New clubhouse will drive future of Highland Springs, First Tee QC

“Fore please, now driving First Tee of the Quad Cities and City of Rock Island Highland Springs. Cheers!” With those words, borrowed from The Masters’ first tee announcer Toby Wilt, First Tee Quad Cities Board Chairman Decker Ploehn led the first toast to the 50-year-old public golf course’s new 3,000-square-foot clubhouse and learning center on […]

"Fore please, now driving First Tee of the Quad Cities and City of Rock Island Highland Springs. Cheers!" With those words, borrowed from The Masters’ first tee announcer Toby Wilt, First Tee Quad Cities Board Chairman Decker Ploehn led the first toast to the 50-year-old public golf course’s new 3,000-square-foot clubhouse and learning center on Thursday, April 20. Rock Island Mayor Mike Thoms led off the ribbon cutting by saluting the “wonderful” collaborative partnership between the city and community to build the long-awaited clubhouse and First Tee Learning Center at Highland Springs. “Thank you,” he told the cheering crowd of some 150 supporters and urged them to “please pass the word, use the golf course and let’s help support the kids in First Tee.”

Todd Winter, the city’s assistant parks and recreation director, said that with the city-owned course’s new clubhouse “now we have a facility to match the outstanding playing conditions that our golfers have come to expect.” In addition to being an attractive welcoming point and giving golfers a place to relax before and after rounds, the larger clubhouse also can accommodate larger fundraising outings and provides a more accessible facility for all patrons and an outdoor patio area with enhanced views of several holes on the course. It also can host events year-round. “This new clubhouse will make Highland Springs a destination to golfers across our region,” he predicted. Mr. Winter also thanked the donors and the city’s partnership with First Tee, which made the project possible much earlier than expected, and the tradespeople who worked on the $1.2 million clubhouse, builder Estes Construction and the designer Legat Architects. An emotional Sarah Cross, executive director of First Tee of the Quad Cities, called Thursday’s event “a huge moment for First Tee'' since the organization's partnership with Highland Springs first began in 2013. As she stood at the podium in front of the new First Tee Learning Center, she turned the crowd’s  attention to a small bench next to a portable toilet near the putting green on the golf course, visible through the large windows behind them.  “That was our classroom for the last 10 years,” she said. “Isn’t that insane?” It’s also remarkable given that since the partnership began in 2013, “we have successfully programmed over 2,000 kids at this golf course alone,” Ms. Cross added. “When you hear a child who is no older than 10 years old talk about positive self-reflection and how they can help others and be respectful to everyone around them, it is inspiring to say the least,” she said. The First Tee leader called the new classroom a “game-changer” and she reminded the crowd:  “The youth we program are our future business owners, homeowners, board members and executive directors. They are all of us in 30 years, maybe even 20 years.” Highland Springs has partnered with First Tee Quad Cities to provide golf and life skills programming to youth from all backgrounds. First Tee introduces youth to the game of golf and its inherent values to kids and teens.  The new classroom, located inside the clubhouse, provides First Tee Quad Cities with its first permanent location in the Illinois Quad Cities. The collaborative project broke ground before a crowd of 70 on Thursday, June 16, when city leaders celebrated its First Tee partner whose financial contribution to the building helped move up the construction of a new facility likely by years. That’s because the golf course does not get tax dollars for its operations. It is supported by its patrons and its own sales. The new modern, more spacious clubhouse will also open a new revenue stream for the course via rentals. Launched in the Quad Cities in 2001, First Tee also is offered at Davenport’s Red Hawk and Emeis golf courses. In all, First Tee raised  $300,000 as its pledge for the new Highland Springs clubhouse’s construction. Other contributors, many of whom were thanked by Ms. Cross at Thursday’s celebration, included: The Bechtel Foundation, Jeff Bittner; The Carver Foundation, Roy Carver; John and Joanne Kettman; Quad Cities Community Foundation; Scott County Regional Authority; Doris & Victor Day Foundation; Vonderharr Family Foundation; Rock Island Community Foundation; and Bill and Dr. Sue Rector.