7 Clubhouse Road, Ocean View, Delaware 19970, US
(302) 537-5600
Location Map

About Bear Trap Dunes

Located only 3 miles west of the beach town of Bethany Beach, Delaware, Bear Trap Dunes is a 700-home community that boasts serene open spaces, 27 holes of championship golf, and a variety of home types to fit any lifestyle, including single family homes, townhomes and golf villa condominiums. With amenities such as indoor/outdoor pools, a fitness facility, tennis courts, outdoor amphitheater, a clubhouse with restaurant and banquet facilities and a complimentary beach shuttle service, Bear Trap Dunes, owned by Carl M. Freeman Golf, a division of Carl M. Freeman Companies, not only offers vacation homes but a complete resort lifestyle. The course, designed by Rick Jacobson, features the Grizzly, Kodiak and Black Bear nines, all lined with native wetland grasses and natural sand dunes.

Facts

Price Range$$$
Property Class★★★★
Year Opened2001
Number of UnitsLess than 100

Amenities & Services

RestaurantsCasual
PoolIndoor
TennisYes
Fitness CenterYes
Practice FacilityYes
Banquet SpaceYes

Rules

Is the resort pet friendly?Yes
Is resort stay required for a tee time?No

Golf courses at Bear Trap Dunes

Reviews

4.7
610 Reviews (610)
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Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Can’t best the deal

Nice 27 hole layout and super staff ....restaurant super too....our favorite at the beach!

Conditions Average
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Average
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Nice layout

Great pace of play, finished in 3 1/2 hours. Shame that other golfers don't fix their ballmarks or fill in their divots. Attractive course that has an interesting layout. Lots of water to penalize you with errant shots.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 5
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Bear Trap

Staff was great, speed of play was great and course was in good condition, fairways were excellent and green rolled nice.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Traps, Water and Dunes

Today was misty and windy, so there were few golfers. I got a great rate through GolfNow. The 3 nines are similar (see review title), and the three tee options make it playable for everyone. It’s fairly easy if you keep drives in the fairway. This course gets too much play from golfers who don’t take care of it - the fairways had so many divots and the greens had ball marks.

Conditions Average
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 1
Handicap 20-24
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing
Wet weather
Used cart

Can't Control the weather

It rained for about an hour before i tee'd off so the course was very soggy and cart path only. The course is fun. I'd say it plays short, even from the blue tees. It is narrow though so you have to be accurate off the tee and if you are, you normally have a wedge or short iron in.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Great venue

Conveniently located, courteous staff, pace of play was excellent (under 3 1/2 hours). Greens were in great shape, the layout was challenging. Overall a great experience and I'll definitely come back.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Great conditions. Unfortunate cart path only which made a hot day hotter with club selection a chore and high scores inevitable

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 13
Handicap 5-9
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Hot weather
Used cart

Fair course in very good condition

I arrived almost an hour early and the starter was very accommodating in getting me on the course immediately. I finished 18 holes in 3 1/2 hours. The course was in good shape and the greens were in excellent condition.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 7
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Windy weather
Used cart
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 4
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Bear Trap is no trap if you book online.

Course has just gone through some drainage renovations which made for very good conditions. I have played in the past when it was too wet, though even with a lot of rain lately, I found the condition of the course to be more than adequate. Greens were true and fairways were plush.

I have always like the course, and at only 6980 yards from the tips it makes for a pleasant round. All but one of the par 5 holes are reachable from tips with two solid shots and the long par 4 holes make up for it. I recommend grizzly and Black Bear.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
3.0
First Time Playing

Mediocre at best

One would think that at $100+ per round at peak and $65 at twilight, the course would be something. It unfortunately was not. Staff was great. Visual of the club house and community was awesome. The course itself was fair or slightly below. Fairways were beat up with divots, burn spots throughout and tee boxes that were spongy. It was a clear hot day, can't imagine the boxes with some moisture. My take away is that this course really does not want guests to play here... They want their members and thus the really high price for guest play. At max, this is a $45/round course. If you are thinking of dropping anything near $100, go play Bayside which is close by. Layout and flow are similar in terms of ease but quality is significantly better.

Conditions Average
Value Fair
Layout Good
Friendliness Average
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 38
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Windy weather
Used cart

Good outing

Weather temp was great. A little windy. Course was in good shape. They had had plenty of rain. Greens varied a bit from slow to very slow. Pace of play was good. I played Kodiak and Black Bear from the whites which required a 5 wood off the tee several times. That's OK. I guess the one thing I don't like is when the staff acts a little snobby. I don't know where that comes from but it is consistent over the years I have played here.

Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Average
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 2
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Great Price for play

Nice course and used golfnow for excellent price. No complaints at all

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Played On
Reviews 19
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Wet weather
Used cart

Nice warm up course

I play Bear Trap Dunes several time a year. On this day it was 2 days after a violent thunderstorm and heavy downpour. Whiel it was cart path only, I was impressed that course conditions were good. Greens were expectedly slower than normal and soft.

Today I played Grizzly/Kodiak (there are 27 holes). Kodiak is the weakest 9 and when I made the turn from Grizzly, it was backed up and insufferably slow. When I asked if I could play Black bear which had NO one on the tee, the staff said no. I felt this was arbitrary and only irritated me.

This is a links style course with a good layout. Today they moved the tees forward which I find annoying but a common practice on resort courses. I played from the listed distances for the blue tees (6300 yds) otherwise I would have dropped at least 500 yds off.

I also noticed that Troon (who manages the course) has let many of the more out of play bunkers go to seed and as a result it gave the course a tired and poorly maintained look.

Still a worthwhile course to have an enjoyable round.

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Average
Pace Fair
Amenities Average
Difficulty Moderate
Played On
Reviews 14
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Slow play ...... but course in good shape

Slow play was horrible ... otherwise course in very good shape ... enjoyed the round but 5-1/4 hours is too long

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Poor
Played On
Reviews 80
Handicap 15-19
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Top 1000 Contributor
Previously Played
Perfect weather
Used cart

Great End of vacation course

excellent 27 hole course. bothchallenging and in great condition.do not do a trip to Ocean City, MD. without stopping here. you will not regret it.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Difficulty Somewhat Challenging
Played On
Reviews 12
Handicap 5-9
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

No aeration warning

This is a good layout that's in good condition. When the wind is up it is very challenging. The staff is friendly and helped move around some slower players in front of at the turn. Never saw a marshal though. My main gripe is that there was no warning on the Golf Now website that the greens had just been aerated. I'm putting this down to the course since other courses on the site had one. Other than that, I reccomend it.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Played On
Reviews 1
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Conditions Fair
Value Fair
Layout Average
Friendliness Average
Amenities Fair
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