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Bendelow, Diddel both molded Kokomo CC■ The course's current layout dates to the 1920sSo who designed the Kokomo Country Club? The KCC's home page states; “The Kokomo Country Club began in 1904 with the construction of a nine-hole golf course designed by renowned course designer and a founder/charter member of the American Society of Golf Course Architecture, William Diddle.”This certainly does not seem to be the case. Diddel (the correct spelling) was born in 1884 and was a freshman at Wabash College in 1905. The official listing of Didders courses does show that he redesigned KCC's existing nine holes and added a new nine holes in 1925.k_Jon KelleyLOCAL GOLF COLUMNISTEven the KCC registration for National Register of Historic Places indicated that Diddel started his design career in 1923. His listing of courses indicates Highland Golf and Country Club in Indianapolis was his first course which was designed in 1921.As indicated in the previous article, Tom Bendelow visited the club in 1905 and suggested a number of changes to the club. Bendelow was the “Johnny Appleseed of American Golf.”Born in Scotland,Bendelow immigrated tothe United States in 1892 or 1893. In 1901 he was hired by Spalding and served as editor of Spalding’s Official Golf Guide until 1917 when he joined Wilson Sporting Goods. He sold golf balls, clubs, offered lessons, organized play and designed courses.He was probably the most prolific course designer in history, designing 600-1,000 courses. He designed the original East Lake in Atlanta where Bobby Jones learned to play and MedinahNo. 3 where several majors have been held. Wikipedia noted that much of Bendelow’s work was sarcastically described as “18 Stakes on a Sunday Afternoon.” This was not an uncommon design approach in Bendelow's day. Essentially, the architect would simply drive stakes into the ground to designate tee, fairway and greenlocations, usually completing the work in a single day.Bendelow is credited with the KCC design with a date of 1906 in the listing of his courses. And based on the reference to his 1905 visit above it is certainly likely that this was the origination of his official 1906 credit for the KCC design. It appears that the original design in 1904 was laid out by Mr. “Loring.” Bendelow was also the designer of the Mississinewa Country Club (Indian Oaks) and Wabash Golf Club (Honeywell).After the purchase of an additional 50 acres of land south of Boulevard, the KCC hired Diddel in 1924 to design the new course making it an 18-hole layout. Much information is available in the KCC's registration for placement in the National Register of Historic Places — the linkof which can be found at the Wikipedia entry for the Kokomo Country Club.So Diddel is the most recent designer of the KCC. Diddel has designed many courses in Indiana between 1921 and 1971 and over 300 overall. Both Diddel, and another legendary Indiana course designer Pete Dye, were designing courses into their 90s.Diddel was also a tup athlete. Diddel is also the only five-time Indiana Amateur golf champion. He also lettered in four sports at Wabash College and was elected a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.In Hole No. 4, Kokomo gets a public golf course.Jon Kelley is an active golfer and local golf historian who contributes columns to the Tribune. He may be reached by email at jon_kelley@comcast. net.
Newspaper Details
Kokomo Tribune
Kokomo, Indiana, US
Sat, Jun 30, 2018
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 19 May 2022
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