Rio Pinar Golf

We played there March 21/2024, The pace of play was fantastic, they put out foursomes about 9 min apart .

The starter was GREAT! The new ownership is spending a ton of money doing upgrades to the course. It is getting better and better! The club house / restaurant is top shelf , The memrobillia is amazing to see! We will be back next week to play again!

Cheer,,

Brian Finn

It was a tough course for me because the White tees were moved back to the blue tees on a lot of the Par 4,s. The card showed about 5500 yards, but the course from the whites was over 6,000. Made it difficult for my age and length of my drive.

I still shot 90, but I was hitting a lot of 3 woods and long irons on my second shots.

Overall a nice course and one of the best conditions of all the courses I have played in Central Florida. Greens were good, fairways had grass. The only course I liked better this year was Deer Island.

Watch out for the squirrels, they are huge and they like to jump in the carts looking for food.

With prices in Orlando thru the roof , trying to play golf on vacation could be expensive. While trying to play on a budget, Rio Pinar was well above expectations.

The starter told us of the FEW bad spots on the course and some of the history as well. Very tight track. Trees on the front and less trees on the back, but both 9s are very target golf. The history of this course makes it a little oooler .

I cannot say enough good things about the investment put into the club over the past few years, from the clubhouse, to the branding (squirrel logo), to the new range, to the new fairway bunkers and waste areas. I thoroughly enjoyed my round this past weekend and think Rio Pinar is now one of the best values in Central Florida.

That said, at some juncture, they will have to redesign and expand the green complexes. Right now, the greens they have are rolling great, but they have gotten comically small, particularly Nos. 4 and 5. There is anywhere from 5-10 feet or more of encroachment from the fringe and fairways on nearly every green - you can see the old mow lines - and some of these were smaller putting surfaces to begin with.

This is definitely not a knock on the current product. Everything is headed in a positive direction. But the size of the greens is now the obvious spot for improvement. If they can expand and redesign them over time, they'll have something special on their hands.

The new owners are putting in lots of work to upgrade the course and the facilities. The range will be a Trackman facility when complete.

Once the rainy season starts, the course will be in much better shape. It is a bit dry at this time similar to other courses in the area.

ALMOST EVERYTIME I try to get a yardage from the cart I have to close out of an ADVERTISEMENT that blocks the ENTIRE screen.

I think we paid enough to not look at ads the whole day, it just takes you out of things when you’re trying to hit your approach shot!

If you’re going to play here you might want to bring and use a range finder so you’re not closing out advertising 20 times a round.

Our group flew into Orlando to attend Bay Hill on Saturday and play golf in Florida. The weather was perfect and this was our first course to play on this trip. The

Cost was ridiculously low - high value. Conditions were a little rough but mo complaints for the money spent. We all remember when this course hosted a PGA Tour event and we’d watch in the locker room at our home course when snow covered the ground. We had a great time kicking off our trips first day of golf.

The course lay out is ok but the course is not in very good, at least not to justify the cost to play. Unrelated to the course the information from the GolfNow app is misleading as well, it suggested the course was 14 miles from my location when it turned to be more like 24 miles, need to fix this.

Really great course, facilities great and fast greens. Fairways a little bare in parts but overall a most enjoyable round and great value.

Played with another single "Jim" and we had a nice round. Enjoyed some food and libations at the grill. Every day should be this good!

Played the final round of our golf trip here and glad we saved one of the best for last!!!!! The brunch was amazing. The clubhouse and check in was nice and smooth. Loved the carts because it kept score and distance to greens. The course was beautiful and couldn’t have picked a better way to finish up our trip. I would definitely play here again.

Once a PGA stop in the ‘50s-‘60s, Rio Pinar is a bit of a faded star. While the clubhouse is clearly mid-century modern and appears to have been recently restored, the course has some issues. The good news is the layout is a real gem with strategically placed bunkers, well designed greens that require a deft touch, and landing areas that favor the player that can work the ball both ways. However, the fairways are sparse with large barren areas and many of the tees are in bad shape. Even so, the greens are in pretty good shape, roll smooth, and are a decent speed. In sum, the course simply needs some some TLC and an opportunity to grow some grass which, given the time of year and business reality, is not going to happen. Indeed, the day I played (a Thursday) the course was packed and pace of play was marginal, at best. Overall, if you can snag a GolfNow Hot Deal like I did, Rio Pinar is worth a try especially given it’s historical significance as the direct ancestor of this week’s Bay Hill Classic!