Riverbend GC - Madera, CA - Hidden Gem

[THuckaby2]

Has anyone here played this course?

I did so yesterday, after doing the NCGA rating in the morning.  And I gotta tell ya, my jaw hurts today from my mouth being agape all day.  This is one HELL of a great golf course!  It has a feel like Stevinson Ranch, only doesn't have nearly as much of the ball-devouring high rough.  Fairways are massive, but need to be because every damn hole has options galore as to how best to approach the absolutely brilliant greens.  There is contour all over the place... some of the greensites really need to be seen to be believed.  Not so much the greens themselves but the surrounds... there's just incredible short-game interest on every single hole.

I suppose the highlight for me was the par 3, 150 yard #12, which gentlemen is the closest thing I've seen to #11 Shinnecock outside of NY anyway.  It's the same type of very unique "fortress" hole with bunkers and steep falloffs on front, right, left and no bargain behind... Just a very unique, very formidale hole.

That's just one highlight though - every hole has something unique going on... for you strategy lovers this place is nirvana.

I'd love impressions from anyone else who's seen it.  I was really blown away.

And all this in what might have otherwise been relatively nondescript farmland/river bed land... A bit north of Fresno, CA.

TH

[Jeff_Stettner]

I believe that Mr. Eckenrode might have had a hand in the design. That could explain a lot...

[THuckaby2]

Jeff - it says Gary Roger Baird International, Ltd.... so that's the first thing I thought of also.  God I hope for Todd's sake it is his work... because it is freakin' incredibly great.

All right, I don't want to get expectations too high such that Bay Area types kill me if they drive 3 hours down there and come away underwhelmed.    Let's just say I think this place sure as hell does count as a "hidden gem."  I am just very curious about any other impressions... if anyone has seen it....

TH

ps - Todd has a 9-hole course on tap called Wild Wings GC - somewhere up between Davis and Sacto - has anyone seen that?  I go up there for NCGA rating in July.

[Andy Doyle]

Tom:

Having lived in Fresno for 3 years, I can say without ever seeing this course that its major problem is that it's in Madera.

 

Andy

[THuckaby2]

Andy:

 

Now of course I won't disparage the fine town of Madera... hell people from there likely find the nice part of San Jose in which I live to be an absolute hell-hole.

All I will say is that it is rather remote.  

And this course is only "in Madera" as far as the city limits are defined.  One heads out of the town proper for several miles toward the foothills on a road that ends at the course.  It's really very nice and has a beauty unto itself... I don't know if you've ever been to Stevinson Ranch, but one of the comments from the guys there who frequent both is "it's way prettier than Stevinson."  And I think he's right... it sits up against a bluff, along the river, with huge oaks here and there... it's pretty neat.

TH

[Andy Doyle]

Tom:

That was very tongue-in-cheek.  I actually loved living in Fresno - despite my wife's (and most of the country's) opinion that it is a hick town.  As someone born and raised in the southeast, I loved the wide-open spaces, constant sunshine, and low humidity.  Loved the incredible agricultural variety, and loved being able to snow ski and water ski in the same weekend.  Compared to the Bay area or Socal, living in the Central Valley was a bargain.

I played a fair amount of golf when I lived there, but mostly at the same places - munis around Fresno - mostly Riverside.  I also played Sherwood Forest (didn't see Robin or his Merry Men) and Airways (a little tough to concentrate with the Air National Guard fighters screaming into the runway next door).  

I did get to play San Joaquin Country Club, but two I wanted to play but never got the chance: Fort Washington and Brighton Crest (? - the Johnny Miller design out by Millerton Lake).

Andy

[THuckaby2]

Andy - gotcha - and you know, I was pleasantly impressed with what I saw driving out there.  It would be a nice place to live for sure.

Man I haven't played any of those courses, though I have heard of all of them and I have seen Brighton Crest - drove past it once on the way to some camping or something.  So many courses, so far away.....

 

[Andy Doyle]

Tom:

Sherwood and Airways are totally forgettable, but I loved playing Riverside.  Part of it was the group I fell in with - a bunch of old farts that played every Friday in the fog and rain of winter to the scorching days of summer.  They had so many bets going on that for the first year I played with them when the round ended I just held out my hands with my money - they took or gave based upon some obscure accounting system I never fully understood.

While it has plenty of flat, featureless holes, Riverside has some great holes up and down the bluffs overlooking the San Joaquin River - sort of the poor man's San Joaquin Country Club.

The back side of the property is bordered by the main North/South rail line up the Central Valley.  One day we get up to the 12th tee and we see some moron has high-centered his truck on the rails trying to cross the tracks.  We try to help him push it off to no avail - the last we see of him is him sprinting to the clubhouse to find a phone (pre cellphone days) to call the railroad & try to stop any oncoming trains.  We finished the round without hearing any big crashes, so I guess he was successful.

Riverside was also my introduction to firm and fast.  We would play throughout the summer when the temperatures would be over 100 every day - sunscreen and a wide-brimmed straw hat!  By July the ground would be so baked out that a low, screaming drive would roll out over 300 yards.

Loved it!

AD

[Bob_Huntley]

Andy,

I haven't played golf in Fresno for a long time and don't know much abouth the newer courses, however, I thought Fort Washington was the cream of the crop.

Bob

[Stan Dodd]

Tom,
Wild Wings is just down the road from my school.  I have walked about 5 holes.  I believe they just opened a week or so ago.
My impressions were large greens with lots of movement, not severe offering many pinnable locations.  Fairways wide for a housing development course, adjacent to the Yolo Fliers Club.  Will get out there next week for a go round.
Stan

[THuckaby2]

Re Fresno area, all I can say is that I'm with Bob - I too had heard that Fort Warshington was great.  But Andy, Riverside sounds cool too.

Stan - I did a google search and found some local newspaper articles about Wild Wings... it sounds pretty darn cool.  I'll hopefully be there July 13 with the NCGA folks.  Come on out and heckle!

 

[Mike Benham]

Not to sidetrack us from Riverbend but Brighton Crest is perhaps the most sane of any Johnny Miller design.  

Take a look at the photos from their webpage and anyone familiar with JM Designs would think that Johnny forgot to use his bunker builders, as there are only about 25 bunkers on the course.

Brighton Crest Webpage

[Andy Doyle]

I was always interesting in playing Fort Washington - old classic design from the 1920's - but was never able to finangle it while I lived there.

AD

[Stan Dodd]

Played Fort Washington a few years ago... great condition and wonderful greens. Would play there again in a heartbeat.
One of my favorites in the valley is Merced CC, great use of terrain some fun short 4's and solid 3's, and reachable 5's.The Merced County Open is a fun event 2 day NCGA points event with an 18 hole cut.  Very fun!!

[Andy Doyle]

Tom:

Sorry to 'jack this from a Riverbend to Riverside to a whole Central Valley thread.

AD

[THuckaby2]

Andy - no hassles by me whatsoever - this is all great stuff - I know so little about the courses in the great Central Valley... there sure are a lot of them anyway.

Damn I want to hear from at least one other person who's played this Riverbend though.  I feel like a prophet crying in the wilderness.  This course needs to be seen.

TH

[SB]

I grew up there and have played many of the courses mentioned - except Riverbend.  My dad has played there a couple of times and swears by it, but he also plays most of his golf at Airways, so I take his course reviews with a LARGE grain of salt.

I've played quite a few rounds at Brighton Crest and generally like the layout, but since I can't remember any specific holes other than a few I thought were quirky, I'm not sure what that says.  I recall thinking it was very much target golf.  The site was great, but the development process was reportedly a nightmare (water issues), so it may have been the best with what they were given.

[David Kelly]

Tom,

I haven't played Riverbend but looking at their website I see that there is a conspicuous lack of superfluous mounding. How refreshing in a new California golf course.

[Tom Jefferson]

Tom H....Haven't played Riverbend, but my favorite course in the Central Valley is Del Rio CC, near Modesto, an older design with lots of terrain, a feature you wouldn't expect in the Valley.  (by the way, the Great Central Valley, for all you geography/geology buffs, is one of the three flattest places on the planet!....anyone know the other two?)

It was at Del Rio where I cashed my biggest check in a very shortlived pro golf career...$180!

[Andy Doyle]

(by the way, the Great Central Valley, for all you geography/geology buffs, is one of the three flattest places on the planet!....anyone know the other two?)

Bonneville Salt Flats?