mkav2116

Played Sat 9/30 as a twosome. 4-somes were all friendly and let us pass at appropriate times.We played in 3 hours,
Loved everything about the course. I believe it is new ownership since the last time I was there 2 years ago...the new guys have made a really good course into one of the best. Greens were flawless. Fairways in great shape. Sand traps fluffy and maintained.
Not an easy course at all, and you'll use every club you have. It starts out with 2 to 3 holes where you can par them all, but quickly ramps it up as the holes start to wrap around the lake.
Lunch in the clubhouse was really good, too.
The only negative is it's a 2 hour drive to get there, but if were closer to DFW, it would be packed every day, so I'll put up with the drive.
PS...jalapeno sausage at the grill at the turn was excellent.

I played Saturday 4/16/16 as a single and was paired with a twosome, 7:13 tee time. These were nice guys and we enjoyed our round with one BIG exception. There was a FIVESOME in front of us, who held us up on every shot. Sometimes we had a 5+ minute wait. And these guys in front of us were in no hurry to pick up pace. They strolled around; were not ready to putt on their turn half the time; and with 5 golfers, at least one was looking for their ball on every hole. There was a 2 hole gap between them and the group ahead of them. The "marshall" drove by them a couple of times and waved, and then spent time retrieving golf balls out of a pond instead of improving pace. This was not the first time I've had an agonizing round behind oblivious slow pokes at this course. Allowing a 5-some out probably put the course behind all day.
Greens were in bad shape on the East course (I played the West a few weeks ago and they were good), and the traps had ground up dirt and pebbles, but no sand. Overall conditions except those important points were good.
I really like the variety of holes, overall layout and challenge of both Bear Creek courses but management's unwillingness to improve pace of play is a detriment that keeps me from playing there more often. If this course were $40, I'd say a good value, but at $55, it is too much to say good value. Grapevine is about $50-$55 and is much nicer on all aspects than Bear Creek.

Course was in great shape. The sand traps were filled with real sand!! Interesting mix of holes...I like the layout. Since it was chilly when my friend and I teed off, there were not many people out yet, so we played in just under 3 1/2 hours. That was very enjoybale way to play. This course is very playable if you can keep it the out of the natural areas. We played the white tees, which at 6000 yds is perfect. Fair amount of sand around the greens. Fairly open fairways except occasional creek or bunker. Greens were true. Pin placement was brutal that day. I will return often. Becoming one of my top 5 or 6 in DFW along with Texas Star, Fossil Creek and Grapevine. We had limited interaction with staff and limited use of off course facilities so no real opinion.

Riverchase is subject to flooding as an upstream lake's water is released to prevent overflow. When this happens, the back 9 can be closed, and golfers can play the front 9 at a reduced rate. Well, they don't tell you this when you make your tee time, and it 's too late to get another tee time when you arrive. They also take tee times as if the back 9 is not closed, not accounting for the doubling up as the first golfers make the turn. This causes tremendous back up at the first tee when you make the turn, they try to manage it and send golfers out on on top of another, so the "back nine" gets really slow and congested. Example...there were 3 foursomes on the tee box of the 3rd hole par 3. We had a 25 minute wait at that hole. After that, it opened up a bit but we still had to wait on every shot, and usually a 5 minute wait on every tee. There were no marshalls trying to speed things up.
Course conditions overall were fine except the traps...they were either full of mud, or rock hard with no sand. There are many traps on this course...I think ONE was actually playable. Tee boxes were torn up on a few holes. Greens and fairways were good.
The course knew about the flooding but still kept taking tee times without telling golfers about playing the front nine twice. I find this dishonest, so will not support this club so will not golf there anymore.

I played Lakepark as a single but eventually became part of a 4-some. Conditions were decent for being so early in the season. Fairways were not grown in yet so a little tight but they were fine. Greens were in good shape and fairly quick. There aren't many traps at Lakepark so it does not matter much, but they were in poor condition.
My only complaint for the day is that there was a 4-some 2 holes ahead of us that was SO SLOW there were more than 2 holes open between them and the next group. I have had that problem the last few times I've been at Lakepark whether it is weekday (like this time) or weekend. You get a slow 4some and it backs up the entire course. I don't think L-P uses marshalls so there is very little recourse. I'll continue to play the course but just remain aware you could get stuck behind some really slow golfers.

I played Hawks Creek and got a 706 tee time a s a single. I was paired up. Our group was fine. the course was in great shape. it helped that i was playing with guys who have played before as some holes have somewhat blind shots or knowing how much a fairway slopes is important. water comes into play often especially if you are not hitting shots crisply. i found the course to be tough but not sadistically tough. greens were tough to read for all of us. get confirmation on directions before you go...my GPS got confused. Anyway...all in all...a nie course that i will visit again.

i checked the course out as a scouting mission for potential inclusion in a weekend of gold with out-of-stater. the course was fine...nothing wrong with it but it was not terribly special. i had heard a US Open or something was played there so was curious. everything was "good". nothing was outstanding. too far of a drive from flower mound to make it a regular course to go to. we did not include it on our weekend. I did enjoy the old growth trees throughout the course.

Course was in very good shape except sand traps under repair. Greens were slow but true and consistent and in very good condition. Not a lot trouble off the tees...very open but the greens' undulations and turtle shapes took back a lot of shots if you weren't careful. One issue: although our 3 some finished in about 4 hours, there was another 3 some in front of us for whom we had to wait on EVERY hole. They were extremely slow. Marshalls didn't help move them along.
All in all: a decent course that I'll likley play again but only when I can get a deal...not worth $70.

My foursome was not playing particularly well that day so Bear Creek (West) made all of us pay. The course was in good shape, pace was fine.We like the variety of holes, elevation changes and trees...a lot like the traditional courses in Ohio where I learned the game. Two people in my group complained a couple of holes were unduly penalizing for shots that maybe were not perfect but were pretty good. For example, I hit a really good drive on 18...straight, about 280, but I ended up directly behind a huge tree that was about 3 feet off the fariway in the rough. I had to agree that was just plain sadistic to put a big tree there. The four of us are 12 to 18 handicappers but I don't think any one was below 95 that day...tough course but I'll play again.