Black Bear Golf Club

"My husband Rob and myself currently purchased the Black Bear Golf Course in Jan 11 2024. We have some work ahead of ourselves, but plan on being open for golf May 2024. We are doing lots of work on the course as well as an updated clubhouse. We will be adding a full restaurant and bar. We also will be putting a 30x40 addition on the clubhouse. We will be updating sprinkler system and adding more employees to make our greens, tees and fairways better. Our website is in the process of being updated. Hoping to have that updated in the next week. Hope to see you again and give us a chance to make your experience great again!"

"After reading the reviews and seeing the photos, I set my expectations low for the golf weekend over Labor Day at Black Bear. I was pleasantly surprised by my experience. No, the course is not the pristine location that it was 15 years ago (nor how the groupgolfer description indicates), but it's not as bad as people reported a couple months ago. Greens are in decent shape, and the fairways are fine. Some of the water holes are dried up, and some of the tee boxes are in bad need of repair. But the layout is fabulous; the customer service is excellent, and the course is on a rebound! It needs more golfers! $35 for 18 holes is a great price! Let's pay it, and see if we can see this Northern Michigan jewel shine again!"

"If you are like me, you are reading all of these reviews, and you are likely questioning if it makes sense to go play this course. I definitely understand where your concern is coming from, however, I would challenge you to have an open mind so you can experience a great golf course that just needs a little TLC. My family and I had the chance to play this course on 8/9/2023 and our expectations were definitely low. We arrived early and were the only car in the parking lot outside of the owner Rick, who literally is running everything and is one of the nicest, hospitable people I have ever dealt with. We got the chance to start on their warmup par-3 hole prior to starting our round, which I had never experienced before anywhere else. We then played a very challenging course with lots of elevation change, blind shots over obstacles, and large challenging greens. At the turn, we were able to get some fresh grub where once again, Rick was doing everything he could to make sure we were enjoying ourselves, while dealing with other golfers and the phone ringing. Definitely someone hustling and grinding, doing what he can do with what resources he has. Overall, it was a great experience playing a course that you can tell, if it was in it's best condition, it could easily cost $100+ round. I would encourage you to empathize with what seems to be tough situation and give this course a chance. Keep proper expectations, go planning to have fun, and I would like to believe that you would still have a good time. I hope the pictures provided can give you and idea of what to expect."

"Used to be a solid course for $35 dollars for 18 holes. Would have not thought about it twice before. After today, the course was in horrible shape and 18 holes was $54 dollars. Not knowing how bad the course was we paid the price hesitantly know the course history. After 9 holes we couldn’t believe the shape the course was in. Pulled off to move on and try our luck elsewhere. Asked for a refund of the difference between the 9 and 18 prices and was declined. Unfortunate to say but I believe I will have to part ways with the course indefinitely as it really truly is a joke at this point."

"I wish I would have read the reviews before driving 3.5 hours to play this “course”. I would give it zero stars if I could. We played 4 holes before leaving. The pictures here are from just 4 holes! The greens were horrid, the fairways and tee boxes were the same. Look at the pics and decide if you’d want to play here if you want, but I’d just trust all the recent 1 star reviews. The guy behind the counter said, “There’s a few greens that are eh, but you guys will enjoy it.” Nope, sure didn’t. Easily the worst condition course I’ve ever played. I can’t believe they charge money for this."