Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Puerto Rico Golf & Beach Resort

Made our long planned vacation trip to Puerto Rico from Washington State and took up home in our rented condo next to the Rio Mar resort. On the schedule was a outing on Rio Mar's Ocean course. I hooked up with a great deal using Golfnow and headed over. Very nice entrance and club house. They had my Golfnow tee time on record, but I needed to rent a club set - $55.00 - ouch (real close to what the green fees cost)! The practice area is a bit of a distance away over by their River course. The nice thing was that my wife road along without additional charge.

We were off right on time with very few other golfers on the course (it was a Tuesday). The course had received some recent rain and was playing soft (some mud balls). Everything is bermuda grass and a bit different to play on if you have not played on it before. Since it was just myself plating, we were moving right along. We ran in to a couple of groups of foursomes which allowed us to play through. I played the blue tees and even though this course has fairly difficult ratings, it played very reasonable for my relatively high handicap. We finished in just over three hours and was wishing to start on #1 again to play another round.

Great course and well worth playing but I surely would not pay the standard going rate, and hopefully you can bring your own clubs to save the price gouging of the course.

For the price of $ 130 all should be perfect, greens are dry and dirt no grass. fairways fair but worth 130. this rate should be discounted for conditions.

The Ocean Course at Rio Mar Resort is a fun and challenging layout in overall above average condition. Greens were in good shape in May, they aren't too fast but they're not slow...probably high 9's to low 10's on the stimp. Bermuda is present throughout the course (obviously).

If you're staying at the resort or the condos inside the resort (which is highly suggested) you'll get the reduced guest green fee, even if you book thru GolfNow. Listed at $125 but guest fee is only $95. If you expect to play good golf in Puerto Rico, you'll be paying a minimum of this amount.

Fairways are in excellent shape, the bunkers could use some rock removal...small rocks are present in the firm bunkers greenside and fairway. That's really my only complaint.

There are Iguanas everywhere, really neat to see if you're not used to tropical play. There is water everywhere and it comes into play on 10 or so holes. Fairway bunkers are well placed to protect the course against long hitters.

The views are very pleasant throughout the course with mountains and rainforest in the back ground on many holes. Even though it's the Ocean Course, the ocean is only in sight on one hole and it doesn't come into play. It is a beautiful hole however.

Many challenging holes if you haven't played the course and a couple are tough regardless of how many times you play the course. In order to have any shot into a few of the par 4's you'll need to place a long tee ball between water and a fairway bunker.

In order to use the practice facility, you'll want to get there early, it's a good distance from the first tee on the Ocean Course. Grass tee hitting area and chipping / putting green.

If you're not long, you'll want to play the White Tees, not blue or gold. In order to have fun from the Blues, you'll need to be able to place a tee shot with at least 240 carry (min) in a small opening. Played Blue and Gold while at the resort, Blue was fun, Gold was a bit much for a vacation round.

Most of the greens are raised and protected by water or bunkers...sometimes both. They have 6 pin placements, so be sure to check the pin position number before you tee off. The pin sheet will be on your cart. NO GPS ON CARTS and barely marked, bring your GPS.

Number 2 is a tough par 4 with water left off the tee and bunker right. More water is hiding short and right of the green. Look out. It's right into the sun if you play early.

Number 12 is a tough 180 yard par 3 that requires some creativity to make par. You can't go long, water back and bunker front. Tough hole.

Number 15 appears to have been shortened to build new condos, your gps will show you have 200 in and you'll only have 100. Careful, the new green on 15 is harder and faster than the rest of the greens.

Number 16 is the ocean hole and it is pretty, very Caribbean feel and not easy. Ocean breeze coming off the water (left) and a 200 yard shot to an undulated green.

Overall a very entertaining and scenic Caribbean Resort course. Next time I'm at Rio Mar, I'll be playing there again. May to October is the slow season down there and the course was playing exceptionally fast. The locals won't want to play with non-locals, they're all members and I found they only want to play with each other. But, they let you play alone or they'll match you with another visitor.

Staff was very friendly and the Iguana Club Bar and Grille is a good spot to eat and have a drink, even if you're not playing.

With the option to play Ocean or River, choose Ocean.

Good fairways, excellent greens and bunkers. Very challenging course for both pro and amateur golfer. I have played in couple of courses in the Island and this is by far the best I have played.

This was a pretty fun course but not $180 one. Most of the part 4 holes were fairly short. Accuracy off the tee is criticle. If you hit an average 200-250 drive you are left with a 100-150 appoach. A couple were driveable with a cut over trees. Most greens were elevated and smallish along with water that is in play on most holes. This seemed to me as there way of increasing the difficuly level. The greens were on the slow side and didn't seem to roll as true and I would like. I had a hard time adjusting to the grass and speed. The bunkers had visibly large pebbles not what I would expect on a $100+ course. I would hope they could get pristine sand being in the Caribean Islands. Nope. Only one hole was along the water, a long par 3 with LOTS of wind. I used a 3/4 3 wood and was on the front edge. The wild Iguanas all over the place were cool to watch they have almost no fear of humans at all. Fun to play but value wise IMO I would put it at no more than $70 bucks. I only paid $50 on a HOT DEALS. I would have been sorely disapointed if I paid much more. BTW no GPS on carts as advertised.

booked this "$200.00" course with golf now for $54 barely worth that. Carts are old gas ones that don't run very well . Web site claimed we would get a gps , didn't there was a picture of the greens but it was for a different course. One candy cane per hole but was randomly placed , not always at the 150 mark, and very few other markers. Would have been okay with a gps , frustrating without. Its a beautiful location and well laid out. Fairways are in okay shape but the greens and patchy. Check in was rather disorganized.

Overall good course I have played at el conquistador and the championship course for Donald trump and this course was very poor in comparison to them.

Greens in very bad condition. Many sand patches and bad areas on most greens. Overpriced. Fairways also require some attention.

Ocean Course is the one to play. From the tips, its a strong challenge. There is only one hole (16) that you actually see the ocean but if the wind is blowing it's a very tough par 3 to play. Not very pretty with the low rise condo's on the right but the hole itself is a good challenge. The rest of the course is a solid well maintained resort course. Unfortunately the other course (River) is not taken care of very well. Tee to Green - OK but the greens need alot of repair, also some holes run along the highway and are near some of the poorer sections of town.