Great Bear Golf Club

The layout is great, the only complaint would be that the greens were a little beat up. Too many players not fixing their ball marks.

Course could be great but lots of hallmarks on the greens.

Beautiful golf course, excellent staff. Now here comes the BUT. This course is semi private and the members do whatever they want. My foursome had a 930 tee time, the course looked empty. After playing the first time and things looking good, we came upon a foursome at the second tee. The told us they teed off at 830 and there were 2 8somes in front of them ( members). We called and complained and said we'd gladly take a refund and leave. Staff came out and denied the 8some, we at this time played 4 holes and were 20 min behind their scheduled time ( as listed on the scorecard). What a shame, such a beautiful course, but I'll never play there again. Make it private and stop stealing the publics money. Don't go or i promise you'll be sorry

We golfed with another couple at Renault, told them we were going to vacation in the Poconos and they recommended we play Great Bear. It was a great recommendation on their part. We have not played many Nicklaus designed courses, so for us this course was a treat. Mr. Nicklaus makes you think, there were not many shots where you could just take out a club and hit it. Coming from flat southern New Jersey it is nice to play a course that has some elevation & elevation changes, but not where every shot is a blind one. This course fit the bill nearly perfectly. The last two par 5(s) in particular were thinking holes, wish I would have known there was trouble in back beside the obvious trouble in front. It was a nice touch to have bottled water every couple of holes available as it was a fairly warm day (high 80s guessing). This course must be really pretty in the fall. The locker rooms were wow too. We are going to add this course to our Pocono Mountain vacation tour.

Pace of play was slow until two foursomes finally let our twosomes pass. Everyone was friendly and helpful given it was our 1st time playing the course. The course was challenging especially the slight movements on the greens. I would have like the greens to faster.
I can’t wait to visit again even though the drive was close to 1+ hours.

Beautiful course. Very well maintained for the time of year.

My cousin Bob and I drove down from the Binghamton area on a cool, October afternoon. The course was lightly trafficked and we were able to breeze through check in. The pro shop staff were cordial and helped get us started in the right direction. The course was wet from the previous day's rain and as such, it was cart path only. Fortunately, we were both hitting the ball well and didn't have to do a lot of exploring. Many of the traps had standing water and were unplayable (not the course's fault). The fairways were in great shape, despite being spongy. The tee boxes were a little beat up, but they're clearly doing work on them to prepare for winter. The greens were in nice shape and sneaky tough. The carts were gas powered and clean/well maintained. One little quirk to note is that hole #8 gets you the closest to the clubhouse. #9 then plays away from it and #10 is nowhere near it. As such, grab a "to go" menu from Jack's bar/grille on check in (as we did) and call in to order your food before teeing off on #7. The food was high quality and reasonably priced, considering the venue. We had a great time and will definitely be back.

Absolutely beautiful course. Every hole a little different, nice elevations throughout, challenging par 3s and 5s, greens in excellent condition. Will play this course again.

Reluctantly share this with the world. Whenever I’m in the area must play

Considering the recent deluge and greens aerification, the course was in very good shape. Some of the tees were bare and most were uneven. The green complexes are vintage Nicklaus, fair, but penal to bad shots. There were more than a few blind tee shots. Normally this would not be a problem, but since there were no course maps to be had anywhere, we had to rely on our playing partners who had played there before.
The pace of play was HORRID. The ranger was unable and unwilling to help. He blamed the slow play on one group, but said he was not going to do anything. What good is a ranger if they don’t move people along? After 4 hours in 90 degree heat, on the 14th tee, he joked as to why we weren’t further along. Not funny. He said he was unwilling to have them skip a hole, because they players were old. We figured it was be abuse they were members.
The fairways are generous, but undulating, the greens were frequently a significant trek from the cart path, usually sloped severely. If you cannot walk up and down 3 flights of stairs, do not play this course.

excellent course - golf now price great - good 19th hole - some wet spots after lots of rain but to no consequence

A great course to play depends on what tees you play from can be very big challenge. Enjoyable to play

Great course but very slow play. Did not see ranger all day.

I can not believe it took me this long to play for the first time.Will be part of the rotation going forward.GREAT LAYOUT