Saukie Golf Course gets ready for new $1 million clubhouse

John Gripp has some great memories of the Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island. He especially remembers going to the course’s old clubhouse and having fun with friends and family. “This place has always been special. There’s a lot of family memories here,” said Mr. Gripp, director of the parks and recreation department for the […]

John Gripp has some great memories of the Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island. He especially remembers going to the course’s old clubhouse and having fun with friends and family. “This place has always been special. There’s a lot of family memories here,” said Mr. Gripp, director of the parks and recreation department for the City of Rock Island.

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Now, the city leader hopes new memories will be made with a new generation of golfers at Saukie. That’s because the old clubhouse – a nearly 100-year-old structure – was demolished a couple of weeks ago to make room for a new $1 million clubhouse. About 50 guests from golfers to business leaders gathered Tuesday, Oct. 1, at the Saukie Golf Course at 3108 38th St. to help welcome that new clubhouse with a ground-breaking ceremony. The new clubhouse will be built at the site of the old structure, which is now a fenced-in area on the north end of Saukie’s parking lot.  In fact, several outdoor tables and chairs from the old building were still in the parking lot during Tuesday’s ceremony. “We want this new clubhouse to be a year-round operation for golfers,” Mr. Gripp said shortly after the brief ceremony held on a mostly sunny, but cool morning. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this. … This (new clubhouse) has been a longtime coming.” If all goes according to schedule, foundation and exterior building work will begin next month. (The clubhouse project is currently in the permitting stage, Mr. Gripp added.) The new building is expected to be built and ready for golfers by the time the course opens for the season next April 1. Since the former clubhouse’s demolition last month, a trailer has been brought on the course grounds and is acting as a temporary clubhouse for the remainder of this golf season and until the new building is ready in the spring. It is located on the south end of the parking lot by the old Stone House. The current golf season will end around Nov. 15, depending on the weather, said Todd Winter, Rock Island’s assistant parks and recreation director. When that new clubhouse is ready, it will offer modern amenities and accessibility for both golfers and the community. In addition to being a great place for golfers, the clubhouse needs to have the features to bring in money to help fund Saukie Golf Course activities, said Mr. Gripp. He added that a new clubhouse also will help the economy in the neighborhoods around the Saukie Golf Course. That’s because there are relatively few businesses and amenities are in the area, he said. Here are some of the planned features of the new clubhouse: 

• The new clubhouse will have about 2,500 square feet of space.

• It will have a golf simulator.
• Meeting space to rent out to groups and organizations.
• An office, kitchen and dining area.
• Outdoor seating.
• Estes Construction of Davenport is the construction management firm.

Funded through the Park and Recreational Facility Construction (PARC) Act, the project is part of the Rebuild Illinois capital improvement program, administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.  The City of Rock Island announced in January that it was awarded $901,800 in funding from the Illinois PARC grant program to build a new clubhouse at the city-owned course. The PARC grant was among 13 grants totaling $28 million awarded as part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Rebuild Illinois capital improvement plan.  During Tuesday’s groundbreaking, Mr. Gripp thanked city and state officials for working together to make the dream of a clubhouse a reality. He also thanked the many golfers who made private donations totaling thousands of dollars to help the project at the historic golf course. Built in 1927 and opened in 1928, Saukie was designed by Thomas Bendelow using teams of horses and mules. Spanning 110 acres, the executive-style course features majestic oak trees, rolling terrain with ravines, doglegs, small greens and tough par three holes. “This public course is considered to be an ‘executive length’ course and is a classic example of a short course that will challenge every golfer,” according to the Saukie Golf Course website. At the event, Randy Hurt, Rock Island mayor pro-tem and Second Ward alderman, praised the historic course and the new clubhouse that will help it serve a new generation of golfers. “This is going to help a beautiful golf course,” he added.