River Course at Alisal
About
The River Course at Alisal enjoys a scenic backdrop provided by the foothills of the beautiful Santa Ynez Mountains. Stands of mature live oaks, native sycamores, and elderberry trees sway against the vivid hues of the mountains. Though scenery abounds, don't get too distracted because the golf course demands a fair amount of attention. It's a challenging but not punishing layout that features a variety of hazards that will reward length and accuracy. Seemingly wide fairways are bordered by mounding and the large greens have subtle but tricky undulations. One of the toughest holes is the par-4 seventh, which has a challenge waiting for you everywhere you look. A beautiful vineyard runs the length of the hole on one side and on the other, there is a lake that runs all the way up to the green.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 72 | 6830 yards | 72.7 | 125 |
| Blue | 72 | 6451 yards | 70.9 | 121 |
| White | 72 | 6099 yards | 69.5 | 118 |
| White (W) | 72 | 6099 yards | 75.7 | 132 |
| Red (W) | 72 | 5710 yards | 73.8 | 128 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold M: 73.0/128 W: 80.2/139 | 570 | 385 | 420 | 227 | 580 | 396 | 437 | 357 | 173 | 3545 | 428 | 538 | 147 | 393 | 521 | 353 | 398 | 128 | 451 | 3357 | 6902 |
| Blue M: 70.9/123 W: 77.7/134 | 558 | 366 | 398 | 201 | 560 | 376 | 405 | 332 | 151 | 3347 | 408 | 524 | 135 | 357 | 494 | 331 | 369 | 115 | 373 | 3106 | 6453 |
| White M: 69.4/119 W: 75.7/130 | 524 | 350 | 380 | 182 | 550 | 356 | 396 | 311 | 131 | 3180 | 398 | 464 | 125 | 340 | 481 | 313 | 358 | 95 | 354 | 2928 | 6108 |
| Red M: 67.3/114 W: 73.2/125 | 458 | 336 | 367 | 136 | 511 | 338 | 377 | 299 | 123 | 2945 | 381 | 450 | 108 | 323 | 471 | 251 | 343 | 80 | 309 | 2716 | 5661 |
| Handicap | 13 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 17 | 2 | 14 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 12 | |||
| Par | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 36 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Handicap (W) | 7 | 9 | 5 | 15 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 13 | 17 | 2 | 10 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 12 |
Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
Bar, GrillAvailable Facilities
ClubhouseReviews
Reviewer Photos
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Photo submitted by u217656252 on 12/05/2025
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1st tee from the tips Photo submitted by RichMini2 on 04/04/2022
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Photo submitted by chrisleduc on 04/01/2021
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Vineyards and fairways Photo submitted by Robstnr on 06/15/2015
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View from the 1st tee !!! Photo submitted by Zimbotrini on 04/21/2015
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Photo submitted by Zimbotrini on 04/21/2015
River Course Review
Nice course to play if you can get a discount. Tourist prices if you pay full price and not really worth it. Pretty wide open but plenty of trouble if you are not hitting the ball straight. Overall its a nice course but overpriced unless you use Golf Now or other discount. Beautiful place to have lunch but the staff is pretty bad. Beautiful scenery and usually nice weather with minimal wind.
An awesome sunday
It was an awesome Sunday to play on this course. My colleague and I enjoy very much. The next time I play here, I will bring my daughter here and for sure she will have a blast.
Scenic
Great course but can only afford to play with deals like this
Fun course
Beautiful views, great course - challenging, without beating yourself up. Reschedule if the men's club is in front - slow play due to $$ skins game.
Excellent Value For the Money
7:45am tee time on a Saturday, nobody before us and very few after us. For $34.00 on Golfnow, this place was unbeatable. Course conditions were excellent, especially since the day before was heavy rain. Would recommend this course for moderate to upper skill levels; however, don't shy away if you're a beginner. This is a very friendly course with excellent maintenance and friendly service. It's definitely one everyone should give a try.
straight fowerd, not tricked up course
Fair course, excellent large greens,fairways in great condition,not long however enough character to challange.
Very nice layout
Great place to play if you're in area. Nice layout, great for walking. Very scenic.
River course...
Teed off @ 7am on Sunday 9/7 with RGM2525 on a GolfNow hot deal for $30 including a cart. POP was 4H, 15 minutes, we were a 4some and let two 2 somes play through.
Second time playing here, nice layout, enjoyed the course just as much as the first time several years ago. A few holes where accuracy is even more paramount than normal where you really had to thread the needle. However, there were other holes where there was a very generous landing area. FAIR was a word I'd use to describe this layout, good shots are rewarded and getting crooked can be death on many holes. The short par 3 17th where water surrounds the green 270 degrees is visually intimidating with a gusty wind blowing partially in your face and partially sideways toward the water front and right... yet if you over club, the water in back comes into play.
Greens were a medium fast, maybe little slower than they looked and expected, but they putted well considering they were not mowed on Sunday.
The traps were in excellent condition, nicely maintained.
The fairways & rough were generally lush. Usually the rough was not too penal, however, there were areas of the native stuff that was a lost ball or broken wrist waiting to happen if you found your ball and tried to whack it out. We had multiple members of this group take 3 whacks to advance the ball out of the deep stuff.
The tees were OK, the par 3's were fairly chewed up.
An anomaly for this round. They were setting up the course for sectional PGA Qualifying and had all 18 pins placed in the middle of the green to save the parts of the greens they were going to be using for the qualifier.
Customer service was good, I would highly recommend this course based on my two rounds here over the past 4 years.
Solid Course all around.
Course was in great shape even in this drought! Greens rolled great. I will be playing here again!
Nice complement to your wine tasting tour!
A morning round at this course is a Great complement to your wine tasting tour. It's a nice setup and in great conditions for this time of the year. A bit pricey for this level of golf course. I definitely recommend it if you're looking for an activity that complements we'll with touristique visits and wine tasting.
Well kept course.
Excellent condition and great pace of play, well worth the price through golf now.com
Nice course
It was a last minute decision. Arrived there at 330pm for a tee time at 400pm. We advised the guy working in the proshop that we needed clubs. We were advised that we had to be back by 630pm as he was closing the proshop? 630? So we had to hurry and golf in 330hr. Round and cart cost was $40.00 each and club rental were $ 40.00 a set. Expensive as the club were not in great condition. I almost felt that we were bothering the guy at the proshop. Otherwise good round.
Great place outside Solvag
The golf course is in great shape. With the drought and water restrictions in Southern California. A must play
Alisal Drought
Course in great condition considering drought and wide open on a nice Sunday afternoon.
Pleasantly surprised!
Returned to this course after a 15 year absence. Happy to see the small trees have matured nicely providing a clear view on how each hole runs from tee to greens. Greens were in very good condition and rolled true. Only negative is the lack of visible yardage on sprinklers or fairway markers. However, I look forward to returning again!
Nice course in a getaway location
Played with friends from Santa Barbara and enjoyed the outing very much. A fun course to play with a fair landing areas and sufficient bunkering to make it interesting and penalized the errant shot. Greens were large and relatively flat but in great condition and receptive to well hit shots. Not much elevation changes on the course but trees and a few water hazards create some psyc factors. We played early and had no one in front of us. We let one three some of locals play through as they were playing faster than we were. Otherwise we had the place to ourselves. We finished just in time for a nice lunch on the patio. Located in the interesting town of Solvang where you could spend a day visiting the many shops and venues of Danish heritage.
Great golf for the $$
Course was in very good shape for the drought conditions we are experiencing. Open course that is very forgiving up to a point.
enjoyable place to golf
We have golfed at the River Course several times and find it to be a very pleasant and enjoyable place both on the course and the restaurant where the food is excellent (open for lunch only). The setting is very peaceful, the golf course was in wonderful condition and the staff was very helpful and accommodating.
Fun course
Had a wonderful round of golf, very fair course and worth every penny, would highly recommend.