I’ve spent quite a few rounds this trip revisiting courses I’ve played in the past. I have enjoyed reviewing those courses as eventually I would like enough Florida content to create a separate page on my site. But, on Saturday I couldn’t resist the urge to play a new course!

Black Bear Golf Club is one of the last mid-tier courses in the Mt. Dora area that is on my list to play. So far I’ve found the courses around here offer a good value and you usually don’t have to deal with the super slow play that you’d find closer to Orlando.

And, not surprisingly, Black Bear delivered on the value. For the $40 green fee I paid I was quite happy with the conditions. The only issue with the conditioning are the aging bunkers. The course is heavily bunkered and the bunkering could use a refresh. Sand is spilling over the edges of bunkers, tongues are burnt out and the bunkers have a disheveled look to them.

Besides the bunkers, everything else was well maintained – just with many pale colors this time of year. The fairways are bermuda and they looked like either they haven’t gone completely dormant yet or were painted. Lies were tight in the fairways, but there was a good amount of cushion. The tees had a light overseed and the greens were crazy fast! I ran so many putts past the hole.

Black Bear is a P.B. Dye design that opened in 1995. The course is in a housing development but I don’t think the houses took much away from the design. You’ll notice the homes, but there are enough design elements to keep you focused on the golf. Plus, the course has a nice sandy look.

I played the black tees which are 71.2/133/6381 and found Black Bear to have plenty of teeth – pun intended! For a course with only one water hazard in play (on the 18th), pars probably won’t be plentiful as you’d hope – even with wide driving areas and many short/mid iron approach shots.

What made Black Bear so difficult are the small, severe green complexes and plentiful mounding (think mostly uneven stances in the fairways). Many greens are tiny, elevated, heavily contoured and surrounded by bunkers. A couple of the larger greens are narrow and thin. So, a great iron is needed for a birdie look. I hit a number of shots that looked good in the air but when I found my golf ball it was off the green and left a tricky chip.

The front nine is fairly non-descript, but once you get to the 8th hole there are some interesting holes. I thought that the 8th was the best hole on the front nine because it plays into the edge of the woods. A couple trees guard the left side of the fairway and could be troublesome if you aren’t on the right half of the fairway.

The back nine has the better holes, including the 13th and 15th. The 13th is one of the many 360ish yard par-4s and it has one of those narrow greens. The green angles to the back right and the Dye family’s famous railroad ties make an appearance in one of the bunkers. The 15th is a short par-3 with more railroad ties and it was my favorite hole at Black Bear.

I have mixed feelings about Black Bear. It is a good value and a more interesting course than the piece of property would make you to believe. On the other hand it turns pars into bogeys and I’m just not a fan of that. If you are looking for an inexpensive course then I think Black Bear is a good consideration.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):