Bear Creek Golf Club

sand traps need work pace of play is slow but bang for your buck cant be beat fairways an greens look good

Bear Creek is a challenging course yet is still fun to play. The downside to challenging courses for average players is that they can be slow, and it took us almost five hours to play. The greens seemed pretty big to our group and most were in good shape but a few had big brown patches. I putted very well in my round so I’m probably biased on the green conditions! A decent number of holes have water come into play.

The first hole is really downhill, and I drilled my first tee shot long and straight leaving a short shot in. Hole 2 is a beast starting with a tough tee shot with a pretty long forced carry. After playing the par-3 sixth, there was a major wait to play the seventh hole but we never figured out why. While we were putting on six, there were two full groups waiting on the seventh tee with another foursome in the fairway. Must have waited 15-20 minutes between putting out and hitting the next tee shot.

No. 11 is a great hole that either forces you to hit a great shot to get on in two, but the layup shot isn’t easy, either! The last two holes are fun with 17 seemingly a driveable par 4 but the water short and right makes it tough. The green at 18 is right under the balcony, and our entire group all hit the green that drew a few cheers from the people standing up there!

The course is tucked way back in a neighborhood and a number of houses are RIGHT on the course. Not sure when but another course to play again in the future. Just not in a prime day or time slot.

I'm giving this course a four star rating because of a foursome that held up several groups for the final 12 holes or so. Of course they let no one play through and a couple of groups had to skip a hole because of them. I did see a ranger at the golf shop before we teed off, but he was nowhere to be found during play. Other than that and unplayable bunkers,, the course was in excellent condition and pretty challenging. Plenty of water so accuracy is a must. I definitely plan to go back.

This is a beautiful course and love to play at bear creek, unfortunately we had a bad experience bringing some new golfers to play. The staff is extremely friendly and the greens and fairways are always maintained, but it seem’s they book their tee times too close together. There was a tournament starting behind us and were asked to speed up our play and keep our putts to maximum of 2. We were playing a 2v2 scramble already in efforts to pick up the pace of play. After the second time being hurried along, the newer golfers were very discouraged and it really took away from our overall experience.

This is a good course to play at a pretty decent value. The only real complaint I have is that they cram tee times together. It typically opens up after about 6 holes, but the start is always slow.

The pace of play was extremely slow and it should be monitored more by the course. A five hour round is just too long. They are working on the bunkers and most of them are lacking sand.

On a positive note the fairways are in good condition and the greens were also in good condition.

Overall it’s a fun course to play

This course up until 2016ish was one of my favorites. At that point the maintenance let the course fall apart. Greens are pretty beat up, tee boxes are disappointing cart path is beat up and needs replacement or just torn out and gravel laid. Today and the last couple of visits over the last couple of years the pace is ridiculous. Put some rangers on the course and keep people moving or force people to wait. My disappointment is hard to explain, this course needs rescued, it could be one of the best public courses in the area!

First review I have ever written. Visiting with my son, played today. Clubhouse staff nice, starter very nice. Pace of play turned to complete stop by 2 holes. Over an hour and fifteen minutes to play 3 holes. 3 groups waiting. Marshall comes up and starts talking condescendingly to our group and wants to know who’s complaining about pace of play problems. Told him our time to play, and continued to talk down to us saying so, its a Saturday and cart path and basically get over it. Sat next to our group until we teed off about 15 minutes later due to group in front. Extremely unprofessional marshall, will never play this course again.

Always say I won’t be back but I usually give it another shot every 3 months. Still the same. Load up the tee sheet and then pray everyone will move along. I think I’ve finally learned that this one isn’t worth a five hour round for a threesome. Too bad. Course was in good condition. Frustrating that they don’t take pace seriously.

Great course to play when you can find a deal for around $25