Black Bear Golf Club

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.

This coarse is a very golf friendly one. For all levels there is a challenge on one hole or another. Cosmetically beautiful and a helful staff made the day enjoyable and wanting to come back soon

four some in front was slowest,should have been asked to play through,no help from ranger. upsetting

bit slower pace but did not seem it was to the fault of course management.

The only thing keeping me from giving this course a 5-star was the 5+ hour round. Otherwise, the course was in great shape and provided a nice challenge for all the clubs in the bag.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing Black Bear golf course. It is in great shape and in a very picturesque area of New Jersey, providing a serene environment. The hills and ponds provide a challenge, but it is not too difficult for an intermediate player.

i have never played this course before but got very good rate on golf now!! it was very good day. the course is in great shape you have to watch the putting look at the hole to see growth to tell grain it makes a change in speed and break. the views are also great.

I have not played Black Bear in several years. When they first opened the course it needed time to grow in. The fairways were thin and the greens were so-so. The greens have always been questionable and there are a couple of just OK holes (12, 13). I was quite surprised yesterday to find the fairways have grown in nicely and most of the greens are now very nice. They have cut back some trees and opened up the fairway and green area on 12 which makes it more playable. The bunkers still need some attention as most that I found during play did not have enough sand in them. In general the course is in very good condition, much better than the last time I played there. I will definitely go back and play there again.

Round took 5.5 hours. Talked to cart guys afterwards and they said time was pretty typical for this course. "What did I expect?" I complained and said 4:10 to 4:30 was more reasonable and they stated that the course was "too busy" and never was less than 5 hours.

Course was in decent shape overall but always two + groups on most tees. Just not pleasant playing at the pace this course has. Marshalls would go a long ways towards helping if they had any that actually did anything.

I forgot just how much I love this course. The course was is great shape with the exception of copious ball marks on the greens (most likely from an outing earlier in the day...are they really THAT hard to fix, people?!?). This was clearly not the fault of the grounds crew.

Pace of play was fantastic and the weather could not have been better. I will definitely be playing here more often this summer.

Overall excellent value with golfnow deal
Course was on super shape and staff was very friendly only problem was slowness on back nine but it is weekend golf in northeast

It was a very good course and my group enjoyed playing very much. We will try again in the near future. thanks.