For many years, Riverbend has had a plaque in the library that recognizes a course record of 57 by then Riverbend resident Bill Erfurth.  To many this has been a mystery since the actual scorecard was apparently thrown away by then club professional Jerry Derosa.  But a group of Riverbenders felt it would be appropriate that a plaque be made to recognize this great achievement. 

 

By a strange coincidence, Riverbend and Chicago area resident who produces a midwest golf program called Golf360 released an episode in summer of 2025 that among its content was an interview with Bill Erfurth, who owns titles in the Texas Amateur and Illinois Open. 

 

Board Director Ken Kotansky was able to track down Bill age 96 with a phone conversation in September 2025 to discuss his amazing feat.  Bill was the original owner of Seminole E and like many of our early owners, was drawn to Riverbend because of its charm and golfing opportunity.  He lived at Riverbend between 20 - 25 years and was eventually drawn to Texas to follow his grandchildren.  Eventually he and his wife moved to Chicago where he became a golf professional at Skokie Country Club, a northern suburb. 

 

Bill was very surprised that the plague still existed.  He was known for aiding other golfers on the range (without pay), and believed that was the reason his plaque and score card may have been thrown away. Understandably, he could not recall his scores by hole, but stated it was a $1 or $2 Nassau and all putts were played out.

 

Attached is the episode produced by Dave Lockhart.   At the time this story was produced, unfortunately Mr Lockhart was unaware of their mutual connection to Riverbend.

 

To view the program, look for the August 2025 episode linked below.