Links at RiverLakes Ranch

Bunkers are trash. They are muddy even at the end of the round after the course has dried up. There’s 4-6” of water in the bottom of each bunker. And muddy spots in the middle of the fairway on multiple holes.

Course was fine, but why in the world is there no drinkable water on the course at all?? It is over 100 degrees and there is play being slowed down by maintenance workers watering greens but none available to drink. That is unacceptable. That issue needs to be corrected before someone has a heat stroke because of no available potable water.

The greens were in great shape. Pace of play of fast. We only waited to tee off for a few minutes at the 10th hole. Of course it was middle of the day in the summer in Bakersfield. The only issue was that the restaurant and pro shop were closed by 5:00 pm so we were unable to get something to eat or drink after our round.

amazing staff, cart girl, and Lounge Staff.

Great experience start to end, Steady past of play, some golfer let us slide ahead no problem, others passed us and were very nice about it, greens were soft and firm, fairways were a little dry.

but overall great course to play on the 4th of July.

When I made the reservation they didn’t inform that they had aeration close for the front nine. So I played back nine twice which I hate to do. It was waste of money.

A Really fun layout. Don’t need Driver on every hole.
It’s a poor man’s PGA. West Stadium. Lots of bunkers and water. Need to play it some more to gets some knowledge. . Great practice facility and cool old school Ranch designed Clubhouse and Restaurant..

Fun day, greens were good and fairways are in good condition. Bunkers are dirt or mud. Overall , fun course

Zero sand in bunkers.
Golf carts in terrible shape and only 3 1/2 years old as people treat them like ATVs. Perhaps some Marshall’s to keep the carts of the par 3 terrain and off the greens.
Grill room has very very limited hours.
Staff if’s very friendly.
Great layout.
A little attention to the course and this could be a jewel.

We got there went to check in and was first told we had no reservation. Then he found it but told us that we shouldn't have been given a reservation because there was a tournament going on! We ask where to get our cart and he said we'd have to got to the cart garage! We get there and no one was there. We finally see a guy who didn't know anything and didn't know where the cart guy was, there was one cart sitting out we ask if we could have it he said I guess and gave is the key. He said since there's a tournament check in at #1. We to hole #1 once again no one there. So we just started and let the people in the tournament play through. The course was a mess, it's not marked well for yardage and was hard to see which T was what. There marked with a piece of wood that's painted on the to so you can't see it. Also our cart started really slowing so we only got to play 7 holes!!

Played as a single and was added to local group of 3. We later added another friend of theirs. I walked while they all road in carts. Played mid-day on a Thursday. Never saw a marshall and never saw a refreshment cart, though the course was busy. We finished in 4.25 hours.

Greens in very good condition. Fairways healthy but hard and did not seem to have much of a cushion. This made iron shots from the fairway more challenging than usual. I did get a fair amount of extra roll on tee shots. Bunkers were bad, containing dirt that was very hard in some places. That was okay for fairway bunkers but greenside with high lips it was not. Combined with a very ragged apron with clumpy grass around many greens, it became obvious that if you missed a green, you wanted to miss it short to get a decent and fair lie. And you wanted no part of greenside bunkers which required a high lofted pitch with great precision instead of a typical bunker shot.

With a load of good sand in the bunkers, better uniformity around the greens, and a tree added here and there, this could be an exceptional golf course.

Course is flat and fairly easy to walk BUT the back nine has hundreds of yards between several of the holes. I walked more between the holes than I did on the actual course. The only 4 beers they have on tap in the grill are Bud, Michelob, Coors, and Coors Light. Luckily they have other beer in cans. I have found this to be the case of most public courses in the Bakersfield area.

My son and I played on a Friday, and there was a bit of breathing room between foursomes, making the pace comfortable and unpressured.

I consider this course my home course. My son and I use the practice tee, chipping green, and putting green once or twice a week. We wanted to play a round together on Saturday. We thought maybe the course would partner us up but it did not. In fact, there were several pairs playing and they allowed 3 singles scattered in between us with book end foursomes. Although the course Marshall was nice he did nothing to speed up the round. We eventually skipped two holes and played 16 holes in a little under 4 and a half hours. It would have ended up being almost 6 hours which is not right even on a slow day. I would normally give this course a 4.5 rating but today it gets a 3. Next time I’ll stick to an earlier tee time, if I can get one?

I always enjoy playing here. Challenging layout. This was my first time playing the blue tees, much harder. They had recently punched the greens, and with the warm weather we had, they got pretty slow late in the day. It happens. With warmer weather on the way, this will be in great shape in a month.
Great Day.

We really enjoyed playing this course. They also have an amazing practice field for chipping.