Riverside Municipal Golf Course By Brian Weis

Riverside Municipal Golf Course

An Insightful Interview With Ryan Bell, Head Golf Profesional/Course Manager

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Ryan Bell who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
One of San Antonio's oldest golf courses, Riverside is a course for the whole family located just 4 miles south of downtown San Antonio. The San Antonio River lines many of the 18 holes, giving the course it name.

Riverside Golf Course features an 18-hole championship layout, but because the two sides were built at different times, each 9 offers a different golf experience.

Riverside also features a 9 holes par 3 course that is great for beginners or experiences players trying to sharpen their short game.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
Centrally located with great course conditions and very affordable rates.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
The greens are very grainy and the grain will effect which way your putt will break. If the grass is shiny in one direction then the grain is pointed that way and in effect the ball will more than likely break in that direction.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Since the Alamo City Golf Trail took over Riverside, the golf course had made tremendous strides and is now one of the best conditioned golf courses in the area all while still maintaining very affordable rates.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Hole 16 is an extremely difficult par 5 that features a double dogleg with a large lake on the left side. The best way to play the hole is to follow the dogleg around the lake and be happy if you can escape with a par. For the long hitter and risky player, the hole can be played down the left side leaving a blind second shot over water to the green.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole at Riverside is #13. It is a simple short par 4 with a great view of downtown San Antonio and the Tower of the Americas in the background. Take advantage of this hole because the rest of the way gets a lot tougher with some difficult holes to follow.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
The Hamburgers and Hot Dogs fresh off the grill are great and the beer is always ice cold.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 6717
Slope: 114
Rating: 71.2

More Information
Riverside
203 McDonald
San Antonio, Texas, 78210
210-533-8371
Alamocitygolftrail.com

Revised: 06/28/2012 - Article Viewed 33,538 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.