The First Tee Quad Cities and Rock Island Parks and Recreation are partnering to renovate the Highland Springs Driving Range practice facility and expand junior golf programming.

The First Tee is a golf program designed to introduce youth to the game of golf through golf and life skill instruction through the First Tee Nine Core Values: Honesty, Integrity, Sportsmanship, Respect, Confidence, Responsibility, Perseverance, Courtesy, and Judgement. The First Tee program at Highland Springs will give children of all backgrounds access to the game of golf and the life skills that the sport teaches. Throughout the summer of 2017 over 175 children from Rock Island Parks and Recreation day camps, Martin Luther King Center day camps, Boys and Girls Club, and more have participated in the program at Highland Springs.

The driving range and practice facility at Highland Springs will close on August 1^st, 2017 to undergo a major renovation, made possible by funding from the First Tee Quad Cities. The project will include three target greens on the driving range that will double as a short-course for the First Tee students to use for the player assessment portion of the First Tee curriculum. The renovations also include construction of a chipping hole with a practice sand bunker. This hole will also be used for the First Tee player assessments. The Driving Range will reopen in the spring of 2018.

Overall, the project will enable Highland Springs to expand it's First Tee programming and provide a better overall practice experience for all users of the Highland Springs driving range and practice facility. Todd Winter, Assistant Director, says, "The upgraded driving range will offer everyday range users five target greens and fairways to aim for and a 50 yard short game practice hole complete with practice sand trap.” 

For more information on the project, the First Tee program, or other programs that Highland Springs offers please contact Todd Winter at (309)732-2277 or winter.todd@rigov.org.