Riverside Golf Course is an 18-hole

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

public

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

course owned by the city of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

, United States. It is located on the banks of the

Presumpscot River The Presumpscot River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 30, 2011 river located in Cumberland County, Maine. It is the main outlet of Sebago Lake. The rive ...

History

Built in 1932, it was expanded to an 18-hole course in 1937 through funding from the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

. In 1969, the 9-hole South Course opened featuring a par 35 playing at 2,941 yards. From 1938 to 2010, Riverside hosted 42

Maine Open The Maine Open is the Maine state open golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not ...

tournaments, the most of any course in the state. In 2007 the 3-hole practice course was built for the use for junior programming. Throughout the winter the course is used for many winter activities, including cross country skiing, sledding, snowboarding, outdoor ice rink and snowshoeing. Between 2001 and 2012, the course operated at a loss that cost taxpayers almost $200,000. In 2016, the group Portland Protectors released a report that showed the course spent $25,000 a year on pesticides as part of its campaign to pass an ordinance restricting pesticide use in the city. In response, the course reduced synthetic pesticide use by 60% and installed bee hives. When the City Council passed a pesticide ordinance in 2018 requiring organic landscaping, the golf course was exempted from the requirements if it was designed through

Audubon International Audubon International is a not for profit 501(c)(3) environmental education organization based in Troy, New York. Established in 1987, the organization works with communities, developments, resorts, and golf courses in 36 countries to plan and i ...

as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. The course continues to use synthetic pesticides. The course reopened for the 2020 season with restrictions in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

Sports venues completed in 1932 Golf clubs and courses in Maine Parks in Portland, Maine Sports venues in Portland, Maine 1932 establishments in Maine {{Golfcourse-stub