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Rating Index Rating
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4.6
1079 Reviews (1079)
5 Stars
681
4 Stars
325
3 Stars
55
2 Stars
12
1 Stars
6
Conditions
4.6
Value
4.6
Layout
4.8
Friendliness
4.7
Pace
4.2
Amenities
4.4
96.0%
Recommend this course
1037 out of 1079 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
4.5
14 Reviews (14)
5 Stars
7
4 Stars
7
3 Stars
0
2 Stars
0
1 Stars
0
Conditions
4.4
Value
4.6
Layout
4.6
Pace
4.5
Amenities
4.2
StaffFriendliness
4.8
100.0%
Recommend this course
14 out of 14 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
4.6
73 Reviews (73)
5 Stars
53
4 Stars
14
3 Stars
4
2 Stars
2
1 Stars
0
Conditions
4.6
Value
4.6
Layout
4.7
Pace
4.3
Amenities
4.4
StaffFriendliness
4.8
94.5%
Recommend this course
69 out of 73 reviews
Read Reviews
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AI summaries based on real golfer reviews
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Course Highlights
River Ridge consistently impresses with its outstanding layout, beautifully maintained fairways, and fast, smooth greens that hold up even after heavy rain. Friendly staff, solid practice facilities, and strong value make this course a reliable choice worth booking.

About

Holes 18
Type Semi-Private
Par 72
Length 6740 yards
Slope 138
Rating 72.2

River Ridge Golf Club is one of the finest public golf courses in Raleigh. The course sprawls across 100 acres in the heart of the Triangle, it's an easy 15-minute drive from downtown Raleigh. The lush green of the course contrasts beautifully with the Carolina blue skies. Mature trees frame most of the holes and there are a few lakes that come into play. The rolling terrain provides plenty of ups and downs throughout the golf course. Accuracy will be generously rewarded but it's not overly punishing for the high handicapper. The course's signature hole is the par-4 fifth, a 375-yard hole that can be conquered with smart play. Try to keep your long iron or fairway wood to the right of the fairway, which will give you a short iron approach into the green.

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Course Details

Year Built 1997
Fairways Bermuda
Greens MiniVerde Bermuda
Golf Season Year round
Architect Chuck Smith

Rentals/Services

Carts Yes
Clubs Yes

Practice/Instruction

Driving Range Yes
Bunker Yes
Teaching Pro Yes
Pitching/Chipping Area Yes
Putting Green Yes

Policies

Credit Cards Accepted VISA, MasterCard Welcomed
Metal Spikes Allowed No
Dress code Collared shirts, long pants or bermuda shorts No cut-offs, tank tops, jeans.

Food & Beverage

Bar, Snacks, Beverage Carts

Available Facilities

Clubhouse, Lounge, Meeting Facilities, Conference Facilities, Banquet Facilities

Available Activities

Swimming, Billiards

Available Sports

Tennis

Accolades

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Reviews

4.6
1079 Reviews (1079)

What Golfers Are Saying

Course Challenges Include:
Undulating Greens 19
Bunkers 16
Elevation Changes 16
This course/club is great for:
Locals 20
Advanced Golfers 13
A Weekend Splurge 7
This Course's Location is:
Worth the Drive 16
Convenient to the City 14

Numbers based on reviews tagged with attribute.

Advanced Filters
Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 7
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Excellent golf course

What a great course. Best greens I've seen since moving to the Raleigh area. Challenging layout but fair. Great sand in the bunkers. Great short game practice area. Range is very level and the balls are beat up, but they're free, so who cares. Really nice set up for the money.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Average
Pace Excellent
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Always Awesome

This course maintains the best condition of any area public course year round. It's the best $40 dollar and under course EVER!

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 6
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played
Good weather
Used cart

Greens were bumpy

This is a very good course, but the greens seemed slow and bumpy. They must have recently done some work on the greens as they were fairly bumpy and a little bit slower than the last time I played here. Still a very nice course and with the "Hot" rate it is tough to beat.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 6
Handicap 10-14
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
3.0
First Time Playing
Good weather
Used cart

Great course, horrible greens

We played in mid July 2016. They had punched the green "two weeks ago." The greens were not put-able. No way to roll the ball. Nothing but a bouncing, skipping travail to the hole. It is nearly impossible to imagine that they would expect anyone to put these greens.

Other than the greens, the course is wonderful. Very interesting holes with some nice views and very good fairways and tee boxes. The staff was nice and the course was not crowded. The paced of play was wonderful.

They should fire their greenskeeper if its true that the greens were punched 2 weeks ago. My recommendation is call ahead of time and find out the condition of the greens. If they are in good shape, play this course. If they are not, move on.

Conditions Poor
Value Fair
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Fair
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 1
Handicap 20-24
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Good weather
Used cart

Beautiful Course

I play in a ladies league at River Ridge, so I have played the course many times. It is a beautiful, well kept course with some challenging holes and some easier holes. The staff is friendly and helpful. My husband and I played with two men that we did not know and we had a very nice round.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 1
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once every three months
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Walked

An excellent value.

Anxious for an opportunity to return.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 2
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Previously Played
Good weather
Used cart

Great Bang for Your Buck

I've played River Ridge twice now. It is a short, but challenging course. Many holes have narrow fairways, but nearly every green is sloped and pretty quick. You have to be able to place the ball accurately for chances at birdie/par

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Average
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 2
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Excellent weather
Used cart

New Bermuda Greens

I have played this course multiple times, but this was my first round on the new bermuda greens. It was a little difficult to judge the speed because they were being sanded (in what seemed like a random order) as we played. We would play a couple holes that hadn't been sanded then 6 in a row that were and then 2 more that were not sanded again. The bermuda was barely out of dormancy also which made them even faster. The sanded greens were playable, but bumpy the slick unsanded greens were bordering on unfair/unplayable. I'm sure in another month or so they will have punched and have enough new growth to be able to manipulate the speed to a more reasonable level.

Conditions Good
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 1
Handicap 20-24
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Average weather
Used cart

Strategic Course

Considering the time of year we played, the course was pretty well maintained and the greens were extremely quick with difficult pin placements.

The only CONS about the experience was that they did not have my reservation on file that I had made through GolfNow. The staff did get us out shortly after our expected departure.

Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Default User Avatar
Commented on 08/08/2016

I doesn't surprise me that they did not have your golf now tee time. I have never played river ridge, some of the other courses I have played did not have my reservation as well. And when they finally found it, it seemed they were put off. TOUGH. I am looking forward to playing river ridge this week.

Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Fun Course

The course is tough but fair. It's in really good shape for early April.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Fun at River Ridge

The course was in very good shape. A fun layout with risk-reward holes on it. The greens were rolling at Augusta National speeds. Look forward to returning

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Great Day in NC at River Ridge

Great course for groups of mixed ability. Very friendly staff

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Average
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 1
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played
Fair weather
Used cart

One of the best courses in the Raleigh area

River Ridge is one of the best courses in the Raleigh area open for public play.

The course conditions are always a cut above most courses in the area. The greens are excellent and challenging.

The Starter was also friendly.

For the money this course simply cannot be beat.

I highly recommend this course.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 5
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

River Ridge

Great layout. Pace of play was slow and had a group play through that then held us up even more.

Conditions Average
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 4
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Great layout , challenging but fun

This was my second round at River Ridge. I felt I should write a review this time. This is a great course with a great layout. The fairways and other grass is dormant which is typical for this time of year. The greens rolled great but we're super fast as pin placement on most holes were on a ridge which made putting tough. I didn't mind this so much bc playing these conditions only makes me better. Staff is great here and the crowds seem to know proper etiquette. Will be playing here again.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 2
Handicap 10-14
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Fair weather
Used cart

RR - Cart Path Only - call them first if you want to ride

Little on the muddy side - If I had known they were on Cart Path Only I would have preferred to walk -

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 15
Handicap 5-9
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Where

First time playing the course and I was impressed ! I would recommend this to those who like to shape the ball and want challenging putts! I plan to play again.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 5
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Good weather
Used cart

Greens are in Very Good Shape

First time playing the course and had a enjoyable round. Th staff is friendly and the course has a lot of scenic holes with a lot of variety. Best part was the greens are in good shape and rolling smooth. Will be back to play again.

Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 27
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Fair weather
Used cart

Louie

Played couple times this tear both times course good shape and greens where in very good condition they rolled nice. Good course fairly wide open and you can score pretty good here. Staff very helpful and friendly

Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

First round here

Nice track. Very wet due to heavy rain for a couple days prior but stil playable. Would love to play when dry.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
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