Black Bear Golf Club

I played this course around 10-12 years ago and absolutely loved it. The views were great, course was challenging but enjoyable and the layout was perfect! This was my second time and wow...the course is in very poor shape. In some sections of the course, you can't tell much of a difference between the greens, fairways and sand traps. Very weedy and some areas were completely bare. It was a bit shocking. The nicest thing about the course was the golf carts. They seemed fairly new and were in great shape.

Never write a review

Grass on the fairways and greens were optional. It was that bad!

Don’t ever review normally

Grass was so sparse, you couldn’t find the fairway because it’s in such bad shape!! Second time I’ve tried it

Never again !

would not recomend playing here.

tee boxes not kept up and fairways were like a cattle field almost as much dirt as grass. hard to tell where fairways and rough meet.only good thing is the greens were in good shape and played well.

for the same price or cheaper there are way better courses to play in the area,will not play here again.

Could barely tell where the fairway ended and the rough started knee high weeds in all the bunkers

This course was clearly a good one at some point. Today, it suffers from lack of upkeep (sand traps filled with grass and weeds; water features empty) and terrible signage making it difficult to find the next tee box on some holes. Food was limited but good and staff was friendly and efficient.

I’m torn on recommending this course. Years ago it was one of my favorite courses. It used to be in great shape and I loved the layout. Now the tee boxes are below average, the fairways are now dried out with very little green grass, mostly hardpan. The greens are in ok shape. I believe the owner is operating on a shoestring budget.

One of the absolute worst courses I have ever played. Almost unplayable. The course when opened in 1996 was listed with the mentions of the top courses in Michigan. It is almost mind boggling looking at old photos compared to today. Really feel bad for people who have places on the course. Long story short we got a deal to play for 2 people 18 holes. What a shame.

This course was way too difficult for intermediates and beginners.. Advanced golfers would be appalled with course condition. App says it' 22 miles from the Lake. It took us almost an hour..

Worst course I’ve played. Fairways, greens, and tee boxes were in terrible condition.

Fairways were awful. Patchy grass. Tee boxes grass was over grown. Greens were not maintained. One of the worst courses I’ve played.

Slow greens. Tall rough with excess clippings from previous mowing that a ball could hide under everywhere. No yardage markings. Red, white and blue ground discs were very small and hard to find.

Great course and a great price to play in northern MI

The course layout is great. But it was the last day of golf there and the greens were furry - no problem though….will play in the summer next year.

I played this many years ago. The staff was at the Fort Wayne golf show. It was I believe shortly after it opened. The track is amazing. Great variety and views. However what has happened. Are the owners struggling? I have never played a course where the tee boxes were not mowed. I had to find the spot where everyone was using to be short enough to use a tee. Why was that? The sand bunkers were full of grass. They are not being maintained. The fairways were awful. You can tell something is going on. The clubhouse and signs are really showing the age. There were no yard markers on the sprinklers or distance markers in the fairway. Unless you have a range finder you will be approaching blind. This is sad but did have a 83 and was happy.

Tee boxes were beaten up pretty bad on more than half of the holes. Several greens were so bad that the ball changed direction on short gimme puts due to unrepaired potholes. Looks like oil or gear lube from mowers dripped all over every green. Cart paths were in very poor condition with pothole. crumbling asphalt and heaving due to tree roots. Fairways seemed to be all that was well maintained.