Bear Creek Golf Complex - Bear Course

I think the title of the review says it all. If you like teeing off on bare, muddy tee boxes and putting on slow greens, this is you track. The fairways were in pretty good shape considering the sad shape of the rest of the course. This used to be, and could be one of the better courses in the east valley...but, it is not. I suspect they aren't too concerned with the local players during the summer months, and would rather cater to the "winter visitors" when they arrive a few months from now. Pretty standard mentality for many of the sub-par courses around the valley, including this one. If you play this course over the summer months, bring two things with you...something to clean your shoes of the all the mud, and finally, a very, very low set of expectations.

Where to start? $40 for the course was not awful. The staff/starters however were. When we walk up to the shop, there were 3 workers standing by the carts. One individual was greeting guests and loading bags, the other 2 looked like they had been hungover from the night before and just stood around. Upon loading our own bags and having to ask which carts were available, we headed to the pro shop. At that point, they had stated they had a full day of tee times booked but NO beverage cart. On a 105 degree day AND the 4th of July, you would think this would be a no brainer. Apparently they based their beverage cart schedule on last years tee times? Weird. We get to the 1st tee within 5 minutes remaining until our tee time. Our 4th had been running late and the starter was sure to let us hear about it (eventually lightly hit the 4th with his clipboard??). After I let him know we were aware he would have to be driven out to the 2nd hole, the starter continued to talk to us like this was our first ever round. Don't drive in the desert and don't hit out of the desert. Respectable rules if more than half of their course wasn't dried out and naturally surrounded by desert. By hole 4, we had been waiting for the group in front of us. We were finishing up on the green when the marshal came up to ask us what was taking so long. We simply looked ahead to show him the group was on the green on the par 3 ahead and couldn't move any faster. They left us alone and the pace picked up slightly to keep us on track for a 4 hour round. At the turn we had to go out of our way to grab some refreshments from the bar, tee'd off on hole 10, a guy in our group put it on the fairway to the left, driving on our fairway, we had a tough time finding the ball so we quickly found a flat desert area to cross over to the opposite fairway. We found his ball, quickly played it and safely crossed back over to our hole. Here comes the marshal, you would've thought we were drifting on the green with the attitude he came with. He was sure to remind of us of the rules, I kindly stated "easy enough, was a one off situation as we couldn't find his ball from our fairway", the marshal said some snarky comment and drove off to hangout with the other 2 marshals who had been sitting around since we started on hole 1. We finished our round at the 4 hour mark, unloaded our bags and got out of there. Have had hesitancy playing here in the past as the course is beat up, the tee boxes have divots like no other, each fairway has half of it dried up and looking like the deserts they are so keen on us avoiding. All the meanwhile there is duct tape on every last cart they have. All in all, if you are a beginner looking for understanding or guidance from marshals/staff don't go here because the marshals act as if they work at a top flite course. If you are intermediate golfer looking for a cheaper round and can ignore these employees, go for it. I personally won't be back, again I had avoided this course before due to the conditions, however poor and rude staff puts the cherry on top. Rules are obvious when it comes to this game. But with the attitude and poor effort from the minute we got their to the end of the round was atrocious. Have some self awareness that you work at a beginners course, duct tape on your golf carts and take a look at the condition of your track. To not have any patience or understanding is unbelievable and laughable. Had their Marshals been normal and they had a beverage cart out, this could've easily been a 3/3.5 star review which is right on par for their norm.

Courses I recommend within the same price point with much better conditions/staff.

-Western Skies

-Springfield (Executive)

-Lone Tree

-Dobson Ranch

Some really bad tee boxes and hole 3 the par 5 has patches of dead area everywhere. Several holes are in bad shape. Greens though rolled true and were in descent shape

No lightning in site but was told to leave the course…not very nicely I might adde

Great value for the money. The course is in very good condition considering time of year. The fairways are all basically green with very few dead spots. The greens are fine. The tee boxes are a bit beat up but I can live with that. It's a forgiving course that even a mid high handicapper like me, 16 index, can feel some success but still have it be a challenge. I also like the driving range, chipping areas and large putting green for practice times. And a cold one on the patio afterwards is very pleasant.

Walkers should pay less than riders. Locals should pay less than tourists. Locals are the ones that get you through the summer. Need benches at the tee boxes for walkers. Need drinking water on the course . Green fees are over priced in the winter.

Had never played this course before so I wanted to try it. Was overpriced compared to surrounding courses. Cart was old, slow, and dirty. There was chocolate residue, or at least I hope it was chocolate, left in the compartments. Dirtied my phone and speaker. Cart was very slow and damaged. We teed off at 7 am, by 8 it was already very hot. Saw the drink cart once. Fairways were okay. Course itself was very open. Can make recovery shots with good precision. Greens were good. Tee boxes need some work though. A few of the tee box markers were set at an angle than I believe would exceed regulations. I guess they did this because the other areas were already beat up. They have dessert between fairways and in some areas it’s just dirt. BUT you aren’t allowed to cross it with cart, even if it’s 10 feet across. We were yelled at with a microphone about it. Safe to say I will not be making this course a favorite.

For this time of year. with many courses not looking great as they transition to summer, Bear Creek has done a nice job keeping things manicured and green. The fairways are wide and green. The greens are in respectable shape, the sand trails traps are crusty just like every other course. In the valley All in all a great value. I like the wide open links feeling and not worrying about hitting a house or another golfer. Very peaceful day with a decent pace, 3:15 start to finish. I'll be playing here often this summer.