Blue Top Ridge at Riverside Casino

Blue Top Ridge at Riverside Casino & Golf Resort is a Rees Jones and Bryce Swanson design from 2007, stretching 7,505 yards across the rolling Iowa landscape near Riverside with a rating of 77.2 and slope of 141 that make it a challenging public course in the state. Five tee sets from 5,145 to 7,432 yards provide options across player abilities at a facility associated with the Riverside Casino and Hotel complex.

Blue Top Ridge at Riverside Casino & Golf Resort opened in 2007 in Riverside, Iowa, a small community in Washington County approximately 25 miles south of Iowa City. The course was designed by Rees Jones and his associate Bryce Swanson as the golf component of the Riverside Casino & Hotel development, providing a championship-quality outdoor amenity to complement the casino's entertainment offerings and attract golf-motivated visitors from throughout eastern Iowa and beyond. Rees Jones, whose reputation for rigorous course design had been established across dozens of renovations and new builds including U.S. Open preparations at multiple venues, brought the same commitment to strategic quality to the Blue Top Ridge project.

The Iowa site provided Jones and Swanson with rolling terrain that offered more topographic interest than the flat ground typical of much of the Midwest, and the design uses the natural contours to create elevation changes, view corridors, and shot angles that give the course visual and strategic variety across all 18 holes. The championship configuration at 7,505 yards—with the tee nearest the back designated to stretch to 7,432 yards under standard play—produces a rating of 77.2 and slope of 141, numbers that confirm Blue Top Ridge's status as one of Iowa's most demanding public tests. The slope of 141 is particularly notable, reflecting the course's genuine challenge for the recreational golfer rather than simply its length. Five tee sets extending from the championship markers down to 5,145 yards make the course accessible across a wide range of player abilities, ensuring that the casino complex's diverse visitor base can find an appropriate tee configuration regardless of handicap.

This accessibility, combined with the championship challenge available from the back markers, positions Blue Top Ridge as a course capable of satisfying both serious competitive golfers and casual players seeking an entertaining day on the course. The Riverside Casino & Golf Resort context gives Blue Top Ridge a broader destination character, with hotel accommodation, dining, and entertainment available on the same property. This integration into a full resort experience has contributed to the course's ability to attract golfers from outside the immediate Iowa City area who visit Riverside for multiple days rather than a single-day golf trip. Blue Top Ridge at Riverside Casino plays 6,874 yards from the championship tees with a course rating of 73.9 and slope of 134 on a layout designed as the golf component of the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort in Riverside, Iowa. The course's integration with the casino resort's broader entertainment offerings creates a destination model that draws golfers from across the Iowa City area and beyond who combine golf with the casino experience. The routing through the rolling Washington County terrain uses the natural topography of east-central Iowa to create elevation changes and scenic variety unusual in this region of the agricultural Midwest. The Iowa Golf Association maintains Blue Top Ridge among its member facilities. The combination of the championship design quality, the casino resort amenities, and the accessible pricing model has made Blue Top Ridge one of eastern Iowa's more discussed public golf destinations since its opening — a facility that successfully integrates quality golf with the broader resort entertainment infrastructure that attracts visitors to Riverside from across the region.