Rock Springs Park Alton Il

[JLIGON]

Sunday Golfers,

The Illinois gang will be at Rock Spring on sunday. It is Rock Spring Park and not Rock Springs Park. 11:00am tee off is good. When they have the xmas lights going which is the day after Thanksgiving to after Christmas it does not really bother the course but they lock the gates so you have to park by some tennis courts by the entrance. Golfers have to be out of the park by 5:00pm because volunters come in to set up to start charging for the light show. Hope to see everyone at the Park.

Jeff L
618-978-8316

[kaht]

I'm hoping to get out to the course today if my boss lets me leave early. Hopefully around 3ish. Where is the first tee at? I drove around the park the other day and saw a basket out on the northwest corner by 3 large cedars, so I got out to see which basket it was, and it was not numbered. Gonna be hard to figure out where the course starts if they aren't numbered

[MADDISC]

This is my new favorite course.

[REDARMY]

This is my new favorite course.

ditto, this place rocks!.

i can't wait to see it once pads/signs/trashcans/benches are in!

(and the small forest worth of fallen trees in front of 11 is moved )

[xlforlife]

great course played it yesterday after the winter league at sioux a little confusing but a great selection of shots hophe more people go to enjoy the course

[jeffthrow6892]

Hey,
I figured it's about time that I start posting on the message board, I've sure thought about doing it many times in the past. Anyway, I've had the chance to play this new course a couple of times in the last week or so, so I figured I'd throw my two cents worth in here. First off, Alton was a GREAT PLACE to get a course in, & I really want to thank the guys who made this happen, especially Jeff L. if it's true(I saw this somewhere on here) that he even paid for the baskets himself!!!

The park itself is very beautiful, although one concern I have is parking. Where will everyone park if there are tournaments here in the future? Maybe the Christmas lights & decorations are keeping me from seeing more parking, I don't know. But there doesn't seem to be much(if any) parking close to hole #1. And it is a bit of a hike from either the ball golf or tennis court parking lots!

As for the course itself, well, for starters it surely isn't an easy course, there aren't many birdie opportunities, you'd better take advantage of holes # 6,7, & 8 as those are the best chances to score a 2. As someone else mentioned, there seems to be more holes throwing UP hills than DOWN hills, & for me at least, throwing UP isn't nearly as much fun!! I don't want to be overly critical, but some of the pin postions are disappointing. One hole that comes to mind is hole #12, I couldn't understand why the basket had to tucked around a corner, when there was all these GREAT places to put the basket if you just went a little longer & to the right of where it is now!


Anyway, that's enough for now. I do like the course, it does have some cool holes(8,9,13,14 spring to mind), but I'm not so sure that I'm as taken with it as some others seem to be. By the way, watch the leaves on hole #18, especially around the green(Shawn Hopkins lost a red wizard there), they were almost knee deep in spots!!! ----------------------------------- Jeff W.

[kaht]

but I'm not so sure that I'm as taken with it as some others seem to be

For me, it's more about the location rather than the layout/difficulty/funness of the course. If you would have put a 9 holer in alton that was similar to the course @ SIUE I still would have been stoked about it. I read on these forums a lot about people getting to play a couple times a week, and with an hour plus drive for me to get to most of the courses in the STL area, that's just not an option. Having a course in alton finally put something < 30 mins from my house, which probably leads me to be more excited than I should be - but oh well

[jeffthrow6892]

Well, like I said in my first post on the Rock Spring course, Alton is INDEED A GREAT PLACE to get a course in, no doubt about it! But, as long as I've been playing this sport (since '82 or so!), it is impossible for me to play a new course & not look at the way it's set up & think things like: look at the hole we COULD HAVE HAD there, or why is the basket here instead of there, etc.,etc.! I'm NOT claiming to be a course designer by any means, although I think many of us would love the chance to design a course sometime. Anyway, I'm glad that you have a course closer to your area now kaht, I'm lucky enough to live close to Endicott, White Birch, Sioux, Creve, they are all within 15 minutes or so of where I live. But, I will not hesitate to travel some to play different courses!!

[MADDISC]

Jeff I think that this course is going to be somewhat like Centralia in that there will be long and short tees and long and short pin placements. I believe This course will be harder than Centralia played blue tees to long pins.

[JLIGON]

Golfers,

The parking situation at Rock Spring Park is a problem during the xmas light show. We are trying to remedy this. Any other time of the year you will be able to park at hole #1 by the pavillion. There is a method to our madness, 6 righty holes 6 lefty holes 6 neutral holes. The rest of the signs and trash cans and tee markers are being worked on.

Jeff L