Rio Pinar Golf

Our group flew into Orlando to attend Bay Hill on Saturday and play golf in Florida. The weather was perfect and this was our first course to play on this trip. The
Cost was ridiculously low - high value. Conditions were a little rough but mo complaints for the money spent. We all remember when this course hosted a PGA Tour event and we’d watch in the locker room at our home course when snow covered the ground. We had a great time kicking off our trips first day of golf.

Once a PGA stop in the ‘50s-‘60s, Rio Pinar is a bit of a faded star. While the clubhouse is clearly mid-century modern and appears to have been recently restored, the course has some issues. The good news is the layout is a real gem with strategically placed bunkers, well designed greens that require a deft touch, and landing areas that favor the player that can work the ball both ways. However, the fairways are sparse with large barren areas and many of the tees are in bad shape. Even so, the greens are in pretty good shape, roll smooth, and are a decent speed. In sum, the course simply needs some some TLC and an opportunity to grow some grass which, given the time of year and business reality, is not going to happen. Indeed, the day I played (a Thursday) the course was packed and pace of play was marginal, at best. Overall, if you can snag a GolfNow Hot Deal like I did, Rio Pinar is worth a try especially given it’s historical significance as the direct ancestor of this week’s Bay Hill Classic!

this is a good course without many really challenging holes...some water to carry and some distance but not really all that difficult. This time of year with the winter visitors, who mostly can't play golf worth a sh.t...the rounds can take a really long time...nice carts, restaurant, beverage cart and a starter...not many course have all those anymore

Played the final round of our golf trip here and glad we saved one of the best for last!!!!! The brunch was amazing. The clubhouse and check in was nice and smooth. Loved the carts because it kept score and distance to greens. The course was beautiful and couldn’t have picked a better way to finish up our trip. I would definitely play here again.

Was the last day of our golf trip and couldn’t have picked a better course to finish with. Beautiful landscape, fairways, and greens. Would definitely play this when I come back!!!!!

Greens are as hard as a rock. Fairways are ok. Overall a nice course. My biggest complaint is the cart restrictions. It is the most frustrating thing to have to deal with. If you’re within a foot off the woods, the whole cart basically shuts down. They were complaining about the pace of play, but if it wasn’t for the dumb carts we would have cut an hour off hour day. Not exaggerating. This course is not worth the price, and I do not recommend. Probably will never play here again.

ALMOST EVERYTIME I try to get a yardage from the cart I have to close out of an ADVERTISEMENT that blocks the ENTIRE screen.

I think we paid enough to not look at ads the whole day, it just takes you out of things when you’re trying to hit your approach shot!

If you’re going to play here you might want to bring and use a range finder so you’re not closing out advertising 20 times a round.

We enjoyed the classic layout of this course. Small greens were in good shape. Fairways could be improved but overall an enjoyable round was had. The course has a great history.

Rio has been a favorite of mine for many years. Originally, I Loved the throw-back vibe and simple but challenging Floridian layout. Over the last 5-6 years it has been invested in and you can tell it's on the brink of being a higher end public club. The course is in the best shape that I've seen it, the driving range has expanded and will have Trackman enabled bays in the very near future and the staff are all very courteous, well dressed eager to help. Play it now before the raise the rates!

For awhile this course seemed like it was on the mend with the new owners. They are still working on it, but I was disappointed in the conditions of the fairways on the front nine. There were a lot of bare sandy spots. The back nine appeared to be in better condition.
The greens were super fast and hard.
I hope the conditions improve when we get a bit more rain. I will still be back.

We used this course as a warm up for our week long golf vacay. It was perfect for that. Very nice course for the price.

Very dissapointed with the changes and presentation of the Course.
Pace of play far to slow. 5hr round.
Marshall not prepared to help.

Great value for a nice course. Not to difficult (18 handicap). Would definitely recommend. Will be back!

Might have been the biggest surprise from our annual golf trip. We haven’t played this course in about 7 years.
Good - the clubhouse, restaurant, outdoor seating, ballroom have seen significant upgrades….simply amazing.
The course is very mature and has a lot of character. The layout is challenging and requires accurate tee shots, especially on the front 9. The greens were a bit brown, but roll very smooth and relatively fast. It was a nice touch seeing the cups freshly painted! Brand new carts delivered a couple days prior. Restaurant had an excellent lunch menu at a reasonable price. New trackman driving range is currently being installed.
Bad - The cart GPS geofencing needs tweaked a bit. There’s no reason why we had to put the cart in reverse and back out of areas. The fairways are bare in quite a few areas. Removing some of the MANY trees would help the average golfer.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with all of the improvements. I hope they continue to work on the course. This place has amazing potential.

The facilities at this course are amazing! Some of the best and cleanest on Course bathrooms I’ve every seen. Great clubhouse, restaurant and driving range. The course still has a ways to go, as the fairways were spotty in areas. The greens were brown, but consistent and fairly fast. It has great potential and hopefully they continue to work on the on course issues.

Fairways were bare of grass in many areas, the golf carts have ridiculous restrictions on their operation, the golf cart screen randomly emitted irritating beeps and froze up, the course was oversold and running behind on the tee times, the cart girl was absent until the eighth hole, and the overall experience wasn’t very good.

On the plus side, they did call to say they were running behind, the staff was pleasant, and we were paired with a pleasant visiting coulple.