River Islands Golf Club

Beautiful course, French Broad River runs through course. Great scenery, course in good shape.

The Course is really coming around .. Major Improvements since March 2020

The course was in great shape Fairways and the greens were great grains were as good as I've seen them and I've been playing the course for over 25 years

I like to play different courses wherever I vacation. My trip to the Smokies in Tennessee was no exception. My last stay I played Gatlinburg and Sevierville which were nice courses with two different styles. The first being quite hilly and leaving you with tough lies that test your directional ability, the latter being kind of flat but with excellent conditions. Island Pointe was more of a combination of the two. Some areas hilly, some flat.. The greens were cut a little high, probably to help them to stay healthy in the heat. Of course that caused them to run slow, probably a 6-7 on the stimp meter. All in all the island greens were fair for the directionally impaired, but you had to hit your number because they were a bit narrow front to back. The fairways were wide and forgiving with little trouble. My only concern with the course was the lack of attention given to property maintenance. It is a very broken up course needing signs to direct you to the next hole. Some signs were on the ground, others missing. There were wood rails on the sides of bridges that were broken or missing, and the two plank bridges needed to be replanked badly. The place definitely needs an infusion of cash to bring it back to its original glory. Great place for a fun informal round. Very friendly staff.

Excellent course especially for the price. Incredible layout, greens were very healthy if not overly fast. About 9 on stimp I would guess. Rest of the course was also in excellent condition but man, DO NOT miss in the tall grass. Ball is GONE. No joke. Played here 5 years ago and would definitely recommend playing here if you are near by. But, bring your straight game. Lol

This guy came in jumps the man behind the desk in the pro shop. Told him that he was never going to play here again. The man behind the counter said that’s up to you and that’s all he said. My wife was so embarrassed , he use GD and The F word . He was out of control. He said his mother was taking chemotherapy, and he had her out in 95° heat ,not smart. He wasn’t too worried about Covid 19 while he was ranting and raving he didn’t have a mask on. I’m sorry my wife had to witness this and I’m sure the staff wishes he never comes back.

Neat course. A couple of beautiful holes just not taken care of very well.

It’s always a pleasure to come out and play Island Pointe. You won’t find a better layout in this area and the course is in great shape. The staff is always very friendly and makes us feel welcome every time we are there. If you are new to the area or coming from out of town this course is well worth the trip. You won’t regret it!

Loved the course, couldn’t have been better. Very challenging!

Great Course layout. Really good shape! Greens are on the slow side but understandable for summer heat.The bunkers are in need of some more sand. The cart path's are particularly rough from 16 to 17 tee box. Over all you can't beat this course for the money.

First off: I have been playing this course every summer for the past 20 years, so I’m familiar with its links style layout and pace of play. The new owners have really let this place go to pieces. Where should I start....Arrive for 9:22 tee time at 9:15, pay $52 for cart and greens fee, no issue with that other than this is a 40-45 dollar course at best. Since it’s covid-19 season myself and the other 3 of our group go down to each get our own cart. Starter gentleman informs us if we want our own cart, it will be an additional $12.99 cart fee (WHAT!!!??) So I go back to the clubhouse to see if this is the deal, and the man tells me, “yep, if you don’t want to ride with your buddy then you gotta pay for another cart fee.” Since my mom started chemotherapy this week, I pay the additional 12.99 + tax for my own cart. So now I’m $66 into a round of golf, but whatever it’s Saturday and golf with the boys is worth it. The starter guy is definitely techno challenged and can’t seem to operate the iPad tee time scheduler and gives us a run down of the rules (no carts on the greens, carts on path number 2 only, 90 degree rule, yada yada) and sends us on our way. For those of you keeping up, it’s 9:22am and we just tee’d off. Get to second hole tee box after an epic birdie on hole number 1, and we are behind a foursome who is waiting on the tee box for a foursome to get off a green 450 YARDS ahead of them!! Slow play, but we figure it will work it’s way out by the next hole or two. We spend the next 5 HOURS behind this atrocious group of teenage kids hacking their way all over the place, foraging for extra balls, waiting inordinate amounts of time for group ahead to get off 400+ yard holes (not one of these guys could even hit 200 yards on a good day) On hole 12 we asked them to pick up the pace or let us play through to which they declined. On hole 13 we called the pro shop to ask for a ranger to come out and straighten this mess out. Ranger guy comes out while we are on 14 and tells us we need to pick up our pace cause they’re getting reports of slow play. We explained to him WE CALLED the pro shop and it’s the group ahead of us causing the delays!! Then he tracks them down and talks to them finally just as the rain and lightning arrived. Long story short, paid $66 to play 14 holes, got soaked, and spent almost 5 1/2 hours doing it!!! Ridiculous!!! I returned my cart during the storm since we all had to abandon our rounds, explained to the gentleman in the pro shop that they are doing a very poor job of course management, and that after 20 years of playing multiple rounds each summer that I WILL NEVER BE BACK!! His reply was simply, “so what guy?” Well, guy, if you don’t have golfers coming out to play, you won’t have a golf course for long!! Simple as that. I love River Island and it’s been my favorite course for over 20 years!! But for that kind of money I’ll take my business to Egwani Farms, Willow Creek, or Avalon. Poor management, even worse customer service, and not taking care of the players health during a pandemic are 3 strikes for me. Sorry River Island, or whatever you call yourself these days. But you just lost the business of 4 loyal golfers and I’m sure more will follow. Avoid this place, I know I won’t be caught dead there EVER AGAIN!!!

Very challenging course, was a lot of fun. Greens were a little tough to read as they were watering different greens so speed was not uniform from hole to hole. Hole #3 is a beautiful par 3.

This is a very scenic course, challenging and the course is in good shape.

Haven’t played this course in years. Has enough challenge to make it interesting and fun, but doesn’t overwhelm you. Granted we played from the forward 2 sets of tees (we’re seniors) so some hazards were not in play. Nice views. Course in reasonable condition for July. Staff friendly. Had a beer/snack cart on the course part of time we went out. No food other than snacks. Not a lot of people on course so this was understandable. Club house clean. Staff wearing masks. Will definitely play course again.