BY TODD WINTER
Hello! I’m Todd Winter, the Assistant Director for the Rock Island Parks and Recreation Department. We’re here at the beautiful Highland Springs Golf Course. We’re going to talk about some of the great things we have going on here at Highland Springs, as well as some overall golf trends.
Golf Opportunities provided by Rock Island Parks and Recreation Department
Here at the Rock Island Parks and Recreation Department, we offer two 18-hole golf courses Highland Springs, which is where we are now, and Saukie Golf Course, which is our executive-style course, located in Rock Island. Here at Highland Springs, we do approximately 30,000 rounds of golf every year. We have several leagues, outings, and events. We do several fundraisers. We also are home to five local high schools and a college that utilize Highland Springs for practice and golf. And we’re home to the First Tee – Quad Cities here at Highland Springs as well.
Highland Springs Golf Course Opens a New Clubhouse
So we’re standing here in front of the brand new clubhouse at Highland Springs. Highland Springs opened in 1968. The previous clubhouse was original to the golf course. In 2020 we began fundraising to build a new clubhouse to really accommodate the growth in our outings and events, the growth of the First Tee program, and to really match the high-quality conditions of the golf course. Highland Springs has a great reputation for its layout and its course conditions. We needed a facility to match the playing conditions of the golf course. We broke ground in June of 2022, and we had our ribbon cutting our grand opening this past April.
Partnership with First Tee – Quad Cities
So here at Highland Springs, we are partnering with First Tee – Quad Cities. First Tee is a national junior golf program that has chapters located throughout the country and here we are part of the Quad Cities chapter. We began a partnership with First Tee in 2013, and we began programming junior golf through First Tee then.
One of the great things about First Tee is the nine core values, which they really try to tie in the skills that you learn in golf and how they can be applied to school and at home. So for instance one of the core values is honesty, and another one is respect. So the things that First Tee teaches you is how your honest on a golf course – You keep your own score, and you have to call yourself out for penalties. And then how are you honest at home? Same with respect you have to be respectful on a golf course – You’re quiet when other people are hitting, you have to fix your divots, replace your ball marks. Those things show respect on the golf course. And then how are you respectful at home? Those core values really drive home the skills that you learn throughout the golf and then apply at home.
We are really proud to be a partner with First Tee. This partnership provides sustainability for our facility. They’ve invested in our course. We’ve grown the First Tee program. They’ve expanded to several different courses throughout the Quad Cities now. This partnership is really helping to grow the game.
Golf Trends to Watch
We follow golf trends very closely to figure out the best way to promote the game and engage as many people as possible in this lifelong hobby. Since the COVID pandemic golf has really experienced a resurgence. In 2021, 3.2 million people played golf for the first time, which is a record. So those people are coming back to golf, or golfing for the first time, or golfing more. So we’re really trying to capitalize on these trends to help promote the game of golf.
Junior Golf
One of the ways that we’re trying to grow the game is through promoting more junior golf. With our First Tee program, we have over 200 kids that participate in our First Tee program every year. We also partner with several local community agencies, such as the Martin Luther King Center. Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs, and some of our local schools too, to get juniors into golf. First Tee helps us expand those community partnerships which are essential to us.
With the high schools and the colleges that you utilize Highland Springs, they’re also able to use the First Tee classroom in our brand new clubhouse. This classroom is not only a way to get kids into the First Tee program, but also a place for them to hang out – before their clinics, before the practices, before their meets – just giving them a space where they can feel comfortable at Highland Springs – interacting with adults, learning how to interact with our staff, and being comfortable on the golf course. We also have some Junior events – such as our Drive Chip and Putt event, which brings in over 100 kids to our driving range facility to engage the youth.
Women’s Golf
Another growing segment of golf is women’s golf. It’s the largest growing segment of new golfers. So we’re really trying to capitalize on that and promote and engage women in the sport of golf. One of the things we’re doing is several ladies’ clinics – including our Swing and Sip class, in which the women come out and go through stretching techniques, that are tailored to golf, with one of our personal trainers, from our fitness and activities center. And then they do a lesson with our teaching pro. Then after each after each session, they come inside our brand new clubhouse and enjoy a signature cocktail of the week. So that’s a way to engage women and get them more comfortable coming to the golf course. We also are offering more women’s merchandise in our clubhouse, and offering more women’s leagues, and our popular couples night.
Benefits Golf Provides
Golf is Helpful for People to Grow Professionally
One of the things we’re trying to promote here at Highland Springs is the benefits that golf provides. Golf provides several benefits, that I think get overlooked, oftentimes as far as parks and recreation services go. The skill of golf is very important for people as they advance through their careers. According to a report from CBS News, over 70 percent of Fortune 1000 CEOs have said that golf has helped them advance their career, and they’ve done business on a golf course. So learning the skill of golf – being competent, being comfortable around a golf course – is really helpful for people to grow professionally.
Golf Fundraisers for Local Charities
The other thing that gets overlooked with golf courses is the number of fundraisers that we host at our golf courses. Every weekend we have a fundraiser outing that a local organization is putting on that’s helping raise hundreds of thousands of dollars every year for local charities – and that’s happening at golf courses across the country.
Golf Courses Benefit the Environment
And then finally, the benefit to the environment that golf courses provide. We have over 20 acres of natural non-maintained no-mow areas here at Highland Springs. These areas help with pollinator stations, they help prairie restoration, and they’re home to several wildlife – we have deer, turtles, fish, fox – several wildlife that lives on our golf course. And then also the green space that golf courses provide. Saukie Golf Course, our other course is located in the middle of Rock Island and it provides over 120 acres of green space in an urban area.
Off Course Golf Activities
One of the biggest growing segments of golf is off course activities. Off course golf activities are driving ranges, Topgolf, indoor golf simulators, and technologies such as Toptracer. One of the things we’re trying to promote here at Highland Springs is our driving range.
Highland Springs Driving Range
We have a big, beautiful grass driving range that’s really seen an uptick in play in the last few years. We’re really trying to do whatever we can to promote that driving range. It’s kind of the gateway to the actual golf course too. It’s a great tool to use to introduce people to the game. One of the things we’re doing every Friday we have a two-for-one token special – our Friday Night Happy Hour. We’re also looking at doing some cosmic driving range with glow-in-the-dark golf balls and glow-in-the-dark targets on the range. For some family fun events, we’ll also incorporate some music, and maybe have our beverage cart and drink specials up there. Just whatever we can do to make it more fun and engage people in the game of golf.
Indoor Golf Simulator
In our new classroom, here at our new clubhouse, we have space for an indoor golf simulator. Indoor simulators have really seen an increase in usage over the past few years. We are going to add a simulator into our new classroom that will give us some year-round First Tee programming, and year-round use for our golfers to enjoy during the winter.
Golf is an Essential Recreation Service
Golf is an essential recreation service that many park districts and parks and recreation agencies provide to their communities. We should support golf the same way that we support tennis, pickleball, ball fields, and other recreational amenities. Here in Rock Island, I’m proud that we prioritize golf and promote the benefits that it provides.
Contact the Rec-lebrity
Todd Winter
Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation
Rock Island Parks & Recreation Department
(309) 732-7275
winter.todd@rigov.org
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