Rio Bravo Country Club (Bakersfield, CA on 01/28/18)

I hitched a ride with my friend back to California, and our day’s destination was Bakersfield. I have family in Bakersfield and my friend lives in the Central Valley, so it made sense for him to drop me off along the way. We left Las Vegas early, to beat the Sunday afternoon traffic, and wanted to golf somewhere between Barstow and Bakersfield. Needless to say, it is slim pickings for golf in the area we were looking! We didn’t really care though, no matter where we played it wasn’t going to top Sand Hollow and Wolf Creek!

We looked around the night before and found that Rio Bravo Country Club was offering some public play, through a member for the day program. Neither of us had played there before so we decided to give it a try. I called them from the car and they told us to come on out!

I get to Bakersfield any time I’m in California to visit my family and I’ve played a couple courses over the years. Unfortunately, Bakersfield doesn’t have much in the way of good golf. And what they do have for courses are mostly flat, tree lined courses or courses in communities. What looked unique about Rio Bravo is that it is situated at the edge of the foothills, towards the east side of town.

The member for the day price was $55 and it included the green fee, cart, range balls, and a meal. Not a bad deal since the fruit that I had with my lunch was probably at least $10! We teed off around 1pm on a quite afternoon. As the round progressed my friend and I agreed that we liked this Robert Muir Graves design!

Looking through Graves’ portfolio, he seems to have designed many courses for your average player. Although, he has thrown in a couple bucket list ones! Out of what I’ve played, La Purisima is my favorite but Las Positas holds a special place in my heart because I lived 15 minutes away growing up, and played there a bunch during that time!

From what I remember of the fifteen Graves courses that I played when living in California, he does a good job to make a course playable. Rio Bravo seems to fit with that theme as there is plenty of space in-between the homes which line the course. It isn’t the most scenic course with all the homes, but the homes didn’t seem to crowd the course!

Rio Bravo opened in 1975 and the defining feature to me are all the mature trees! I’d call the fairways medium size, but if you miss them you’ll be forced to make some choices! You might have to pitch it back in play or you might be able to hit a low one up near the green. The trees are really a great design feature to emphasize accuracy without a lost ball penalty, because they tempt you so much! Plus, the trees (eucalyptus I think!) gave the course the smallest bit of a coastal feel.

The front nine is flatter and there isn’t anything overly distinctive about it besides some long holes. From the blue tees the course plays 73.9/134/7000. The 3rd is a monster par 5 of 568 yards while the 5th is a 223 yard par 3, with water guarding the green! I tried to finesse a hybrid on the 5th and that didn’t go so well, doh.

The back nine is where Rio Bravo starts to get more interesting, because of some elevation change and more slope in the fairways. You’ll really need to drive the ball well on the back nine if you want to score! The fairways aren’t overly narrow, but there is more slope that you’d expect for a course in the Central Valley! Landing the tee shots on the high side to allow for the first bounce towards the center of the fairway is the way to go, if you can pull it off.

The back nine is highlighted by the 11th, a 616 yard par 5 that plays uphill! You need to favor the left side of the fairway on the tee shot and the layup, but the tricky part of the hole will be catching your shots solid from uneven lies. The green is shaped like an hourglass and all of it isn’t visible from the fairway, so I was happy to have a five footer for par here, even if I didn’t make it! The 12th is the most downhill hole on the course (a 392 yard par 4) and much of the fairway cannot be seen from the tee. It is probably prudent to layup as you can hit the drive too far and end up in a hazard.

Unfortunately the conditions were disappointing. I was expecting more, even this time of year. I understand the grass is splotchy during the winter and I didn’t expect the course to present as it would during the growing season. But, I could tell that the course was struggling financially as soon as I got to the 1st fairway. The fairways and rough were in pretty tough shape. Everything was rock hard and there was very little grass coverage, borderline unplayable and I don’t consider myself a maintenance snob. What grass that was there was mostly dormant and I bladed my share of shots. Plus, good drives bounced through fairways and into the trees! Oddly, the greens were beautiful. They were slick and pure. I’d even say they were faster than Wolf Creek and Falcon Ridge!

Rio Bravo is a better than average design and I could tell that this was the place to be a member back in the day! However, in its current condition I’d struggle to recommend it. Hopefully the new owners, which I think are the homeowners, can find a way to turn the club around!

#1 (406 yard par 4):