Great Bear Golf Club

Good day of golf although it was cold and windy. Didn’t know it was cart path only until I arrived. Still a good day of golf

Booked via TeeOff. Took some convincing to get some folks to drive from Northern NJ to East Stroudsburg, PA (1 Hr. 15 Mins), but finally got our foursome.

Entering the neighborhoods around the Course, you won't feel uncomfortable but you'll be a little surprised at the difficult times that have fallen on the homes - that MIGHT be the theme for the Course but stay tuned.

The immediate neighborhood has some large beautiful houses and well maintained - The Estates at Great Bear I think. Not sure of the entirety but we never saw a car in the area - even with the cart paths crossing the roads.

Pull into the parking lot, 8:51AM tee time, pulled in around 8:15AM. Staff only cars on the lot. Geeked to be playing the Great Bear - download the app at the Starter's Recommendation. 3D Flyovers of the Holes. Great if you've never played it.

Into the clubhouse and into the Pro Shop. Grab myself a beautiful GBGC Polo and my buddy got an awesome Golden Bear hat which had proceeds to charity. Jack's Pub is closed, all dark. Locker room seen better days. Some furniture storage, lots of unusable areas (Showers, TV/Couches). Clubhouse is like the land that time forgot. Just not getting the traffic - hard to justify it being any other way.

Get out on the course. Foursome in front of us did NOT hit the pace of play times listed on the cards. Must've been some money tossed around. Ranger and Pro Shop Clerk pushed em along a bit - tried to maintain the pace.

Tee boxes were in good shape. Cart paths need a refresher. Course has a beautiful layout. Challenging holes. Unbelievable landscape. Lots lots of fun. Def need an injection of funds to work on some of the landscaping areas and issues. Cleat cleaners were out. Garbage pails were out. No beer cart girl but it was a bit cold and rained on the back Nine.

Was approximately a 5 Hour Round. We were sandwiched with a few groups. Had one Twosome skip a hole on us and cause a bigger traffic jam. Ended up back behind the starting foursome. Rain didn't help the speed for some reason too.

Finished off a beautiful round with Jack's Pub for a transfusion and a burger with fries/onion rings and some wings. Staff was wonderful. Gotta feel for these folks not seeing the traffic this course deserves.

So yes - Someone Please Buy It. Small investments, lots into marketing. Establish a larger membership. This course should be rolling in the dough vs. some of the trash courses we pay in Northern NJ for snails pace boring golf.

Played Great Bear for the first time this weekend with some college buddies. What a fantastic track. Great conditions and tremendous staff. Bring a straight tee ball as the course is tight in places, but fair. We will be back.

This is one of my favorite courses to play it’s not an easy course but it’s always in great shape a jack Nicolas design that he actually was on site for, the greens are always In great shape an fast tea boxes are always in great shape as are the fairways the rough is reasonable .The only negative thing that I have is people should fix the ball marks on the greens but definitely play this course

The course was in great shape especially after the rain last night. Driving the fairways except for one and the par 3s helped keep pace moving. The greens are very good and the fairways were clean and cut. No hastles with leaves yet. Round was only 3 hours but I was playing alone so for me this turned out terrific. Well worth the time to play this course.

We like this track and the conditions were good. They they were missing the ball washers on the tee boxes and the have no restaurant service during the pandemic but the course was in good condition.

Awesome golf course and with 5 sets of tees - great for every level of play. Great staff, friendly and helpful.
Very special Nicklaus layout..

Only negative was 5 hour round.

Every hole is unique in approach and technique required to hit par. The green ran true. The scenery fantastic and it’s always a treat to come and play.

A great experience despite the COVID issues we all face. On arrival the staff took clubs and gave us all information we needed.
Driving range is a few minutes away from clubhouse so plan accordingly.
Course layout is great from the back tees and the greens are typical Nicklaus greens which are challenging if you don’t have the right angle into each green.
Greens aren’t great considering the traffic the course is facing and lots of ball marks not replaced meaning you’ll be frustrated with some bouncers.
Cart girl doesn’t come until 10-11am at the earliest.