Willodell Golf and Country Club was officially opened in the spring of 1964, the actual “soft” opening occurred the fall prior in 1963, when the course was first played by owners and guests only. During this short period of play, the wives of the twenty five original owners played the course equipped with wooden baskets into which they deposited rocks they picked up between shots. It was, according to the remaining original owners, not uncommon to see a “conga line” of owners and wives spread across a fairway walking and collecting rocks still remaining from the original fields. The Willodell “ditches” are remnants of that farm. During this early opening the owners borrowed grass cutting equipment from Mount Carmel. In return, the Brothers played golf for free.