Quad Cities Golf Courses & Tee Times in Iowa

Who runs public golf in Quad Cities

Cities run most of the public golf here. On the Illinois side, Rock Island Parks and Recreation runs two 18-hole courses: Highland Springs, a 1968 William James Spears design (par 72), and Saukie, an executive-length par 66 of just over 5,000 yards. First Tee Quad Cities runs its junior program at Highland Springs. Across the river, Golf Davenport runs Emeis, Duck Creek and the 9-hole Red Hawk, and Bettendorf's Palmer Hills was the Iowa Golf Association's 2024 18-Hole Golf Course of the Year. Privately owned daily-fee options include Golfmohr in East Moline, open since 1965.

Public courses worth knowing in Quad Cities

• TPC Deere Run: D.A. Weibring design on a former Arabian horse farm above the Rock River, over 7,200 yards, par 71; home of the John Deere Classic since 2000. Paul Goydos shot the 59 course record there in 2010.
• Saukie Golf Course: Thomas Bendelow design built in 1927 and opened in 1928; a city-run executive course, par 66, where many local golfers started.
• Highland Springs Golf Course (IL): Rock Island's longer city course, a 1968 William James Spears design, par 72 and slope 130 from the back; home base for First Tee Quad Cities.
• Golfmohr Golf Club: Ted Lockie design on a farm the Mohr family worked from 1867; opened as a daily-fee 18 in 1965 and now plays over 6,900 yards from the tips.
• Emeis Golf Course: Davenport city course opened in 1961 with a Palmer-Player exhibition; par 72 and home of the Quad Cities Amateur.
• Sugar Maple Golf Club: Par-72 18 outside Geneseo with bentgrass greens, bluegrass fairways and a grass practice tee.

Booking tee times in Quad Cities: the local rules

Rock Island's two city courses take tee times one week ahead for all open times, and groups can book further out by contracting an outing with a deposit. You need to be 18 with a driver's license to rent a cart. In Davenport, Emeis and Duck Creek book online, while Red Hawk is first come, first served. No resident-only booking windows turned up on either city's pages.

Why tee times in Quad Cities are hard to get

Golf in Quad Cities follows the seasons: spring openers and fall weekends are the busiest stretches, and summer mornings fill before afternoons.

Each course releases its tee times on its own schedule, commonly a week or two out, with residents of town and county courses often booking first. Leagues, outings and members claim chunks of the sheet in advance, and whatever prime weekend times are left tend to go on release day.

When tee time cancellations happen

Booked-up doesn't mean gone. Plans change: groups cancel ahead of the course's cancellation deadline (often 24 to 48 hours out), players drop when the forecast turns, and a group that shrinks leaves an open spot. Those times quietly come back on the booking page, usually for minutes, not hours.

How to get a tee time in Quad Cities

Doing it by hand? Here's what works.

1. Know the booking window. Find out how many days ahead each course releases times, and whether residents get an earlier window. Be ready the morning it opens.
2. Look again 24 to 48 hours out. That's when most cancellation deadlines pass and spots come back.
3. Be flexible on group size. Singles and twosomes fit into gaps a foursome can't.
4. Try twilight and weekday afternoons. They're the last to fill and often cheaper.
5. Widen the map. If your first choice is full, check the next town over. Le Claire has 1 courses on Yoink and Peosta has 1.

Read the full guide to getting a tee time when everything's booked