• Discover new ways to elevate your game with the updated DGCourseReview app!
    It's entirely free and enhanced with features shaped by user feedback to ensure your best experience on the course. (App Store or Google Play)

Oak Bluffs, MA

Riverhead Field - Blue/White

Permanent course
3.825(based on 14 reviews)
Filter course reviews

Filter reviews

Filter reviews

Riverhead Field - Blue/White reviews

Filter
5 0
ClockRoach
Experience: 16 played 5 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Island Golf 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jun 26, 2016 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

36 baskets and 54 tees. Blue and white share baskets but use different approaches, while red is a completely separate course. Red leans more strongly toward technical, wooded holes.
There's a good variety of holes. Most of the course is wooded, some of the holes heavily, but there's also a decent number of wide open shots to be made.
While some of the signs are showing some age, navigation is pretty easy, with a sign near most baskets showing the direction to the next tee.
Benches, benches everywhere. Each tee has at least one, sometimes three or four benches. I try to play early, so I haven't seen how bad the crowds can get.
There's two practice baskets by the parking area for warmups, along with a couple of picnic tables and more benches. Someone around here clearly likes benches.

Cons:

I've been working on the island for several months. I loved the course in the winter, but now it's summer and the grassy areas are getting knee-high and taller, while the wooded rough is getting very thick with many pockets of poison ivy.
Tee pads are a mixed bag. Many are bare dirt, some are gravel, some are rubber mats, and some are astroturf. There's been a couple of upgrades recently, but nothing as permanent as concrete anywhere.
I can't find a course map anywhere online. There's one on the kiosk at the course, but it's old and doesn't include the red holes.

Other Thoughts:

If you're in town for vacation or work without your bag, The Lazy Frog in Oak Bluffs has a great selection of discs. The gas station just south of the course also has a dozen or so for sale if you're desperate.
A couple of holes have strange OB markings running across them that make absolutely no sense. A local might understand them, but I had to just ignore them.
Despite the name "Riverhead" and the location on an island, there's no water of any kind to be seen.
Was this review helpful? Yes No
2 2
Dday301
Experience: 16.9 years 11 played 9 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Good Course 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Jul 23, 2014 Played the course:once

Pros:

Shot variety
Multiple teeboxes
Light course traffic

Cons:

Navigation

Other Thoughts:

Very fun course if you ask me, could have used a bit more shade when I played though! Really my only complaint is navigation. You can tell a good effort has been made to make it as easy as possible with the map and signs but on a few holes we have to hunt for the sign that pointed us to the next hole. Besides that it's a great course and I would recommend it.
Was this review helpful? Yes No
3 0
JimBailey175
Experience: 11.7 years 43 played 8 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Big variety on a little island 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Sep 28, 2013 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

White layout is a fun and relatively straight-forward course. Blue adds a lot of distance and changes the approach lines dramatically for a real challenge. Despite the shared baskets in most cases it plays like a totally different course. Red has some really beautiful holes marked by gnarly tree-lined alleys (10, 14?) and some sadistic "is there a fairway" holes carved out of a dense pine forest (11, oh God 11!) Definitely a unique experience.

Cons:

Navigation is pretty easy but it could use better signage for lines, distance, and OB on some parts of the course. Be prepared for poison ivy.

Other Thoughts:

This course has a large and dedicated community behind it. I dropped in on a couple league rounds and the locals were friendly and welcoming. It was a great way to learn the lines and some of the less-obvious OB regions.

Dizzying course variety makes the league round different week to week. In addition to White and Blue there are also semi-secret "White-Gold" and "Blue-Gold" tees for many holes. Good luck finding them!

Some of the holes are so heavily wooded there was no obvious fairway and I really had to "throw and hope." These were balanced out by a good number of generous fairways and field holes. The Blue layout has quite a few blind drives which make birdies hard to come by even on the shorter holes. The scrub brush makes recoveries very difficult on the wooded holes. You'll find yourself having to hit a gap vertically (between scrub and overhanging branches) as well as horizontally (between trunks.) Its very easy to turn a 3 into a 5 when you miss the fairway. The field holes are WINDY, adding a welcome challenge to otherwise open holes (especially White layout). Tee pads are mixed (gravel, natural, rubber mats) but generally in good condition. No elevation to speak of.

Visit Jake at the Lazy Frog in Oak Bluffs (if you don't see him on-course) to restock your bag and enjoy your vacation!
Was this review helpful? Yes No
12 1
The Valkyrie Kid
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 46 years 1562 played 1507 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Golfing N Touristing On Beautiful Martha's Vineyard! 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Aug 2, 2011 Played the course:once

Pros:

Wow, I felt pretty lucky indeed to finally to get to visit historic MV, and then to be fortunate enough to grab a quick round of disc golf while I was I here. And I was pleasantly surprised with the course! It was an enjoyable little throw. It's a nice little recreational design. It's not going to challenge any big time pro players but it was perfect for the aging rec player that I resemble.

The baskets are DISCatchers with the yellow ring making them fairly easy to spot here. Some pads are natural. They could use some work as several are a little rough. Others are rubber mats and there were some gravel ones as well. The signage was good starting with the nice colored course map at the parking lot. The actual tee signs were basic home made ones but at least they hadn't been vandalized in any way. One great thing about this course was the "Next Tee Signs". I really appreciated them playing here my first time and being rushed for time. Somewhere around each basket is a little next tee sign for both the blue and white tees. The blues are somewhat longer and more challenging than the whites. Another nice feature is the locked "Lost Disc Return Box" by the kiosk. Shows that much TLC has gone into this course.

To me the signature hole on the course would be # 5 with the 20 foot dead spruce (?) stumps. There are about 15-20 of them scattered between the teepad and the basket. The basket is only around 250' but is guarded by large pine trees front and rear but it's these dead stumps that make the hole unique. There are others scattered around the course. ***Note to course designers***Use this idea to increase difficulty of holes 16 and 17 by maybe installing a few tall posts around those baskets. I've seen it done on others courses in a variety of ways. Kind of like having manmade trees around the baskets. It take a little labor but it's an easy way to take a mundane hole like # 16 and add a 1/2 or even a whole stroke to the average score on it depending on how creative you want to get.

Thanks for the Poison Ivy warning on # ???

Cons:

The course is basically flat. The teepads are adequate, at best. There is no water here. I mean we're on an island and we have a course that's dry-Go Figure. It's a recreational course. I liked it a lot but still the challenge wouldn't be there for advanced to pro players.

Other Thoughts:

I actually played this course in two parts due to time constrainsts (wife). I played 5 holes one evening and the course was quite busy. I then came back the next morning and finished up and pretty much had the course to myself.

Don't take this wrong because I'm a fan of this course. If I lived here, I'd play it all the time and cherish it but.....The ratings on this course definitly are affected by the island version of HBB. That's Home Boy Bias for those uneducated in the DGCR lingo. To give a flat, no water, rec course with mostly natural teepads a rating of 4.5 is a little bit overly generous, to say the least. It's a nice course, it's an enjoyable course, it's a fun little rec course. Phenonimal course, naaaah! Not quite!
Was this review helpful? Yes No
5 1
JasonK
Experience: 15.2 years 16 played 4 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Straight-Forward Course is Overshadowed by Vineyard Beauty 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jul 17, 2009 Played the course:once

Pros:

Disc golf on Marthas Vineyard is a match made in island heaven. Especially in the summer when the cool ocean breezes blanket the island and the unique vegetation is in full bloom. Thankfully a gorgeous disc golf course is available for locals and tourists alike to get their game on.

The Riverhead course is a rather straight-forward DG course that is centered around a large open field with scattered trees and obstacles. The course winds through the woods and across an access road. The terrain is mostly natural, flat and features a mix of tall grass, low medium-dense shrubs, light woods and some dirt-sand surfaces. Its clear that theres not much maintenance here but thats a good thing in my opinion.

The holes themselves are simple in layout and may be a little repetitive to the advanced golfer. The wind presents some nice challenges on this course. All holes are Par 3 and the lengths are between 180 and 400 feet. This amateur golfer felt like Par 4s were justified on a number of holes but who am I to make a fuss?

There are two sets of tees for each hole and they are set in such a way that each tee is an almost a completely different challenge.

I played on a weekday in the summer and I saw a few groups there but in general its very quiet and peaceful - with the exception of the occasional airplanes at neighboring MV airport. Course was clean with a few benches at certain holes. The course is free but there's a donation box on one of the middle holes so bring a few bucks.

The DG community on MV takes great pride in Riverhead and rightfully so. If you're fotunate to be on Marthas Vineyard in the spring, summer or fall, the chance to play on Riverhead shouldn't be passed up. Its the perfect way to spend a relaxing day on the island.

Cons:

Some of the holes were generic and the lack of elevation changes makes for a "flat" playing experience. I didn't like how some of the tees crossed the road and was a little confused by some of the blind tees. I've played more dynamic and challenging courses. There are bugs, poison ivy and ticks about so tread in the woods with care.

Other Thoughts:

Disc golf on Marthas Vineyard is more about the laid-back island life than intensely competive and challenging holes. Riverhead is a great Vineyard experience. Enjoy!
Was this review helpful? Yes No
2 5
davis10sm
Experience: 1 played 1 reviews
3.50 star(s)

Long, beautiful coarse 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Nov 2, 2008 Played the course:5+ times

Pros:

well manacured coarse. great scenery. wide open and tree ridden holes. great variety. very friendly people.

Cons:

poison ivy and ticks. but that's expected on the vineyard.

Other Thoughts:

fun, long, well designed coarse that is currently expanding. i've played the coarse 30+ times, and i still have yet to finish under par.
Was this review helpful? Yes No
Top