Black Bear Golf Club

This course is only 1 hour from Manhattan and well worth the trip. Beautiful layout, pace of play was good, friendly staff, great food. Can't wait to go back.

Grabbed this round on a hot time for $24. So the value was ridiculously good. The greens have been greatly improved from past years. Pace of play was great since it was a weekday afternoon. The ranger came by and sorted out the slow group ahead of us. The course is in great shape this year.

course was great and in good shape, pace of play was good

Great Bear is nice course with several tough holes, but nothing that kills the spirit of the average golfer. I'm about a 13-14 handicapper, and enjoyed the course. Course condition was good, with greens a little slow, but very smooth rolling. Pace of play was good, with exact start time as stated, and 4:15 total time. Nice pitcher of beer plus order of wings special for $12.99, very reasonable, but wings although large serving, were not the best...I'll be back.

Great golfing experience at an hour driving from Manhattan.
Hope they will maintain the very good standard of the course as well as of the overall facilities.
The golf carts conditions are pretty poor. (it was missing the front window and the rear cover bags ).

Had a great time, fantastic course layout and conditions. Play was slow due to holiday but everything else was great.

Great comeback from a tough 2013. Course in very good shape.

The course was in good condition, not excellent because some of the greens were not as i expected from a resort course. If your ball lands about a foot from the fairway, it is hard to find that ball. Overall, we enjoyed our game.

Course was in excellent shape. No ranger and the two groups ahead played very slow. This was a shame as otherwise this was a good value.

Took my father, who has been playing golf for a long time. Made comment on second hole that it has been a long time since he played on fairways that nice. Course is challenging to the level where it's fun. Overheard the starter saying that had aerated the greens a few days prior. Could only tell on a 3 or 4 of the greens. Rest were in excellent shape. Even the ones that had the remains of it being aerated were in good shape, just were a tad slower. Only negative was that I did not bring anything to eat with me on the course and I ended up paying $9.50 for a Ham and Cheese wrap. Don't even pay anywhere close to that at any of the upscale deli's by where I work.

From the time I walked in to the time I left, there isn't one issue i could find for this outstanding course. I was worried because it said the greens had been aerated; however, the greens looks perfectly manicured.

The Black Bear experience is directly related to how much you paid. At $85 it is not worth it, around $35 - $50 you feel like you got value. The course is a solid track with one major flaw, in my opinion. The last two holes are boring. 18 might be one of the most anti-climatic holes in golf. Simply reversing the nines would improve the experience. There are many good holes. The signature par 3 seventh is a tough hole over water. The recent tree clearing behind number 4 is a nice improvement. The par 5's are notable. The first 16 holes are fun an varying. 17 and 18 leave you feeling flat. The starters are friendly and helpful.

Greens were much too bumpy as I heard that's due to aeration maintenance. The course itself is designed nicely to have enough challenges along the way with natural water and other various hazards. I thought they were just fine except the course is a bit short to my taste. All in all, not a bad round of golf and wouldn't mind coming back there once in a while.

Greens in a little rough shape (but to be fair they were just aerated and we knew that going in) but the course overall is very picturesque and well maintained.

Some challenging holes, nice layout. Carts suck through: not even enough power to get up hills at any decent pace

A couple of slow players in front of us, but that's just more time to drink beer. No worries.

Overall, 4 stars.

Nice course for couples, since it's very lady friendly regarding distance carries and layout. Has significant undulation to keep the serious golfer interested and challenged

It's an average course that is in good shape. The grounds crew really worked hard to make it look good. Not overly impressive, but it's decent.

I got a good deal on golfnow. I paid less then half of normal green fees. Great bargin

I live right across from Black Bear. I love this course, and its usually the benchmark for comparing other courses. I'm moving in a month, though i'll still be able to play here, definitely not as much.

I imagine the low overall rating is due to its conditions in the past (greens destroyed last summer).

They spent a TON of work getting the greens back to top notch shape, and the rest of the course as a whole. It has opened up a little because trees were taken down to allow wind to hit the effected areas. When they do aerate (all courses have to) they definitely reflect it in the price.

You can often get deals to play this course for $25-30 and sometimes they even have a 9 hole rate. For that price, I believe it's the best public course for the money.

The staff is friendly, the rangers are friendly, the food is good and the snack/drink cart makes more laps than you need. The only thing bad is my game most of the time ;).

Good value for the money. Course was in good condition and the pace of play was acceptable for a weekend.

It's a solid course. First time playing here. The greenskeeper must have had a bad day because he put the pin in some awful positions.

Challenging course from the tips.

Played a few of the Crystal Springs courses. It's better than Great Gorge, but not as good as Wild Turkey or Ballyowen.