Riverside Golf Course Review

Golf course on the river
Battle Creek, MI
Grade: C
Teacher’s comments: A pleasant design that deserves better conditions.

Once a private club, Riverside has been open to the public since 2011. It is a park-style course, with surprising elevation changes.

There has been a golf course on the site since 1926, but Bruce and Jerry Matthews are credited in several places as the architects, so it may have been rebuilt by the couple at a later date. I also think it’s possible that the back nine was added at a later date, designed by the Matthews.

Riverside as a name is more aspirational than factual. There is a river nearby, but no track is on its side. The closest is the sixth green, which according to Google Maps is 150 yards from the riverbank.

And there is no view.

That said, the course takes place from heights to lowlands that are undoubtedly part of the Kalamazoo River valley.

The first hole dips down from a ridge that forms the highest point of the front nine. From there, most holes climb up or down the slope of that ridge. Even the holes that run parallel to the elevation have meaningful elevation changes. The seventh and ninth greens are located atop the same ridge as the first tee (and clubhouse).

The two nines of the course are separated by Columbia Avenue, a busy four-lane road. Fortunately, an underpass was built especially for the course.

Riverview’s back nine is tighter and in some ways hillier, with many holes that have both ups and downs.

I also thought the back nine was much more interesting than the front, which despite all the elevation changes was just a series of straight shots.

My favorite hole at Riverside was the 399 yard par four tenth. After the somewhat pedestrian front nine there was a bit of a wow factor as I emerged from the dark concrete tunnel underpass.

The tenth starts on an elevated tee, a few meters below the ridge and the road behind it. The fairway dips down, then rises and turns left, through the pine forests. The hole continues to rise to the hilly green, which is guarded by bunkers left and right.

I also really enjoyed the fourteenth. This one also starts from an elevated tee, dips down and then climbs steadily to the green. A pond – invisible from the tee – lurks to the left of the landing zone. The right side of the climb is a hill that – if you pull a shot to that side – provides an awkward location for a recovery shot (I discovered this the hard way).

The eighteen is a fun, exciting ride downhill, with a correctly placed blind tee shot that should extend a long way. The green rises sharply above the low point, located on the side of the same ridge that defines the front nine and is also the starting point for the tenth.

From the back tees, Riverside stretches to 6,659 yards and plays to a 72.7/120.

The Riverside property has apparently been for sale for a few years and recently faced rezoning to light industrial, commercial and multi-unit residential. However, as of October 2024, that proposal seemed to be off the table. However, the golf course remains intended for single-family homes.

The conditions on the day I played were lacking. I found sparse fairways, weeds growing in bunkers and damaged greens. Some of this can perhaps be attributed to a degree of apathy resulting from the aforementioned threats to repurposing.

Yet Riverside did not do well as a golf course rather than as a housing project or industrial park.

And I think Riverside deserves better business. It’s a nice design, with a classic atmosphere at the front and a valuable challenge at the back. As it is, I’m sure locals will enjoy a round there often.

The Riverside Golf Course Review was first published on November 15, 2025 from notes and photographs taken during a round played in the summer of 2025.

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