Bear Trap Dunes Golf Club - Grizzly/Kodiak Course
About
Bear Trap Dunes Golf Club in Ocean View is conveniently located just three miles west of Bethany Beach along the Eastern Shore. The club offers 27 championship holes that are divided into three different nines, Grizzly, Kodiak, and Black Bear. The holes are played in three different combinations. Each nine has a unique character but every course shares winding bentgrass fairways lined with native wetland grasses and a landscape of sandy dunes and grassy hollows. The Grizzly/Kodiak Course is the shortest of the three combinations but it still has the same level of challenge. Strategically placed bunkers come into play along the oversized greens and water hazards also come into play on a few holes There is an interesting variety of holes that each require a different strategy.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | 72 | 6834 yards | 72.1 | 126 |
| Back | 72 | 6426 yards | 69.9 | 122 |
| Forward | 72 | 5817 yards | 69.8 | 120 |
| Club | 72 | 5817 yards | 67.2 | 117 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold M: 71.8/125 | 434 | 541 | 350 | 163 | 425 | 387 | 423 | 184 | 534 | 3441 | 363 | 410 | 541 | 153 | 382 | 365 | 550 | 202 | 427 | 3393 | 6834 |
| Blue M: 69.7/121 W: 76.1/137 | 393 | 521 | 330 | 154 | 401 | 360 | 397 | 172 | 511 | 3239 | 345 | 385 | 512 | 133 | 369 | 340 | 522 | 175 | 406 | 3187 | 6426 |
| Blue/White M: 68.2/116 W: 74.1/133 | 360 | 477 | 330 | 154 | 356 | 360 | 357 | 158 | 481 | 3033 | 345 | 349 | 474 | 133 | 325 | 340 | 522 | 142 | 367 | 2997 | 6030 |
| White M: 67.2/113 W: 73.6/131 | 360 | 477 | 297 | 134 | 356 | 325 | 357 | 158 | 481 | 2945 | 313 | 349 | 474 | 115 | 325 | 304 | 483 | 142 | 367 | 2872 | 5817 |
| Red M: 64.4/110 W: 70.0/120 | 328 | 432 | 276 | 108 | 336 | 275 | 316 | 130 | 413 | 2614 | 286 | 317 | 440 | 95 | 296 | 281 | 461 | 108 | 310 | 2594 | 5208 |
| Handicap | 5 | 7 | 13 | 17 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 15 | 9 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 6 | |||
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Handicap (W) | 3 | 5 | 13 | 17 | 1 | 11 | 9 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 16 | 8 |
Course Details
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ClubhouseReviews
Reviewer Photos
Cool
Very windy but the course was very good and staff was great.
Great day out
I played Grizzly and Black Bear as a single. I played with some members of the club all were friendly and made me feel right at home sharing tips and tricks. It was a bit windy right after hurricane Maria but still excellent round I had a great time.
Very pleasant day
Greeted enthusiastically by the outdoor guys. Treated quickly and professionally by the inside team. Practice area was nice, except for the chipping area - it was pretty chopped up. Not a dal breaker for me, though.
Course was in very good shape. Holes were fair with enough challenging features. Greens are HUGE, as evidenced by my 4-jack of number 18. (Something like an 80 footer. )
I was able to play with a member and if he was representative of the rest of them then this would be a great place to join if I lived here.
Not bad at all
Nice track; greens rolled pretty well despite having been aerated within the last two weeks. Bunkers were full of soft beach sand. Fairways in generally good shape. Did not see a cart girl after the first hole on a busy Saturday - strange. No marshals to keep pace of play up. All that said, a pretty good track for $70 on a weekend. We'll go back.
Slow play
The greens were recently aerated which made them very bumpy and inconsistent. The pace of play was very slow with no ranger in sight! Over 5 hours to finish in the dark!
Easy to navigate
Course in great condition. It was cart path only on front nine due to rain recently but changed to 90 drug rule for back nine which was helpful. Well stocked snack shack. Overall, a very enjoyable course to play. A bit pricey but there deals to be had if you are flexible about tee-times.
A fun golf course
Though one of the hottest days for golf, our there's one had a very nice time. We played the 'blended' tees. The fairways were generous and the trouble was not too onerous. I will definitely play this layout again.
Over all course review
Very well maintained! Nice place to golf. Very skill challenged course! Fun
Excellent Amenities for an Average Course
First off, my overall 3/5 rating and my lack of recommendation of this course is relative to what it is (or purports to be). If this course were being compared to your local muni, it would certainly score higher. But given the competition within a 45-minute drive, it's difficult to recommend Bear Trap Dunes.
The amenities are outstanding, though. Everything from the clubhouse to the restaurant to the snack shack is top-of-the-line. The atmosphere surrounding the course gives one the feeling that it will be worth the $125 prime time rate.
The course, however, did not live up to that feeling. The greens and tee boxes were average at best, and at times, below average (compared to almost any course). The layout was not terribly interesting, and there were no memorable, picturesque holes as one may hope to find on a resort/vacation/destination course. Luckily, I received a $30 discount on my tee time, but even with the savings, it'd be tough to recommend this course to anyone visiting the OCMD area. I have only played three other courses in the area, but I would certainly recommend two of them before BTD (Lighthouse Sound and Baywood Greens), and given the choice, I'd play the other one (Man O' War) before returning to BTD as well.
If you can get on this course of $40 or less, it's probably worth it. If you are looking to drop $100+ on a round though, go play Lighthouse Sound (or any of the other course options in the area). I may have caught the course at a bad time, but when it comes to vacation courses, they usually only get one shot to impress the out-of-town visitors.
Grizzly, and kodiac
Excellent conditions, if you like speedy greens, this is the place. Test all aspects of one's game
Course is always well maintained
Played Bear Trap Dunes many times. Course is always in great shape and well maintained. The setup offers an enjoyable challenge. Staff was very accommodating in allowing us to move up our tee time significantly so that we could get in round before rain moved in.
Good place for Mother's Day!
Pace of play was great! Staff was nice. Course had been aerated and we were not made aware but it was still ok for the money and we were there to enjoy the nice day!
Beautiful course and great people
The only problem with the course itself was that the greens had just been aerated and sanded and were ridiculously difficult to putt on from any angle.
The score card lacked a course layout on it and I found that inconvenient since the golf cart "card" was not very handy to use. Also, for a course like this, there should be a GPS in each cart.