Bear Trace at Cumberland Mountain State Park

First time playing here, and the staff was amazing and the course was in great shape. The greens were more firm than what I’m used to so I didn’t score very well, but still a beautiful course and I will hopefully be back very soon and would highly recommend to anyone. Wasn’t held up at all anywhere until the last two holes and I was playing solo, so the pace of play was pretty spectacular and I didn’t get paired with any strangers so that’s always a plus. Had a great time.

we played today with our travel group of nearly 40 this course has been a well maintained course but today it was definately not well maintained the greens were awful and definately noy worth the course rate we paided today i do not recomend this course to anyone as it is now but i do recomend that who ever is in charge of this course that they get a greens keeper fast before its a memory i was very displeased with this course and i hope our group passes this course up on our next scheduled time to play

We arrived early, there were no carts to be found. Possibly a tournament was keeping them out. Pro shop guy was not as kind as he could have been to my son. He had a tone but that is to be expected anymore. We finally got a cart and headed out only to wait every single hole on a very very slow threesome that held the course up. Nothing was done. We were a 4 some following a twosome following the turtle paced threesome. Had a foursome playing best ball behind pushing every single hole. Did not enjoy it for the first time. We have met some very nice guys inside but I guess they get tired of dealing with people. But take it easy on children moms like me do not accept rude behavior out of anyone on or off the course. I did not hear the tone thankfully. Ranger came but nothing was done about the slow play , we did finish in the 4.5 hour window though. Some of the greens are about to be gone. The area just before the greens is super hard also.

Interesting that Nicklaus says a problem with courses today are too long and too hard, yet he creates courses that are too long and too hard for some players. There are forced carries impossible for many seniors without a drop area, resulting in the course being unplayable based on USGA rules. There should be silver tees and drop areas for senior women or put up a notice like at Bethpage Black, that short hitting seniors are not welcome.

This was the 2nd Bear Trace course I have played. The front 9 was great and the back 9 is a challenge. Very beautiful golf course the staff was very friendly and helpful. I definitely recommend if you’re in the area. I would definitely play again.

Played Harrison Bay last year so thought we'd do another Bear Trace course this year. Course was in good shape. Greens were a bit shaggy and slow, but they told us that ahead of time and said the reason was due to the heat. Took a few holes to get used to the speed but after that it wasn't bad. ALL staff were super friendly and welcoming - more so than at Harrison Bay. Cart girl, restaurant lady, starter, and both pros were very friendly and up for nice conversation. Course was crowded (holiday) and pace of play was slow. 2h 15m for the front 9 - 2h 10m for the back. We usually play in 3-3.5 hours at our home course. But it was an enjoyable day overall. Will definitely go back and play again!

Course has a nice layout, but lots of ups and downs and side sloping fairways. Several holes you really need some local knowledge because couldn't always use a driver. All the fairways have been recently resodded so it will take another summer growing for the grass to completely fill in. Biggest compliant were the greens. Extremely fuzzy, very slow. Apparently too many lazy people play the course and don't bother to fix their ball marks.

Enjoyed the lay out...very scenic! Friendly staff... would have liked more options on alcoholic beverages but will definitely return.

first time playing course. fairways were soysia grass and many had been resodded. greens rolled well as did fairways. leaves were turning and would have been nice to have had green fairways. played in 3 hours. only one drawback was tee boxes were firm and had trouble d getting tees into ground. other suggestion would be to show hole layout on golf card.

The conditions were quite wet so it was cart path only. However under the circumstances the course including the greens were in good condition. Typical JN signature course with challenging fairways and tricky location of hazards. My only complaint is that the directions on Golf Now took me to the wrong address!

Will be better once sod on greens and fairways take hold better.

SO. MUCH. POTENTIAL. We'll start with the clubhouse. Absolutely beautiful, and the people inside were so friendly it actually makes it hard to even write a bad review about this place. Honestly, they are the only reason its getting a 2 star and not a 1 star. Welcoming from the get-go, eager to help and even gave me a discount on the rate since the winter rates weren't loaded onto Golf now at the time. They had a well stocked club house full of merchandise, a beautiful fireplace with an active fire and a concessions team that was happy and ready to help at a moments notice. Now the bad, the golf. I'm not sure if they have hired new grounds crew, or are trying to replace old grounds crew or they just dont have any idea what they are doing, but this course is in horrendous shape, and thats being nice. We'll start with the tee boxes. You would think in the winter time they would move them around to help with spring time growth, negative. They appear to be in the exact same spots and the ground is hard as a rock and alot of the tee markers were missing, also, where they had "aerated" the tee boxes, the plugs were still laying in the tee boxes, making it absolutely impossible to find an even lie. Now, onto the fairways, the fairways were mediocre to say the least, alot of bare spots and alot of unpredictable bounces due to improper mowing and maintenance of the fairway/first cut interaction. Lastly, the greens, you might as well just pick up your ball and go on to the next hole, the aerated plugs were too deep, way to much sand on the green, and the maintenance of the fringe and/or/ rough around the green was non-existent. Most of the holes were cut so long ago you could see the browning on the inside of the cup were they hadn't been moved in weeks and you could tell that no one who knows how to properly place a cup placed them because some were placed on slopes so severe the local putt-putt course would've been jealous. I'll leave you with this, i left after 13 holes when I drove past a pond and saw the maintenance crew scooping up limbs out of a dried up pond instead of out working on the actual course or maintaining the driving range. I now understand why the parking lot was empty on a 75 degree day in november in the busiest golf county in TN. Unless they change everything about the course as far as maintenance and up keep this course will continue to go downhill until nothing is left but a pile of rubble.