Riverbank Golf Course Review
Riverbank Golf Course
South Lyon, Michigan
Grade: C-
Teachers’ Comments: Relatively short and very treacherous
A popular spot for league and community play, Riverbank is a pleasant looking parklands course that clocks in at just over just over 6,000 yards from the tips.
Easy, right? Don’t let the yardage deceive you. Riverbank is tight and treacherous. Water lurks on fifteen holes, ready to drown the wayward ball. Overhanging branches threaten to snag shots and reject them like Hakeem Olajuwon covering Muggsy Bogues. There isn’t much room for error here.
Fortunately, Riverbank is short enough to play hybrids and long irons off the tee. You will want to do so. Precision is necessary to avoid ponds, creeks and trees.
In that, Riverbank can offer a change of pace from courses where bomb and gouge is the primary strategy. Miss a fairway at Riverbank and there’s a very good chance you won’t have the opportunity to gouge your ball out of the rough to the green. You’ll be stymied by a tree, or your ball will have died a watery death.
I really wanted to like Riverbank. Instead, I found the course a bit frustrating. I managed a decent score, but felt as though I was always playing defense.
To be fair, the fact that Riverbank is busy means that regulars don’t share my opinion. I is probably true that if I were to play Riverbank a couple more times, I would feel more comfortable knowing what clubs to hit off the tee and along which line to aim.
With so many other courses more to my liking, however, I can’t see making a return trip.
The tenth at Riverbank is a 505 yard par 5 
A view from the fairway on Riverbanks’ tenth
My favorite hole was the tenth. It’s a tight 505 yard par five that begins with the threat of water on the left; is interrupted by a creek halfway down, and then is threatened by another pond that runs down the right side of the final half of the hole.
Riverbank’s website describes the course as a “Par-4”:
Our Par 4 course spans over 130 acres of South Lyons countryside.The golf course at Riverbank is challenging enough for semi-professional matches, yet still caters to those still learning the game.
I’m not entirely sure what that means. Riverbank has three par-fives: the opening hole, and ten and eighteen on the back nine. It’s also got four par threes. That’s a fairly standard configuration for a par 71 golf course.
From the longest tees, Riverbank comes in at 6,010 yards. The course is a par 71.
| Tees | Yardage | Slope | Rating |
| Black | 6010 | 117 | 68.5 |
| White | 5574 | 115 | 66.6 |
| Red | 4710 | 111 | 66.9 |
Conditions on the day I played were decent. Fairways and greens were in good shape. A few spots — particularly on the back nine — were really soggy, in spite of there being no fresh rain.
Riverbank could really use a tree trimming, though. Its tight-by-design fairways are made much more so by random overhanging branches. There were a few spots that I found absolutely claustrophobic.
Riverbank was designed by Bud Edwards. It opened in 1978.
Greens fees at Riverbank are reasonable. Their 2021 summer rates were $30 for a round with cart Monday through Thursday and $39 on weekends.
The Riverbank Golf Course Review was published November 18, 2021 from notes and photos taken on a round played in the summer of 2021.
A gallery tour of Riverbank golf course follows
The first at Riverbank is a 515 yard par 5. 
A view from the fairway of Riverbank’s first. 
The second at Riverbank is a 169 yard par 3. 
Riverbank’s third is a 367 yard par 4. 
The fourth at Riverbank is a 329 yard par 4. 
Five at Riverbank is a 419 yard par 4. 
A view of the fifth from behind the green. 
The sixth at Riverbank is a 357 yard par 4. 
Riverbank’s seventh is a 318 yard par 4. 
A view from behind the 150 yard par 3 eighth 
The ninth at Riverbank is a 372 yard par 4 
A view of the ninth green from the fairway The tenth at Riverbank is a 505 yard par 5 A view from the fairway on Riverbanks’ tenth 
The eleventh at Riverbank is a 288 yard par 4. 
Twelve at Riverbank is a 167 yard par 3. 
The thirteenth at Riverbank is a 318 yard par 4 
Fourteen at Riverbank is a 179 yard par 3 
The fifteenth at Riverbank is a 279 yard par 5 
The sixteenth at Riverbank is a 340 yard par 4. 
The seventeenth at Riverbank is a 416 yard par 4. 
The eighteenth at Riverbank is a 522 yard par 5
