Bear Creek is a secluded, scenic course. From playing along an old railroad track and lake, to the long walk next to a creek and dam, the backdrop is what makes this more enjoyable than many short courses.
- For the most part, the course is very favorable to casual players. Most holes have dual tee pads, with the shorter layout averaging only 218 feet - sub-4000 feet total.
- Along those lines, lots of birdie and ace run chances. If you don't end up in the lake, you're going to be hard pressed to find a truly challenging hole. My only bogey came on #14, a sharp, dogleg right that seemed to keep bending and bending.
- Course uses the terrain very well. DISCLAIMER: There's so much great unused land around the lake in the areas by holes #12 - 16. This could produce an excellent course with some championship level holes. END DISCLAIMER. For the land that is used, course offers solid variety from wide open to wooded. Good use of the elevation, even with the subtle touch of #5 playing along the bottom of a slope, which allows players to skip or roll shots down towards the basket.
- I thought #15 is an outstanding hole. A downhill ace-run/birdie hole at 220 feet with the lake as your backdrop. Wait, did I say backdrop? I mean the basket is less than 10 feet from water. My shot was gimmie range to the left of the basket and less than two steps from being in the water. This is a nice risk/reward hole. CAVEAT ALERT. If my disc sailed 10 feet longer or 10 feet to the left, I'm guessing my impression would be different.
- Course flows nicely in terms of hole variety throughout. I never felt I was playing the same type of hole too often. Even the stretches of open holes had enough variety that it wasn't repetitive. Nicely done.
- Solid tee signs and overall general flow. Course flows easily from one hole to the next. Tee signs are descriptive and accurate. The only issue I had is that I missed #16 completely. Just after #15's basket, I saw a tee sign in the water and (wrongly) assumed it was part of the navigation issues listed by others earlier. It wasn't until I finished #18 that I realized that the sign was indeed for a hole. I chalk that more up to recent storm damage & flooding.

If you like long walks, this course is for you. If you like a seemingly incomplete layout, this course is for you. If you like playing with only two discs, you may or may not actually get to play #18.
- The course is seemingly beginner friendly. There isn't a lot of extreme challenge or lost disc chances for the first 14 holes. Sounds great for a beginner, right? Well, as I said above, #15's basket is only steps from the lake. Not only that, it's downhill and very little protection from the water the entire left side of the fairway. A beginner who can't throw a disc on a rope may be more worried about having a disc sail out left into the lake.
- As if that's not enough, #17's basket is just as close, if not closer to the lake. You tee off parallel to the lake and follow the edge of the lake to the basket. For this hole, however, there's enough room to aim right and take the water out of play.
- My concern with these two holes? It seems to be the antithesis of the first 14 holes. If a player comes out to play the first time, having just bought a starter set, there's a good chance they're enjoying themselves and really getting into the game. Suddenly, losing a disc on #15 & 17, and now all that good will is gone.
- Oh, that pesky walk. From the long tees, the course comes in at 4734 feet (according to DGCR). When you finish #18, you walk backwards past #7, all the way past #1, and to the parking lot. Doing a rough measurement with Google Map, I measured (and re-measured) the walk from #18 to the parking lot at approximately 3600 feet. That's 2/3 of a mile for those who need context. To top that off, the walk from the parking lot is approx. 1100 feet. So, based on measurements, the walk to and from the parking lot is the same distance as the course itself.
- No benches or trashcans. Keep in mind when you've just walked ¼ mile to get from the parking lot to the first tee.

Bear Creek course, in and of itself, is a fun, short course. Bear Creek, with all the other factors involved, mainly all that walking, loses some of that shine.
- I enjoyed the tight wooded layouts of #3 & 13. They gave a good compliment to the mostly-open layouts. That said, I thought #12 was perfectly fine as a wide-open, 480-foot dogleg left layout.
- This was your quintessential chain-restaurant level of course. Everything was so...average. There was not one single bad hole on the course. There was also not one great hole. This just felt like a whole lot of filler holes. Open some cans of green beans, thaw out the frozen patties and buns, add water to the dehydrated sauce, and enjoy a filling but unfulfilling meal.
- The slope around the lake could have been used for a nice downhiller tee shot. I'm looking directly at #6 as using that dropoff for a nice shot.
- The scenery here is more varied than the course itself. Having a large pond/mini lake as a backdrop is a can't fail. But, through in scenery along the long walk to and fro the parking lot and this is more than most courses.
- This is as average as average can be. Any thoughts of giving this course above a 2.5 rating were quickly vanquished during my 10-minute plus walk back to my vehicle.
- It's a perfectly decent course, with some good and bad parts. Any notions of this course offering any more than that and you'll set yourself up for disappointment.