“What’s past is prologue,” a fairly famous playwright wrote some 300 years before the first tee was planted in the old-boned grounds on the bluff.

 

A more modern turn on that Shakespearean phrase might be: “Yeah. All that history stuff is cool. But wait ’til you see what comes next!”

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An old soul at birth, Davenport Country Club today is a spry, vibrant and lively centenarian, ready to spring into a second century with pep in its step and many more remarkable chapters to pen.

 

The momentum gained over the past several decades continues into a second century, with innovative planning underway to make a great club even greater.

 

The newest wrinkle offers outdoor dining on an expanded covered patio overlooking the beautiful expanse of land that has awed generations Country Club members. In 2025, a state-of-the-art new irrigation system will be installed to keep that scenic panorama lush, green, and infinitely playable.

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Future upgrades may include simulator bays, an updated pro shop, major renovations to the swimming pool and surrounding facilities, and, possibly, new courts to accommodate a junior tennis program whose numbers have grown by 30 percent over the past two years alone.

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Pair that with fast-increasing youth and adult interest in pickleball, the hot new game in town, and further “net” gains are all but assured, said Tom Daily, tennis pro at the club since 1980.

 

Tennis and swimming programs for juniors long have been integral to the family atmosphere at the Country Club. And as membership skews younger, Panek and his staff continually look for innovative ways to keep the kids involved.

 

Holiday parties — Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Halloween and the Fourth of July — have grown increasingly popular, and the club stays busy year-round, with sledding and tobogganing offered on those old slopes beyond.

 

“We have made it a family-oriented club,” Panek said. “We built this big clubhouse and created special rooms kids can go into and not feel like it’s stuffy. We have created an atmosphere for families to feel welcome, for sure.”

 

New families certainly feel that.

 

“They do a good job with the junior programs and our kids are involved in that,” said Meagan McClimon. “And they do other family events, pool stuff, not just golf. We enjoy that aspect of it because that’s what we want it to be for us, too. Family friendly.”

 

DCC's DNA: Timeless Friendships

 

Tennis coach Daily has been pleased to see old blend with young as the character of the Country Club has maintained a generational through-line that would make Joe R. Lane feel comfortable were he walk through the doors today.

 

“I have grandparents bringing kids for lessons and I gave lessons to those grandparents,” Daily noted. “We round out a total club for the family. And that’s why I’ve stayed. I’ve had opportunities to move to other clubs for probably more money, but I have made so many lifelong friends with families I got to see grow up. I have always felt comfortable here.”

 

Indeed, while the friendships formed across the years have grown deeper for long-ago junior members like Dana Waterman III and Cal Werner, the welcoming atmosphere that was a hallmark of DCC’s DNA from the very beginning fosters newfound friendships today.

 

“Our kids have lots of friends out here,” said Kathryn Kunkel. “It’s helpful getting them out of the house with things we can all do together. And we have met a lot of people. What’s neat is the friends we’ve made are not just friends who have kids our kids’ ages. Kind of the whole spectrum, and it’s just neat to be able to hang out together.”

 

Tim McClimon has developed an appreciation both for what the club is and what it was across the past century by playing alongside older, long-standing members.

 

“I’m fortunate to be a part of a group of guys who show up for a game at 8 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. So I’ve gotten to meet a lot of great people that way — a lot of people who have been here for 20, 30, 40 years,” he said. “We talk a lot about how young the club has become but there are still a lot of longstanding members here, too. And they are really prideful of this place and they should be. I’ve played with BJ Weigle. Just to hear him talk about things going on now and contrasting them with his youth is interesting.”

 

As it ever was, the strength of Davenport Country Club is the nature of its people. As club president, Divot Ekizian was pleased — and a bit surprised — to discover DCC people are not just different from the stiff-upper-lipped, old-moneyed Chicagoans she grew up around, but different from fellow Quad Citians as well.

 

“I was at another club in town where a gentleman I had been friends with for years was board president,” she said. “He grabs my arm and goes, ‘Isn’t being club president the worst damned job ever?’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s a lot of work.’ And he says, ‘Divot, how do you make those calls to membership?’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, “About bad behavior? How do you make those calls?’ And I thought, ‘I haven’t had to do any of that. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’”

 

And, of course, the Course

 

Naturally, the widespread praise the Country Club has received in the wake of the 2014 restoration is a source of pride for Davenport Country Club’s members. Young and old. New and not.

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“It is so well recognized,” beamed Chuck Von Maur. “It’s the natural beauty of the land here. That’s the advantage. When you think how that place was built early on in the 1920s, with a horse and skiff, it’s amazing. And how it has survived.”

 

And thrived.

 

“It was a club that even when it first opened was well received and it has had a good reputation among people who know about it,” Bern Hofmann said. “That disappeared for a while in the 70s and 80s when a lot of new courses were getting built but I think people are starting to appreciate older courses a little more and what those architects did back then. How they really used the land.”

 

The high regard accorded Captain Alison’s course in state and national rankings is gratifying yet not surprising for longstanding members.

 

“The ranking is important, and I wouldn’t say it’s a flavor of the month kind of thing,” said Dana Waterman. “It’s great to be ranked, but for me what’s more affirming of where we are and what we’ve done is the input from the national raters and the architects. They come out here and write, as Doak did, about this being one of his 18 hidden gems.”

 

Still, appealing to outsiders is less important than staying true to the Country Club’s roots. “The greens and grounds committee didn’t have an objective of DCC being No 1. We wanted DCC to be improved, to be better and back to what it was at the start,” Waterman said.

 

A member since 2010 and someone who served the club in various board and committee capacities, Joe Judge appreciates DCC’s history and reputation.

 

“I’m by no means an expert,” said Judge, a Lane & Waterman partner who deems himself a weekend golfer. “I enjoy the history, even though  I can’t appreciate the subtleties of architecture. But I always knew at a minimum we had a good piece of ground. This is neat property and the golf course certainly flows neatly over it. I always appreciated that.”

 

He also has come to appreciate the way outsiders appreciate DCC. As a member of “A Thousand Greens,” an online organization that provides members access to courses and clubs across the country, Judge has enjoyed hearing from traveling golf enthusiasts who are eager to visit the Country Club and pleased with what they find on arrival. “People come from far and wide,” he said.

 

John Panek appreciates the golf course from the perspective of an accomplished professional, and he, too, revels in the respect it has gained.

 

“We do a good job of allowing raters to come in and rate the golf course and, of course, they love the place,” he said. “It’s a fun golf course to play. It changes every day, and the wind can make such a huge difference out here. Whether it’s a north wind or an east wind. Once in awhile the wind will blow out of the northeast and it’s just a pain in the butt to play out here. But it really is just a fun place to play.

 

“A lot of people, if they could name one golf course to play, this would be it. I get that. This place is so unique, depending on the tees you play, you’re going to hit almost every club in your bag. Which is great. That’s what you want. You want to be tested.”

 

On Course for Better

 

Jeff Hassel doesn’t need to hear from a GolfWeek golf course rater to know the golf course is something special. In fact, he’d prefer to keep it a secret.

 

“I’m not as into the golf rankings as some people are,” he said. “It’s cool that we have this and not everybody knows about it. That’s where I’m at. I know everybody wants the rankings and they want the glamour of it, but I’m like, 'Hey, this is the Quad Cities. We don’t want all those people here. Let‘s just do our thing.’ We’ve got a great country club community here. There’s no stuffiness. Nobody asks what you do. Nobody cares how much money you make. That’s not what’s important. What’s important is that we all get along and we have this great course to play.”

 

An accountant by trade, Hassel last year completed a six-year stint as club treasurer. With his understanding of finance and some exposure to top-flight golf beyond Iowa, Hassel well understands the value of a DCC membership.

 

“If you took this golf course and set it in Chicago, you would be able to charge a $100,000 initiation fee and whatever dues you want because this place would be the best golf course they have,” he said. “I’ve played Chicago Golf. I’ve played Shore Acres. And those are great golf courses, but this is a better golf course. If you put this in Chicago, this would move up into the top 20 in the country. I really believe that.”

 

It may get there yet, because Dean Sparks said the 2014 restoration only was a next step that set the old-boned playground on a course to grow better. And better. And even better yet.

 

“I always knew this was one of the best golf courses in the county,” he said. “I worked on quite a few courses that were rated in the top 100 and all that, but I knew Davenport Country Club was better. Just because of the layout and the land. The routing and the way the ridges are used, the creeks. You just can’t duplicate that.

 

“So I knew if we could come in here and do a renovation and do it right we could make this Top 100 and we could really have something the membership could be proud of. We could grow golf numbers. We could increase junior golf. We could do all those things that we’re supposed to do to make the game of golf grow, make the golf course great and be sure that people love it. To be able to do that in my hometown was even better.”

 

Clearly, all those things happened as the Country Club moved toward its second century. Yet, as the Bard (sort of) said, the best is yet to come.

 

“I knew it was going to take us multiple years to get where we wanted to be, but we were able to get a good start and then grow it from there,” Sparks said. “Coming from the TPC network, all those golf courses are new golf courses, so I had never really gotten an opportunity to experience one of the classic golden-aged golf courses. Even Crooked Stick was built in 1964, so it wasn’t that old. But Mr. Dye loved Donald Ross, Charles Alison, Alister McKenzie, and he was always all about trying to incorporate their designs into his golf courses. One of the things he talked about all the time that really resonated with me was that we build these golf courses but it takes 100 years before they really mature.”

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And the old-boned course continues to mature. As the ground has settled beyond the 2014 changes, the course’s bentgrass root systems have grown stronger and modern agronomy has continued to advance. Sparks is well-versed in new practices and technology that only will further enhance the course’s playability and challenge.

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Hassel said the club’s membership growth and increased revenues will provide Sparks the tools he needs to build on new agronomic practices and capabilities. The impending new irrigation system will be just a start on providing the accomplished young superintendent the advantages he'll need to carry the Captain’s Course deep into the 21st Century.

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Meanwhile, given a sound economy and anticipated population growth surrounding the bluff, the Country Club will continue to accommodate the needs of modern membership and remain the preeminent club in the Quad Cities.

 

“We try to invest everything back into this place,” said Hassel. “Not always the golf course, but down in Mulligans, upstairs and the pool. Because we truly try to be the family club and to be a family club it can’t just be about golf. Our next projects will take it to another level.”

 

Sparks envisions a golf course that can challenge some of the best golfers in the game. A third Western Open, cool as that is to imagine, likely isn’t in the cards. Now known as the BMW Championship, that tournament today is the second of three FedEx Cup playoff events, and still travels the country in an interesting homage to its Western Golf Association roots. Yet, at close to 6,800 yards from its tips, Panek suspects DCC is too short by modern professional standards, even with the possibility of a rolled-back golf ball looming.

 

Certainly, though, the renovated DCC would pose a considerable challenge for the best players in the State of Iowa, and, potentially, the top amateur players in the nation. The interest already is there.

 

“We just got a request to host the 2030 and 2040 Iowa Amateurs, and another request from the National Ladies Golf Mid-Amateur after 2028,” Panek said. “That typically features the best college players in the country. We could host USGA events. The men’s Senior Amateur.”

 

Events like that would serve to further boost the golf course’s national renown.

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“I think we’re still just scratching the surface,” Sparks said. “I think we can go higher in the golf rankings, have more prestige. I think the golf course is the quality that could host bigger events, which would bring more prestige to the Quad Cities.

 

“It would be better for our economy, better for everybody around. Our members would love it. If we could go that route in the next phase of where we are going, it’s just going to get better and better.”

 

Now, Let’s Party

 

Yes. The Country Club’s future is full of promise.

 

For now, though, let’s party with the past.

 

If you’ve read this deep into the “prologue,” it is a fair assumption you have a rich appreciation for the events and, particularly, the people who created a century of history on the bluff.

 

Davenport Country Club’s centennial celebration would not be possible without the foundational contributions of forefathers like Joe R. Lane, Reinhardt Schulz, Captain Charles Hugh Alison, Charlie Grilk, Edward S. Johnson, and countless other visionaries who first came to play in 1924.

 

Neither would a celebration of a century be complete without paying homage to the mothers and fathers — Alice and Charles Waterman, Mary Ann and Dick Schmidt, Fannie and Henry Bloch, Nancy and Julian Weigle, Elsie and Richard Von Maur, Nancy and Chuck Von Maur, Jane and Clem Werner, Mary and Larned Waterman, and so many others — who passed down to succeeding generations their deep and abiding love of the Country Club.

 

Pete Pelcher and the hundreds of disciples of the Pelcher Swing also should be celebrated, along with champions such as Doc Barton, Joe Von Maur, Nellie Staats, Dick Smith and his lost potential, Jack Fleck and a cadre of caddies who learned the game on the bluff, as well as the thousands of other accomplished DCC-bred players.

 

And, of course, no party could be complete without remembering Tommy Nobis and his golden Buddha Belly, and all the countless other colorful characters whose contributions to Country Club's personality and lore are indelibly rich.

 

These are the true authors of a Century on the Bluff. And they should and will be honored as glasses are raised in tribute to Davenport Country Club’s wonderfully eventful history.

 

As those glasses clink, think back to when Tom Bendelow, that famously nicknamed Johnny Appleseed of Golf, first laid eyes on the old-souled grounds on Mississippi River bluff, and told Joe R. Lane and friends: “You can have as good a golf course as you will find anywhere. You will travel long and far and not see another like it, and any comparisons that can be made with any other similar project will only redound to your credit.”

 

All these years later, the credit still is coming from near and far, from countless corners of the golf world. That is some resounding redounding if ever there was, and the happiest of Happy Birthday wishes to Davenport Country Club, an elegant old soul turning 100 years young.