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It's a good track, variety of holes, used most of the clubs in the bag. Not overly long, but it makes up for that with relatively tough greens - quicker than you'd think, and with more subtle breaks than you see. Well, than I thought and than I saw! I had 41 shots and 39 putts (including 6 three-putts). Never could get the speed right.

Anyway, I'll be back.

I hadn't played the River Course in a couple of years, but have played it maybe a dozen times over the past 5-6 years.

The course conditions (with one caveat) were as good as they've been in the past, and by past I mean, pre-Hurricane Maria. The bunkers are currently being repaired. Some are ready for the sand, others are still being reconstructed or finishing having the drainage replaced. So, most bunkers will play as GUR. No biggie. I mean, Maria was just 4 months ago.

Tees, greens, fairways - the vast majority were in good to very good conditions. The greens rolled true (most of the time) and pretty quick most of the time as well.

The wind was up when we played, but the weather was warm, mix of sun and clouds. Just beautiful.

The staff at Rio Mar were as friendly and as helpful and as genuine as they've always been. It was great to see some familiar faces after having been away for a couple of years.

I can't make a value judgment for you the reader, but I have no problem playing this course and paying in the $60 range. You get the course, the cart, water bottles, complimentary assorted peanuts from the cart girl, and practice balls. And you'll see the cart girl, I think it was, we saw her six times during our round. Some places you're lucky if you see her twice.

I have no complaints about my experience at Rio Mar. I'll be back. (I live here, so that makes it easy!)

I'm no stranger to this course. Have played it many times, was a member about a decade ago. Played it this time on a quintessentially perfect New England autumn day. Sunny, warm enough for shorts and long sleeves, crisp blue sky, leaves starting to change but not on the ground yet (so, no balls lost in piles of leaves!). Just a beautiful day all-around.

Course was mostly terrific. Greens, tee boxes, fairways, rough. Very, very good. The layout is a bit challenging, of course depending on the tee box you play. Local knowledge (or a SkyCaddie) helps, because of some target golf required (e.g. #2, #16), and some par-4s where driver will hurt you (e.g. #1, #5).

Again depending on your tee box, you'll have the opportunity to play most of the clubs in your bag.

Greens are pretty quick. But apparently most people who have played this course recently have NO concept of repairing pitch marks on the greens. I repaired at least 6 on EVERY green, and could've fixed even more if I had the time.

We had many choices yesterday, and we chose Canterbury Woods. We were not disappointed. You won't be, either...so long as you heed what I wrote above!

I've played both Rio Mar courses a number of times, and I realized this time that I prefer the River track. I think it's more challenging, offers more playing options, and is at least as pretty as Ocean. Mind you, I like Ocean very much, too. But if I could only play one of them, I'd choose River (notwithstanding Ocean's signature 16th, which is a delightful challenge when the wind's howling off the water).

If you're not hitting your tee balls straight, River will exact its punishment (for that matter, so will Ocean). I played from the tips (6,903 yards) without any warmup on the range or practice green and played the first 3 holes in +4 (one 3-putt and two lost tee balls), but then played the remaining 15 holes in +10 (all in all a good round for this 9.3 GHIN index player). More dogleg lefts (slight or more) than rights, if that matters to you (approx. 8 left and 4 right).

We've gone through a dry spell so the course was nice and dry; some of the tee boxes were almost too hard to peg a tee. Otherwise, the course was in good condition, not burned out or anything.

The people, as always, are terrific. I played on a Wednesday, and saw just ONE other golfer on the River course. If you can do it, play midweek. It's like you own the place.

I"m not wealthy, so I play when I can get a good discount. GolfNow is superb in that respect. I can't afford $100+ green fees. The HotDeals are truly worthwhile. If you're on vacation, I suppose the cost of a round of golf is less important than if you live here and want to play regularly. Nevertheless, as someone who lives here in PR, I'll pay up to around $70 to play the island's courses. Rio Mar River is well worth that price (and maybe more, if you're here on vaca).

Couple of pieces of constructive criticism for the course (if they read these):

1. Your bunkers need sand. ALL of them. They're little more than hardpan. FWIW, you're not alone. I found the same problem at Bahia Beach.
2. On a few holes you'll find so many leaves on the ground that you'd think you're in New England in October. Please vacuum them up. There are few things more frustrating than losing a ball because the ground is covered unnecessarily with leaves.

Other than that, my experience was very satisfying in every respect. I'll be back as often as possible (or as often as my wife will let me play midweek hooky).

I will always play BB every chance I get. It's that good an experience. I"m not wealthy, so I play when I can get a discounted rate.

Course conditions, layout, aesthetics, location, etc. are all well above-par, which in this context is a good thing!

But let me dwell on what I think can be improved.

1. Ball washers should have water in them. Too many of them were dry.
2. The tee markers should be placed where they'll fairly reflect the particular tees on the scorecard. The course played much shorter from where they placed the tee markers compared to what the scorecard showed for those particular tee markers. If I want to play 6313 yards (more or less) - the Gold markers - don't move the Golds so far forward that I'm effectively playing the Silvers, for example.
3. The greenside bunkers need sand. The two of us were in 5 of them, and they were all nothing but hard-packed dirt.
4. Unless I'm suddenly hitting my irons longer than usual, they may need to re-calibrate their GPS settings. Several times I overclubbed by at least one club (and not because I skulled the shot).
5. Rangering would be nice. We were a twosome being held up by a threesome. And we were holding up a foursome because of it. The foursome complained to a course employee (a pseudo-ranger?) which we overheard, but the pseudo-ranger never came to discuss it with us, perhaps because he knew WE were being held up by the group in front of us. What he SHOULD have done is told the threesome to step aside so we (and our following foursome) could play through. Mind you this is a deficiency of virtually EVERY golf course on the planet, and it's one of the leading causes of the scourge of golf, slow play or slow pace of play. Aggressive rangering would be nice.

Anyway, I could write twice as much positive stuff. I love the course. But I thought it might be more helpful to share what I think are its shortcomings, in hopes that they'll be considered.

Beautiful course, plenty of tee box options, great course conditions, lovely views, punishment is appropriate if your tee ball strays, tough but fair and true slick greens, wonderful staff, well-stocked pro shop, great grill room and pub. By any standard this course is a must-play if you're in the area (and if you're not, make a point of getting to the area).