central Indiana businesses and also in the
game of golf. The country club felt growing pains and went through
many plans of operation over the next several years. In 2004, the
club concluded that it could not exist under its current conditions and
decided to dissolve and put the club up for sale.
Now the "Portland
Golf Club"
Bids were taken and on January 1, 2005 Dave and Roberta Puckett became
the new owners. The name became the Portland Golf Club.
Upon acquiring the course, several changes were made to the clubhouse.
The lower level of the clubhouse was remodeled to move the pro shop to
the west side. This was done to improve operations of the course.
The entire upstairs was recarpeted, painted, and wallpapered. The
kitchen was brought up to date and Shanker's Bar and Grill opened for business.
For the course, several mowers and other grounds equipment were updated.
All sand traps received a tune-up. A new fleet of carts are now available
for use. The automated sprinkling system for all fairways and tee
stations are now complete. The green, next to #10 tee, is being renovated
for use. Look for more improvements to be made.
(Early historical
information compiled by Gordon Meeker) |
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Short
Biography of William Diddel
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The architect of the original nine holes at Portland was William "Bill"
Diddel. Mr. Diddel was a native Hoosier and did much of his work
right here in Indiana. Born in 1884, he became a very fine
athlete, being the first four sport letter winner while at Wabash College.
During his basketball playing days, the Wabash team only lost one game,
that being to Purdue by only one point. They defeated Indiana on
several occasions during those years.
In the early 1900's, golf was not a college sport at Wabash College, but
that did not stop Bill from becoming a fine golfer. He won the first
of his five State Amateur Championships while he was a freshman at Wabash.
Bill probably shot his age more than any other golfer in history.
(Bill shot his age or better for the 1,261st time in 1971)
Bill Diddel got started in golf design when he was asked to finish the
work started by Willie
Park Jr. on the Highland Country Club course in Indianapolis.
Willie Park Jr. had come from Scotland to spend a few years in the United
States designing golf courses. He had won the British Open twice in the
late 1890's.
The Ulen Country Club in Lebanon, Indiana became the first course that
Bill Diddel designed from the ground up. He either designed or helped
redesign over 250 courses with the bulk of these being right here in the
Midwest.
Back in the early 1930's, Mr. Diddel had the idea of using a limited distance
golf ball so that fewer acres of land would be needed in building a golf
course. He designed a ball and had it patented, but the idea never
became popular. Fifty some years later, Jack Nicklaus tried the same
idea, but it ended with the same results.
Mr. Diddel made great use of natural terrain in the routing of his courses.
His green designs varied based upon the strategy of playing each hole.
As you look through the list of the many courses that he designed, you
will see that the greens on these courses are the standout features of
each course.
Mr. Diddel loved the game. When he could not swing any more, he still
chipped and putted until his death in 1985 at the age of 100. |
Here is a
list of his nearby golf courses. A lot of you have played
many of these,
but did not realize they were William Diddel designs.
Anderson CC (Anderson),
Beeson
Park GC (now part of Winchester GC), Connersville
CC (Connersville), Forest Hills CC (Richmond),
Green
Hills CC (now Cardinal Hills in Muncie), Hartley
Hills CC (Hagerstown), Killbuck GC(Anderson),
Kokomo
CC (Kokomo), Marion CC (Marion),
Marion
Elks CC (Marion), Portland GC (Portland),
Shady
Hills GC
(Marion),
Tipton GC (Tipton) |
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