Draft:The Links at Riverside

The Links at Riverside located at 465 South Parkway West, Memphis, TN, 38109.

Originally envisioned as an 18 hole championship golf course overlooking the mighty Mississippi, the river had other plans. In a cruel twist of fate, or perhaps to demonstrate that it could not be tamed, the river changed its course shortly after the 18th green was completed, cutting off what is now McKellar Lake from the main channel of the river. The river’s erosive power weakened the bluffs upon which the original course sat and eventually holes 3 - 7 were abrogated by their watery overlord. A half-hearted effort was made to salvage the course but eventually, as developer fortunes dried up, the 9 hole course we have now was largely returned to the earth from which she was taken. It is no small miracle that she has survived to this point. In the intervening years her boundaries have been increasingly encroached upon by a multitude of industrial endeavors. One of her defining features - the Valero smokestack rising majestically above the third green - is evidence of this fact. But for those who are able to look beyond the crumbling drains, hazardous, joust-like gates, and trash filled lake, or through the noxious fog that hangs like a wet blanket at times over the course, you just may see a Phoenix rising from the ashes.