Designed by Russell Breeden and opened in 1966, by Bob and Paul Porter, the River Bend course today is a memorable combination of many years of thoughtfully nurtured maturity and the up-to-dateness added by partial redesign of holes when needed. The semiprivate course is ideal for anyone with a passion for a challenging golf and spectacular scenery, or for finding an outstanding site for a corporate or community-event golf tournament.

This 18-hole gem of a golfing layout is nestled in a scenically beautiful North Carolina foothills setting four miles south of Shelby. It is readily accessible by highway or by corporate jet into the nearby Shelby Municipal Airport.

River Bend features always well-attended bent-grass greens and Bermuda fairways. The course also has many of the characteristics of a mountain layout, as well as a long-standing reputation for maintaining greens, fairways and tee boxes in excellent condition… even though the driest of summers and toughest of winters.

From the middle (white) tees, River Bend offers the average golfer a shot at a memorable round over 6,162 yards, with a moderate slope of 126 and a rating of 69.3.

Golfers with low handicaps and large expectations may vacillate between exhilaration and frustration as they play the 6,770-yard course form the back (blue) tees. That expanse has a USGA course rating of 72.3 and a slope rating of 132. The latter tests the skill of even the low-handicap golfers.

Excellent day-to-day maintenance and ongoing modernization occur continuously and simultaneously. And always so as not to disturb play.