mattthatsme

I love this course. It is always in great shape and the staff keeps things moving. Excellent views all along the course. I'm pretty picky when it comes to recommending courses, but I would recommend this course to anyone without any reservation (ok, one reservation - if you play during peak hours and don't qualify for a discount it can be pricey).

River Island is one of my favorite courses in the Knoxville area. The course conditions are always among the best in Knoxville. The new greens roll beatifully and the fairways are plush. The course presents a good challenge, especially from the back tees. More often than not, the staff is friendly, but there have been a couple of times when that has not been the case.

This course has great potential. Unfortunately, over the last couple of years the course has really struggled in two key areas - 1. maintaining course conditions and 2. managing pace of play.

There are a couple of drivable par 4s. Hole 5 is kind of a quirky and 18 is just plain goofy (terrible finishing hole), but other than that, the course has a really fun layout.

The last couple of seasons the course conditions have been pretty rough - lots of dead spots on greens (issues with boring insects too) and bare areas in fairways. I hope that doesn't happen again this year.

Pace of play has also been an issue. I've never seen a ranger.