Riviera Country Club

Overview: The Washington Riviera Country Club is the nine-hole executive course operated by Riviera Community Club on Anderson Island in south Puget Sound. It measures 1,612 yards from the longest tees and plays to par 29, with short-hole variety, bentgrass surfaces and a quiet setting near Lake Josephine. Native island vegetation and the compact routing give the course a very different identity from the famous 18-hole Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. This profile is locked to the Anderson Island course and its exact directory identity.

History: Riviera Community Club acquired a large Anderson Island holding from Heritage Properties in 1966 and developed a community plan around homes, parks, a marina, clubhouse and golf facilities. Public course records date the nine-hole course to 1970. The layout serves as a small community golf facility rather than a championship-length venue, with the nearby Lakeshore Restaurant and Lake Josephine forming part of the local setting. The community’s archival history describes the original development as a plan for recreational living on the island. The reviewed records do not identify a course architect, so that field remains unassigned rather than inferred.

Did You Know? A par-29 course can still reward precise planning. At Riviera, the 1,612-yard scorecard places emphasis on wedges, short irons and putting rather than power, while the nine-hole loop can be played as a compact test within the larger island community. The Riviera development now includes roughly 3,127 lots and about 800 homes, alongside the golf course, club facilities, marina and parks. That community setting is the key to understanding why this small course appears in the directory as Riviera Country Club.