The Club at River Wilderness

Enjoyed our round at Bent Tree. Staff was excellent. For the money, best course we’ve played in the Bradenton-Sarasota area. We’ll be back.

I have played nearly 100 rounds of golf in FL and this is BY FAR, the worst conditioned course tee to green. The greens were slow, but rolled ok

Friendly pro shop staff that provided us with course information. Unfortunately the course is in rough shape; especially the fairways. The layout is quite interesting.

Played this course twice whilst on holiday from the UK in late January 2024 on consecutive days. The course has a bit of a European Spain or Portugal feel to it and given the cost of some rounds in the area offers real value for money. It would be fair to say the fairways needed some attention or just additional growth coming through but I really liked the layout of the course & if you played pick & place on the fairways this wasn't an issue.
The bunkers were in good condition & although some greens were sanded in parts they all putted very truly and at a good pace so cannot really be faulted, it is how they play that counts, not how they look!
We played off the Blue tees as it was a similar yardage to back home & it provided a good test of golf, would be tough off the black tees.
Staff here are so friendly, as were the locals having been paired up on the 2nd round & this could be an excellent course with a little more investment but then you might not get to play it at the current prices!

Course layout is great. However, the course is in dire need of water. Tees and fairways are poor condition and grass is sparse. Green were fair at best. Bunkers were in good condition. No plans to play it again.

Absolutely the worst conditions I have ever had to play
Fairways has minimal to no grass
Greens were slow bumpy and non growing areas were sanded to fill in

Used to be a nice course it has gone down hill the last 2 years hard to find grass anywhere on the course

Was hoping for improved conditions from a few weeks ago when played here last, unfortunately, it appears to have worsened, mainly with the fairways. Very thin & in many places just sand & bare spots. Thought the recent rains would green it up a bit, but not the case. Greens are still rolling good, but once again, not a single bunker has been turned over & raked out. A shame, because they appear to have adequate sand, just not properly maintained. Why this course doesn't rope off fairway areas that sorely need to grow out boggles my mind, and they continue to cut fairways really tight, instead of letting them grow in a bit, which is sorely needed. It's a shame, because the course is one of the nicest layouts around, and I keep hoping that it will some day return to it's once meticulous conditions.....just doesn't seem to get the proper fertilizer & seed when needed. As usual, a very slow round ( 4 1/2 hours+), and several tee boxes had more than 1 group waiting. Hard to avoid with 7 minute tee times, but a ranger pushing SLOW groups would help a lot!!! Still, with the crazy prices now prevalent in the SRQ area, still a good value for the money.

We were disappointed with River Wilderness course. We had 3 foursomes and had booked on TeeOff at $48 plus tax. The proshop wanted to have only one foursome at that price and charge $65 for the other 2 foursomes. They finally agreed to give the correctly booked price. Fairways were extremely short grass and sparse grass in areas. Hard to hit approach shots off of tight lies in the middle of the fairways. Greens were really fast. It was decent but the group doesn’t want to return till improvements are made.

Got to this course to find out the tee times through golf now are $15 more per person than booking through their sute

If you like to give away money and play on garbage, this is your place!!! They should just take your money and send you home. Too bad, it's a nice layout but your playing on garbage and dirt!!! No grass per se on fairways. Don't waste your money. Greens are ok, staff is friendly, but was most frustrated round. Can't hit on garbage!
I wouldn't even spend $10 on this cr.p.

Bunkers better place to put you ball than on the approach. Best to putt of of the approach, approach bone dry.
Course could be a jem if they watered more frequently.
Staff was very accommodating.

It’s like a cow pasture there is no grass anywhere on the fairways