Black Bear GC
View of a green at Black Bear Golf Club.
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Rating Index Rating
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3.8
1736 Reviews (1736)
5 Stars
601
4 Stars
721
3 Stars
246
2 Stars
85
1 Stars
83
Conditions
3.5
Value
3.8
Layout
4.3
Friendliness
4.2
Pace
4.2
Amenities
4.0
77.8%
Recommend this course
1443 out of 1736 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
3.3
52 Reviews (52)
5 Stars
10
4 Stars
13
3 Stars
17
2 Stars
9
1 Stars
3
Conditions
2.8
Value
3.3
Layout
4.1
Pace
4.3
Amenities
3.9
StaffFriendliness
4.2
61.5%
Recommend this course
32 out of 52 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
3.7
118 Reviews (118)
5 Stars
33
4 Stars
44
3 Stars
23
2 Stars
9
1 Stars
9
Conditions
3.4
Value
3.7
Layout
4.2
Pace
4.2
Amenities
3.9
StaffFriendliness
4.1
75.4%
Recommend this course
89 out of 118 reviews
Read Reviews
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AI summaries based on real golfer reviews
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Course Highlights
Black Bear's hilly, non-traditional Florida layout consistently earns high marks for its challenging elevation changes and well-regarded course design. Friendly staff, smooth pace of play, and strong overall value make this a rewarding round worth revisiting.

About

Holes 18
Type Semi-Private
Style Links
Par 72
Length 7041 yards
Slope 139
Rating 74.1

P.B. Dye-designed Black Bear Golf Club offers good value and a challenging day. Six sets of tees give you plenty of options. This 18-hole championship facility course, located within 45 minutes of the Orlando attractions boasts of a complete practice facility that includes a double ended driving range, as well as a 40,000 sq. ft. short game area.

Golfers at Black Bear can count on the Dye trademark touches which include sandy waste bunkers, undulating greens and dramatic elevation changes-in short, Black Bear Golf Club is most definitely a "do or Dye" golf course.

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Black Bear Golf Club - Orlando
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Course Details

Year Built 1995
Fairways Bermuda Grass
Greens Bermuda Grass
Golf Season Year round
Architect P. B. Dye (1995)

Rentals/Services

Carts Yes - included in green fees
GPS No
Pull-carts No
Caddies No
Clubs Yes

Practice/Instruction

Driving Range Yes
Bunker Yes
Golf Simulator No
Teaching Pro Yes
Pitching/Chipping Area Yes
Putting Green Yes
Practice Hole No

Policies

Credit Cards Accepted VISA, MasterCard, Amex Welcomed
Metal Spikes Allowed No
Walking Allowed No
Dress code Proper golf attire required

Food & Beverage

Bar, Restaurant

Available Facilities

Clubhouse
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Reviews

3.8
1736 Reviews (1736)

What Golfers Are Saying

The 19th Hole is Great For:
Drinks 32
Patio Dining 17
Brunch 13
Course Challenges Include:
Bunkers 62
Elevation Changes 55
Undulating Greens 49
This course/club is great for:
Locals 40
Advanced Golfers 34
Seniors 18
This Course's Location is:
Worth the Drive 49
In the 'Burbs 29
Convenient to the City 7

Numbers based on reviews tagged with attribute.

Reviewer Photos

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Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 11
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
2.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Greens Under Repair

I have played a lot out at this course…it’s always hit or miss. When we played…it was a big MISS. The greens were a mess. I get we had a hard freeze a few months back, but everyone course experienced it around here and they’ve done well to get them to respond. Management should be ashamed to charge full rate to play this course right now. Tee boxes are a mess…greens terrible and nothing fair about the fairways. Do better or discount the round until you can fix these conditions. At least make a note on Golf Now so we can decide for ourselves.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 10
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 20
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Greensarebad

Play here alot. Greens were the worst I ever seen. Hopefully time of year.

Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Average
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 34
Handicap 10-14
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Perfect weather
Used cart

Would play again

Course recovering from freeze but acceptable. Should be excellent when recovered. Self service for clubs to cart not appreciated. Practice/warm up range very good (mats for now until grass areas reopen)

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Extremely Challenging
Played On
Reviews 38
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Average
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 7
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 2
Handicap 10-14
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
2.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Overpriced / poor greens

I’ll be short and quick, staff was friendly and pace was excellent because nobody was on it and you would understand why if you saw the course. The greens were so bad I wouldn’t let a flat graze on them. It was the overwhelming majority of them. I took two years off from playing here because the conditions slipped. Just go to Zellwood or Forest Lake if you want a lower cost course that is actually maintained and worth it. This was a $25-30 course at most.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Average
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 5
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 6
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 20
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
1.0
First Time Playing

Stay away

Not a chance that the good reviews are real accounts. This course is horrible. Do not drive here or spend your money. I’d rather go to Congo River.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Poor
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Poor
Amenities Poor
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Rough condition.

First time playing this course. Clubhouse, pro shop, and staff were all great. Nice restaurant, staff was friendly, and the pro shop is well stocked. Now for the course…..the layout is what it is. It was hard to tell where the fairways were on a few holes due to the condition. Not much grass in a lot of areas that was not poa annua. What grass was present was super thin. Greens were below average condition for the most part. Most courses have a signature hole. Couldn’t tell if this one has one or not. If it does, it was not obvious to me.

So overall, good experience at the clubhouse. Would not recommend the course at this time. May be due to the winter weather, but not sure.

Conditions Poor
Value Average
Layout Average
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 5
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Greens in poor condition

Challenging course, very undulating, greens were very small and in poor condition, I was told by a member that when it gets hotter the greens will be better,

Conditions Fair
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 51
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played

Black bear

Played black bear many times and always love the layout...different from many other central Florida courses because of some elevation changes and some challenging green complexes with tough approaches. Mid March is peak golf time ,and also dry time, but the fairways are pretty nice and green,and on an afternoon approaching 90 degrees no problem with pace of play.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 38
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Kind of taken back a little…

I played here a lot, and I do enjoy the course and I do enjoy the layout!!

Matter fact, I was really excited to play, but when I got here and started playing, I was a little upset. Last time I played the greens were in great shape, but this time there was way too much crab grass… It really took away from being able to enjoy the greens, which I like by the way… I just hope you make a speedy comeback so I can play here again without all that crab grass. I was shocked.

That was my only disappointment. Other than that everything else is top shelf!!

Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 7
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
2.0
Previously Played

Need to improve.

Have played this course many times over the last 20 years and it used to be pretty good. Practice facilities are nice, but the course must be better. The greens are virtually unputtable for any realistic scoring as they are literally overrun by clumps of poa. Fairways are also being overrun by the same thing. Treatments for this condition are available. I don’t intend to return until this is addressed. This is by no stretch a four star course. Do better.

Conditions Fair
Value Average
Layout Average
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 45
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Fairways are good greens are not.

This course is unique and fun to play. Except the 18th hole. It’s a lousy finishing hole and it just seems they were confused and didn’t know what to do with it. Suggest just build a couple nice tee boxes and make it a par three with a shot over the water. Otherwise has some nice holes. The fairways actually had grass on them which is more than I can say for many of the Florida courses we have played. The greens though were really slow and need to be cut or something. Pace of play was great and all in all it was an enjoyable round.

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Fair
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 18
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
1.0
Previously Played

Course conditions could not be worse

I’ve played blackbear well over 100 times. It was always a great course to play. Now the course is virtually unplayable. The fairways are in terrible shape and the greens are inundated with weeds. There is no smooth putt anywhere and very hard to score. This course is difficult with good conditions.

Conditions Poor
Value Poor
Layout Good
Friendliness Average
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 10
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Truly challenging and different

This course was an amazing surprise. It is the most undulating and challenging course I have played in the Florida, Orlando area. With postage stamp sized greens and tight layout it was great fun.

The course overall was not in it’s best condition when I played, winter cold spell had prevented work, but still wonderful and frustrating fun.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
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