Rivercut Golf Course

Awesome public course close to route 66. Featured in my book "66 Sticks on Route 66 - Centennial Golf Adventure" available on Amazon. QR codes to get to each course on the 14, 31 or 66 day plans and the websites to get t-times

I get email on occasion asking me to come back to the golf course. So I go to the park board website and it says the Rivercut driving range is open until 6 PM. I drive 20 minutes, get there at 5:45 with time to spare to purchase the bucket. I should’ve known I was gonna get the Rivercut treatment. 6 PM closure isn’t from the customer perspective… you know, when a business says it’s open you can walk in the door and purchased the good or service. Not with Rivercut. Their driving range hours are based on the employee perspective. They see it as you have to be off the driving range by 6 PM. They wouldn’t even let me purchase the range balls. I’ll continue spending my golf budget elsewhere. Rivercut continues to charge high-end golf club prices, while delivering sub standard municipal golf customer service

I’ve played this course for years and genuinely love how well kept and affordable it is. Holes are challenging and fun, hazards are great. 9 times out of 10 is a great place to play. But the latest round ended very poorly. Our threesome had booked the last tee time of the day and paid for golf carts. We had a foursome in front of us (looked like high school kids) who were walking and taking their time. We had to wait on them most holes but wasn’t a big deal, it was a beautiful evening and our group was enjoying our time on the course. Anyways on the eighth and ninth holes we let the group in front of us get a little ways ahead of us. I think on both holes that group was coming off the green when we were driving. It was starting to get a little dark by the time we got to the ninth green. When we pulled up to the green, one of the course employees (an older, heavy set man) mocked us looking for our balls because of how dark it was. I tried to laugh it off because I thought he was joking with us, obviously we could tell it was getting dark. He then informed us that it was 30 minutes past sunset and that the group in front of us was long gone. I don’t think either of those was true, as I could see players from the group in still messing around not far from the green. The employee then asked if I was going to finish the hole, which of course I was, we were at the green and there was still light. He then said to “get on with it then”. I proceeded to whiff on my shot and hit off to he green which the employee openly mocked. I think that’s absolutely ridiculous behavior. I get it, I’m not a pro, but come on man. It was audible to all three in our group and discouraged the other two from finishing their round. Anyways, sorry for the rant, but just seemed like a rude way to interact with us when we hadn’t done anything wrong. A simple “hey guys, we are closing up soon” would have been a lot more respectful and sufficient. I saw him chatting with the teenagers that were in front of us like they were good buddies, didn’t seem like their pace of play, which was the same as ours, was any issue. Plus, they were late for their tee time which delayed our start by 10 minutes or so. Again, not a big deal, not their fault, I’ve been there. But just seemed ridiculous on the part of the employee to treat us the way he did. But hey, besides that guy, Rivercut is pretty great. Just don’t book the last tee time of the day.

I asked for a handicap flag I was told I didn't need one. Fairway driving was allowed thar day. The golf cart would start beeping 40 yards from the green. I have issues walking, which is why I have handicap plates. So every hole I had to walk 80 yards. It hurt pretty bad. I was happy to be able to finish, but should not have had to walk that far. However ,the course was beautiful. Well maintained and challenging.

What a great course to have in Springfield. Tee boxes, fairways, and greens are all in excellent condition. The course is sculpted beautifully. Relatively flat on the front but nice elevation changes on the back. Really enjoyed playing it. Clubhouse staff and the maintenance guys all really nice. The star for me was Brianna in the well stocked snack shop. Super friendly and even asked my name which she remembered after my round. She is a keeper!! Overall, a great value for $60 ( I pay more for less in St Louis). Will definitely be back!!!