Don9338589

This was my fourth time at Riverwood. Still getting used to this course of three nines. Played Deer Run and Riverview nines. They punched the fairways recently and with little recent rain the fairways were quite firm and rollout was long. Greens were in great shape and were fast. Overall a nice enjoyable round and I’ll be playing here regularly for sure.

A short blue collar type course but fun. 6100 yards from the tips. Fairways were rock hard with a lot of hard pan and areas that should have been marked GUR. They were doing a lot of tree work and that created the need for GUR.

Greens were on average smaller than most but rolled ok. Better than Crossings in my opinion. Interesting layout with a few
Long par threes and short par 5s and 4s.

For the $26 I paid as a Hot Deal in todays inflationary world I give this course a thumbs up.

I've been playing FV for many years. This course has had its ups and downs. It was purchased by Tradition Golf a couple of years ago, the same group that owns Chapel Ridge and The Preserve, two courses that are still better than FV but a long way away for locals to FV. I've been hoping that they would put some money into this track and it seems they are doing so. They've over seeded the fairways the last couple of seasons and that has really helped. The greens are Ok but not great. It's a challenging course, not easy by any definition,but not unfair or unreasonably hard. There's absolutely no homes on the course so if you like that, it's a plus here.

The main knock against my old friend FV is that there are always some bad lies that affect my play. Hard pan near greans, crab grass in or near the fairways, that kind of thing. I hit a great drive on 12 that went just off the fairway and it nestled in a tuft of crabgrass 170 yards out with a difficult carry over a hazard. Bad luck I guess, but it cost me a bogey.

If you're a 10 handicap or over, (especially if it's your first time here) don't be hesitant to play the white tees at 5900 yards. Short, yes, but you'll enjoy it more, trust me. It took me 10 years from the blues to learn that lesson!

If you walk this course, prepare for some extra steps. The distance between holes, especially on the back, is tiring. The worst part is that when you finish 18, you have another 600 yards or so back to the clubhouse. I often wonder why they don't just put another hole there to make this course truly unique. A 19th hole for betting or maybe a practice facility. Something...it's a waste of land right now.

But overall, it's a decent track with a range and two practice putting greens where you can chip and pitch as well. The staff is friendly though the pro shop is minimal in terms of merchandise. If they added a small locker room and a shower it would really help.

I'll continue to play here and am hopeful that the current ownership will continue to invest in improvements.

Played this course for the first time on a beautiful fall day. Very Pinehurst like without all the uppitiness and overhead. Modest facilities but very friendly staff. Great layout. Challening but fair. Greens were in great shape. I was told this course was in disrepair until the current owner put some serious effort into bringing it back. It shows. Its about 25 min south of Southern Pines and seems in the middle of nowhere. But very worth the drive and a great value through GolfNow. A Hot Deal would be a steal here. I'll definitely play here again.