9o4oWPplIrcth4gsWURD

Played today and was pretty disappointed. I learned to play at Riverbend almost 30 years ago, playing over 100 rounds there over the years. It was always my favorite golf course to play and have fun at. I hadn't played there in quite some time because I moved to Olympia, but today I popped on to play 9 holes in the evening. I started out with smiles and great memories from rounds past , but after I got going, I discovered it isn't what is used to be, not even close.

First the good: Staff was great. Fairways are firm and in pretty good shape. Layout is still really fun and has great potential for all levels.

Now the bad and really, really bad"
Greens were still healing from being punched. It is mid May, why so late? Every other golf course I've played in the last month has recovered their greens from the spring punching, these seemed like they just punched them a week ago (or if longer, they are taking way too long to heal). They were exceedingly slow and bumpy.
Tee boxes were terrible on several holes, especially the two par 3s on the back. They had more dirt than grass. I'm not exaggerating, no grass in the hitting area with very uneven round and holes everywhere. Honestly it is embarrassing how much they have let it get away from them.

The "sand" in the bunkers is literally non-existent. I hit out of a greenside bunker on 15 and it it was 100% packed dirt! It is so frustrating to hit a shot over the green because there is no sand in the bunker. You have no chance of saving par without a very unconventional chip shot that no one ever practices because we expect sand to be in a sand trap.

With all the money they made selling the par 3 across the street and with golf being exceeding popular right now, you would think they would have the $ to do the simplest things like grow grass, and put sand in a bunker.

How are they going to expect to host the Riverbend amateur and other big events with the course in this condition? I was going to sign up but not this year.

I'm a 7 handicap and I played yesterday and this golf course could be great except...

First the good: Greens are wonderful, lots of curves, smooth, perfect grass and just the right speed.

Fairways are generally nice, most holes are dogleg and set up for a nice challenge.

Driving range is a bit short and I think they are using low flight balls but it is fine.

Pace of play on a Sunday morning was very good.

The bad: The bunkers are terrible! They look like they haven't been maintained in months and with the Covid no rakes policy (which every golf course is doing and I totally understand) they are simply a mess. Every other golf course I play, has the maintenance staff rake/maintain the bunkers frequently so even though the golfers aren't able to rake them, at least at the start of the day, they are good. Some of the bunkers have very little sand them them and it is just hard packed dirt. It makes getting out of them cleanly extremely difficult. Flying the ball 50 yards over the green is the norm when you use a normal, golf sand swing

If you get in a bunker, especially on the back nine, you might as well use your putter and hope. I'm an excellent bunker player and was really at a loss. I can't imagine how a person who isn't comfortable in bunkers would feel. I know it added strokes to my round and that is very frustrating when everything else is really good.

For a golf course in this price range, having bunkers in this condition is embarrassing. It doesn't cost them anything to have a maintenance person rake them with a machine regularly to try and fluff them back up, and considering how many there are on the golf course, you are very likely to get in a bunker while playing your round.

I know this feels like a small thing, and some would say "Just don't get in the bunkers" but that isn't realistic and it is so easily corrected. This could be a gem in the south end, instead it is frustrating and score inflating experience.