Black Bear Golf Club

Greens got disease and in bad shape. They used to have great greens but not this year. They should give advance notice to golfers so they know before they come and meet extremely bad greens.

Sent out twosomes instead of foursomes. Sending out foursomes would increase pace of play. Love the track!

Nice layout. Looks like 9+ greens have had major work or full replacements. Pace of play 5 hrs on the button due to outing before us. Will play again in off season. Too many other options for courses in the area to sit for hrs. Rangers were present just to say hello not to control pace of play.

The course layout was very nice, however, the conditions were horrendous. The greens were spotty at best. They were unputtable as they perhaps had a disease. They basically needed to be torn up and redone.
The fairways were spotty as well and needed to be fertilized. Several bare areas and inconsistent cutting heights.
This course has potential, but it needs some serious maintenance.

the pace of play was extremely slow, it took five hours to play 18 holes. The greens were in very bad condition. I assume they had aerated them recently but did a very poor job and the ball didn't role true.

First time playing course, Thought it was Awsome. Great Value, Great views and scenery and wild life. Even saw a bear. I'll be back soon

I have been playing this course for many years now and it is one of my favorite. This July is one of the worst conditions i have ever seen the greens and i thought without a doubt there will be no recovery untill next year. Everyone must have thought the same thing considering the course was empty and i played under 4 hours on greens that have made a marvelous recovery. two thumbs up to the greens keeper, management, and employees. Black bear looks tarrific

GolfNow had the greens fee at $ 45 but when we got to the course they had a Monday special greens fee $ 32--bargain! That unfortunetely was the best part of the course. This course is the poor sister to the rest of the Christal Springs courses. No sand in the bunkers, the greens are difficult to describe. It appeared they had been areated not too long ago but the holes combined with the many bare spots and the tuffs of slightly longer grass made the putts bounce from the bare spots off the tuffs of grass like a pinball. You could watch your ball zigzag as it tried to make its way to the hole. The layout is average and there are some scenic vistas.

A very nice course that has both challenging and easy holes for a nice variety. For a woodland course it is more then moderately scenic with some water holes and large valleys. The range is nice but many of the balls were cracked/old and wouldn't carry correct distances. Hard to believe when paying $100/round... Only one practice green that was somewhat small. The course itself had major issues with the greens due to summer stress, but they discounted the rates 20% to compensate. However, there was no maintenance crew to rake bunkers and clean up debris. Something you wouldn't expect for a 9am tee time.

Overall I would play here again for the right deal.

Tough, fun course to play. I played this course several weeks ago and the greens were in such bad shape I complained about being charged a full green fee. I was told that they had some type of infestation. I understood, but they should have charged accordingly such as an aeorated price. Crystal Springs did the right thing and sent my foursome a full credit. When I played yesterday it was in much better shape and they were clearly addressing the problem on the greens with new grass.

Black Bear is a great course to play. One of the better ones I have played recently. Course has been maintained well recently since coming back from the problems earlier this season. Very clean and well designed. Good value for the money. Will definitely come back

I played the course this spring and it was in pristine condition. I don't know what happened after that but they had issues with many of the greens. I stopped playing there until this weekend and what a difference!!!! I can't say the greens are totally back but you can see there has been a significant effort to bring them back and I feel they will be more than acceptable in the coming weeks.

Staff was super friendly and explained the conditions of the course along with the dicsounts offered because of the conditions, we could tell that there had been some issues with the greens but they were being worked on and coming back nicely, will definitely be coming back.

Greens are in top shape and the golf pace was perfect.

The staff and rangers kept a perfect golf pace.
Can't wait to golf at Black Bear again!!!

They definetly had some issues with the greens earlier in the summer. It's clear that they worked hard in getting the course back in shape. Most of the greens were perfect. A few had some signs that they were still coming back but I can't wait to go back in another week because I think they will be pristine by then. Great layout, great staff. Can't wait to go back.

I have played Black Bear many times over the years and never has it been in such bad shape. 50% of the greens require some serious care, one of the greens was closed and several had ground under repair areas staked off.

Despite what appeared to be an effort to fix the greens, my round was not as much fun or as pleasurable as it should have been. Frankly, I have never seen any of the Crystal Springs Golf Courses in such bad shape. I won't be playing Black Bear for at least one full year and hope they dump some money into the greens over that time.

First time out at this course and was surprised at the height of the rough, four to six inches. The fairways were well maintain but soft from recent rains. Many greens are under repair at this time and should be in very good shape in two months. The course tested my patience, but, I'd definitely would go back - beautiful area of New Jersey

For the most part, this course's layout and diversity of holes is great. The staff is happy and kind. Conditions are very nice for the most part, but there are a handful of greens that are garbage. Many of them are being worked on, but when you spend this much on 18 holes, I would expect better.

I have played this course many times however it is not suffering from burnt out or diseased greens. You should be told before playing! About ten greens are a mess and putting is impossible. There is one temporary green - which they do tell you about before playing - many others force you to take two putts and move on. Disappointing!

Excellent layout, usually in great condition. This year the greens need major rehabilatation. If you reach greens just take 2 puts and leave.