I give River Ridge Golf Club in Raleigh, North Carolina (there's another River Ridge GC in Oxnard,…read moreCalifornia) 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. In a nutshell, the course was in good shape for the price paid ($80 including range balls) and my overall experience with the facilities, customer service, etc. was good. This appeared to be a solid, everyday, daily-fee course. If that's what you're looking for, I recommend it. You should be satisfied.
If you call the golf shop to book your tee time, you can avoid paying the online convenience fee. When I booked, the convenience fee was $2.49 per golfer.
Our $80 rate was for a 2:12pm tee time on a Sunday -- peak rate, not quite at twilight rates, which I believe begin at 4:00pm during the "summer" season. As mentioned above, the $80 included a small bucket of range balls (20 balls, normally $4) and cart for 18 holes.
My friend and I considered walking, but this isn't the most walking-friendly course. It's hilly and some of the distances between greens and next tees aren't close. Also, River Ridge doesn't have push carts for rent, which I like to rent if I'm walking. Harry, in the golf shop, told me he looked into them at one point.
All of the staff we interacted with was nice. They included Harry and Randy in the golf shop and the starter. Since this was my first time playing at River Ridge, the starter gave me a tip about the greens. He said every hole was cut into a slope. Therefore, for uphill putts, you have to "pound" them in and for downhill putts, you have to let them trickle in. I could never get comfortable with the greens and pin placements here, but that's just me.
The greens were in very good shape. I was a bit concerned since it had rained a lot the week leading up to our round. However, the greens were firm and not dinged up. They didn't roll super fast, which is what we expected. I thought the speeds were fair. I noticed most, if not all, of the holes on the practice green were cut into slopes, I guess to prepare you for the course's challenging pin positions.
The driving range was mats only. There was also a sizable short game area, great for chipping and practicing sand shots. River Ridge has a big practice bunker, which is a plus. The practice facilities were busy before our round and when we made the turn.
This place was popular, as evidenced by the full parking lot when I arrived around 1:20pm. Multiple cars circled the lot to find an open spot. When I booked three days in advance, the earliest tee time available for Sunday - at least to the public - was 2:12pm for two. The other two slots at our time were already taken. They turned out to be members (and friendly people). While on the practice green, we saw groups stacked ahead of us. Even though it was cart-path-only with foursomes as far as the eye could see, we finished 18 by 6:30pm, meaning our round took about 4.25 hours. That's a pretty decent pace of play for a public course on the weekend. Good job, everyone. We did experience a small wait at 10 tee, but the back nine was smooth sailing once we were off.
The course has a fair amount of large sand traps. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the sand. You never know what you're going to get in terms of bunker quality at public courses in this price tier. For example, we recently played at The Preserve at Jordan Lake and Chapel Ridge. Unlike those courses, where some bunkers might have a mix of sand, dirt, clay, rocks, and/or mud even, River Ridge had proper, fluffier sand and it was consistent in every bunker I saw.
The fairways were also in consistently good shape. Again, at public courses in this price tier, it's not uncommon to encounter a fairway or two with some rough patches. I don't recall any here. Now the tee boxes were closer to what I expected. And even still, they managed to make those look OK. I have to hand it to the course superintendent, Craig Hooks, and the rest of the River Ridge staff, who really maximize the course conditions given what I'm sure is a somewhat limited budget.
River Ridge is a par 72 or 71 depending on which tees you play from. This is a short course by today's standards. From the tips (black tees), it measures 6,769 yards with a 72.6/141 rating/slope. My playing partners played from the blues (6,206 yards, 70.3/134) and I played from blue/white hybrid (69.2/129). White distance is 5,756. I like to play closer to 6,000. Despite the relatively-shorter length, the course was still plenty challenging with strategy involved in every shot. Some courses, you can just whack it out there, but here, you have to think a bit more about where you want to place your shots. There's a greater emphasis on course management.
The course was beautiful with rock outcroppings, a few scenic ponds (Nos. 6 and 17 come to mind), and a layout/routing that naturally flowed with the hilly terrain. It's an interesting, engaging design.
Unfortunately, there were no on-course restrooms nor a food and beverage cart.
