Golf Course Information

Description

When the Illini Country Club was started in 1906, golf was already well established in Springfield. Almost a decade earlier, students returning from eastern colleges had brought the game back with them and set up a four-hole course inside the racetrack at the State Fairgrounds. Out of these informal though spirited activities, the Springfield Golf Club was born. A plot of fifty acres was leased on the west edge of town, a modest clubhouse was built, and a nine-hole course laid out on the rolling terrain of what is now Pasfield Park. There was one disadvantage--those who did not have a horse and buggy found it a difficult place to reach. They had to take the Governor Street trolley to the end of the line, walk a full half-mile south on Feldkamp Street past abandoned Kraus Park (last of the local German beer gardens), and then proceed another lengthy stretch west to the club entrance. Before the club was abandoned, the Lawrence Avenue line had been extended to Feldkamp Street.

After half a dozen years, these activities began to outgrow the restricted facilities of the Springfield Golf Club and late in 1905 a group of members, with P. Barton Warren as Chairman, met to discuss the feasibility of organizing a new golf club and constructing a clubhouse and golf course on grounds to be owned by the club. After much discussion it was decided to make the effort. Before proceeding with the organization, however, it was necessary to be assured of two prerequisites.

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