I spent a lot of my childhood at the old Rock Island Golf Course, the nine hole course that was used before the water level was raised behind Rock Island Dam. I remember each hole vividly as my brother and I would head there for a round and then follow my dad’s group as he played in the men’s league. The second hole was a great par 3, your tee shot going over a creek in front of the green (most of the time). And the fifth hole, a par four with a hidden bowl shaped green where I got my first eagle, a shot from the fairway that landed well right of the hole but I was told by people on the sixth tee box, rolled right down the hillside and into the hole. The sixth hole was a par 5 that ran along a road. I remember a story about someone who hit his tee shot down the road over 400 yards and it bounced back in bounds by the green.

So it is with great interest that I heard that the course would definitely be expanding to 18 holes, the extension to be in the flat area in the background, across the same road the sixth hole used to run beside.