Cover Story: A Family Affair, Kaufman Family Marks 60 Years at Etna Acres

Gene Kaufman had an idea in 1959 that he broached one day with his father, Burlin, about 40 acres of land his father owned near the Wabash and Huntington county line. Gene and his wife, Joby, were living in Plymouth at the time, where he was an assistant golf professional at the local course.

“I was really interested in putting a golf course in, so I called my Dad late one night and I said, “Would you like to put nine holes on that 40 acres?’” he recalled. “I could see him sitting there, chewing on his cigar. I could hear my mother in the background saying, ‘No, no, no.’

“But, he said, ‘Yeah, I want to do that.’”

And that, in a nutshell, was the start of what today is Etna Acres Golf Course.

The course, which opened on July 4, 1960, will mark its 60th anniversary this summer.

The plan was somewhat risky, as golf courses dotted the countryside at several spots in Wabash, Huntington and Grant counties. But this course was going to be different, as it was going to be a public course.

“Huntington had nine holes … private,” Gene said, sitting at a table in the Etna Acres clubhouse, family members looking on and listening. “Wabash had the Wabash Country Club … nine holes, private. Grant County had Meshingomesia … nine holes, private.”

The closest public courses, he recalled, were in Fort Wayne and Peru.

“We both loved golf at the time,” he said, a small grin forming on his face. “As I look back on it now … we were pretty dumb. Pretty dumb.”

Golfers swap stories while enjoying food at the Etna Acres Golf Course

From Farm to Golf Course: Etna Acres

There was a barn Huntington and even Grant County there,” Gene said, needed. pointing in one di“They came out and they put up rection on the 40 acre with what we had, and they enjoyed site, then pointing what we had.” another way he added, “There was a log cabin back there. They raised chickens in the barn and Dad rented out the farm to my T h e g o l f course grows uncle. He had beans on it.” When the course opened, it was a

Gene had the course design Par 34 course. in mind, and both he and his father “It wasn’t 36,” Gene said, “because relied on various business ties they it was shorter. It was a little conhad to help make the dream become densed. Forty acres is tight for nine a reality. holes.”

“My Dad had connections with The course remained virtually bulldozers, dump trucks,” he said. unchanged for several years. One “He could move it all around. I knew thing the Kaufmans added was a what I wanted to build, where I clubhouse and then added on to the could get the grass seed and the idea facility in 1967. of how we wanted to lay it out, so we The clubhouse, Joby noted, laid it out.” was laid out similar to a house.

It was in late August 1959 that That was done, just in case the work began in earnest at the site. golf course didn’t make it, the Gene enlisted the help of some structure could be used as a home. Southwood High School students to Also growing in 1967 was the help build the course. course itself.

“We worked through the fall,” he “I had a chance to buy half a said. “We had a good fall. We seeded farm,” Gene said. “A real estate it. Some of it came up; some of it we developer wanted to put in a reseeded.” housing development clear at the

After taking the winter off, work east end. He took 30 acres and we started back up as soon as possible took 30 acres, so that made us 70 the following spring. acres.”

“We seeded some more,” Gene said. Again, he had the help of local “The boys came back out and helped youth in shaping the course. me finish up some plots where the grass “The kids from White’s Institute didn’t come up. came out and helped build holes “They enjoyed it. I paid them and five, six, seven and eight,” Gene said. fed them. They helped us move soil “We’d work them in the morning, and do the greens. They helped us feed them at noon and then they’d out a lot. It was kind of a big project. go back to White’s. It worked out We worked hard.” really well.”

The course, as noted earlier, More expansion came about in opened on July 4. 1991 when he purchased the land

“When we opened, we didn’t even that would become the back nine have the water lines buried,” Gene holes. Work started in 1991 and was said. “It wasn’t ready, but people finished two years later. accepted it. They accepted it and “The back nine was farmland,” he they came out. It was what Wabash, said. “That was all farmland. It was

Devin Dale, Assistant Pro at Etna Acres, helps a youngster with a set of golf clubs. Etna officials pride themselves in helping people of all ages experience the fun of golfing.

two huge fields, but it was rolling. It was nice for what we wanted to do.”

Joby and the couple’s daughter, JoDee Dale, helped with the design of the back nine.

“JoDee and Joby helped me with the ladies’ tees and other things,” Gene said. “They had ideas of some things I needed to do.”

The back nine added 90 acres to the course, bringing the total number of acres at the site to 160.

“That spreads it out,” Gene said. “We’ve got a lot of room. You don’t hear the word ‘Fore,’ hardly at all. We’ve got room for spectators for high school matches. When parents come out to watch their kids in junior matches, they can spread out.

We’ve got plenty of room.”

The front nine holes have a totally different look than the back nine holes, something he takes pride in.

“(The back nine) has that rolling look and you could see other things,” Gene said. “We wanted grasses out there, different color grasses. We love it in the fall when it dries up, then the fairways are real green, the tees are real green, the greens are real green, and then the browns and purples and yellows and the other colors come in to frame the holes. That’s what it’s supposed to look like.

The course also has its fair share of wildlife.

“We have turkeys. We have deer,” Gene said. “It has bird houses.”

And of course, the golf course’s mascot, the owl, can be seen from time to time.

“We have owls,” he said. “They’re in the woods back there. They come up here occasionally and sit on the sign out there. They’re all around. You can hear them in the evening.” A F A M I L Y ATMOSPHERE

The Kaufman family has run Etna Acres since it opened in 1960.

Joby, who sadly passed away in April, greeted golfers as they came into the clubhouse with a smile and a down-home attitude. She also was well known for the cheeseburgers she cooked on the flat-top grill in the clubhouse.

JoDee Dale helped by mowing greens and doing anything else that was needed. She still is at work there today, cleaning golf carts and anything else asked of her.

Her husband, Gary, helps out, and their son, Devin, became a PGA Assistant in 2017.

“We try to fit in where something needs to be done,” JoDee said. “I don’t mow the greens any more. I don’t do any of those things. But, I wash the golf carts or I’ll stock the cooler. We

A look at one of the tees on the back nine at Etna Acres. Joby and Gene Kaufman opened Etna Acres Golf Course on July 4, 1960. Etna Acres Pro and owner Gene Kaufman helps customers in the Pro Shop.

just all try to figure out what needs to be done and we just do it.”

But the Kaufmans and the Dales don’t do it on their own.

“We’ve had some great employees through the years,” JoDee said. “I’d like to think that some of those guys who mowed the greens for us … that we’ve made a difference in their lives, and they’ve definitely enriched ours.”

Because the golf course is family run, one thing the owners have tried to do is make it a family-friendly business.

“There are a lot of people that claim to be family friendly,” Devin said. “I think if you can run (a business) as a family, it makes it even more family friendly. I think being a family, you don’t have to worry about disgruntled employees. It makes things easier; it makes things more fun.

“I think a lot of people appreciate that. There’s not a lot of small businesses that are run like us. There’s nothing else that I’d rather do than this.”

Their family friendly plan is evident through one of their main goals.

“We love putting clubs in kids’ hands,” JoDee said. “If a kid comes out and he doesn’t have a club, we try to put one in their hand and encourage them to go out and get a few shots in.”

Kids aren’t the only people she encourages to try golf, her father noted.

“She gets on the ladies, too,” Gene said. “When their boyfriends or husbands come around and they just want to ride about and watch them play, she says, “Ladies can play golf too, you know.’

“Maybe she’ll put a club in their hand and tells them, ‘Oh, you’ll have fun while you’re out there.’”

When the time comes for Gene to hang up the golf clubs for good, he knows the course will be in the good hands of JoDee, Gary and Devin.

“It’s amazing the way it’s working out that way,” he said. “If it didn’t, I’d be at a dead end. This is the way it should be. I want them to go on with it. They’ll do a better job.”