Riverway Golf Course

I live 5 minutes from the course and play quiet often. My saying to new comers is it is not a fun course but it is defiantly a good course. Many holes allow you to challenge either water or bunkering. Greens are always in great shape and one of the driest. Strong finish on both 9's allowing easy bogeys and tough pars.Can easily play 20 times a year and not be bored.Good diversity on par 3's and 4's and the par 5's are not overpowering.Visually pleasing . Must play to test your game.
Chopper

It's been a couple of years since my last review of this course so it was time for an update.

Highlights:

Course conditions have improved. There are some notable course improvements with the addition a new tee box on No.11 plus improvements to drainage and curbing on some other tee boxes.

The green were in really good shape having been aerated approximately 1 month ago. Rolled true and were pretty quick ...I'd estimate about 9 on the stimp which is pretty quick for this time of the year.

The course improvements are slowly coming but at least one can see signs of improvement which ought to be commended.

The Practice Range has seen some improvement as well. There is a more consistent placement of flags, targets and distances for players to practice their alignment and distance control.

Another thing is that the range has added some launch monitors so that for $6.00 for a 15 minute session, golfers can get some feedback on things like club head speed, ball speed, carry distance, spin, etc. It's not a Trackman or FLightscope that uses Doppler radar, but it uses camera technology to capture the basic data and uses the CPU to calculate the data.

All in all, its nice to see more improvements at Riverway. It's becoming the premier municipal course in the greater Vancouver area.

I wanted to provide a follow up to my previous review to provide a more recent assessment.

I found the course to be in an improved condition. The greens were in excellent shape -- they seem to have beaten back the fungal infections that had plagued the greens in the previous year.

Despite an unseasonably dry year, the fairways and tee boxes were in really good shape. The tee boxes should still be renovated in the near future to be more level and more friendly to the recreational golfers.

Again, the only major drawback is the food and beverage service provided -- great facility, good staff, but the focus is still on weddings and special events rather than golfers or individual non-golfing patrons.

Summary - all in all a pretty good municipal course. It gets lots of traffic so during the summer time, there are lots of fairway divots, and the tee boxes/greens get lots of traffic. Some capital investment could turn this course into one of the premium courses in the Metro Vancouver region.

All in all, a good place to play within the city. Rounds are slower, averaging about 4.5 - 4:45 hours.

Tees - 2/5 the course offers multiple tees, but there really is not much difference between the two middle tees and the forward (red) tees. I often play with seniors and intermediate women who find the length discouraging. The condition of the tee boxes needs investment to refurbish them. They need better drainage, leveling and maintenance.

Greens - 3.5/5 ...the greens have struggled with disease/fungus and it has compromised them in several areas. They try hard to rescue the greens, but it needs work too. It gets so much traffic that many people don't repair their ball marks.
The greens themselves are nicely positioned, with some good undulation and a good size.

Fairways - 4/5 ... the real strength of this course is that their fairways have really good drainage for the wetter months (November - February). When it is dry, the fairways are a good test of golf with some undulations, decent target/landing areas and a good mix of forced carries, narrowness, and bunker/hazard placements.

Food & Beverage: 1/5 ... this could be a major strong point...they have a beautiful facility, good kitchen and good food...but alas, they are more focused on weddings and special events than they are with serving the after golf crowd.
More consistent hours, and a more customer friendly focus would easily escalate this to a 4/5 rating in my book.

Practice facilities - 3.5/5 ... a good practice range, serves night time and daytime, winter months are made bearable with good gas heaters. They have a "bonus bucket" program during special hours (ie: extra balls). They also have a practice green, short chipping area and a practice bunker.

very good muni course, challenging, good condition