Any thoughts re. Bear Creek - Denver

[Keith Phillips]

Denver has a great lineup of private clubs, from Cherry Hills to Castle Pines to terrific moderns like Colorado Golf and Pradera - I have heard a lot of favorable things recently about Bear Creek, an all-men's club in Denver - anyone know it?

[jim_lewis]

Keith:

I hope your question will get some responses from folks who have seen Bear Creek recently. It has been about 12 years since I played the course, but I will offer my observations in order to help keep the thread alive.

I found the name of the course interesting since it was designed by Palmer/Seay, and the name "Bear" is often associated with Nicklaus.

I recall that the course was long and very tough. I recall that they had no tee markers. Tee it up anywhere you like, but the maximum yardage was about 7600yds. It is not just a men's only course, it is for the strong male player. I thught the architect did a good job of routing the course over some pretty tough terrain, except for the 12th hole, which I did not like. It is a long par 5 with no good place to hit your second shot unless you can hit a 280yd drive and a 250yd second.

At the time, there were no houses on the course, the cart paths were some of the best I have ever seen, They were built with some kind of gravel that blended perfectly with the fairways and rough, to make them nearly invisable.

[Tony Gorski]

Jim - great comments and you remember it well.

Keith - best group of guys I've been around in a golf club.  I was a member out there and to Jim's point, it is a difficult test of golf.  And when Jim says it's for the strong male player, he isn't joking....as the average handicap is close to single digits. 

As for the architecture, I think this is a case where Mr. Palmer designed what the owner requested.........and as a result, some puzzling designs resulted..........(to Jim's point #12 as an example).  They do have tee markers now and the course was really designed to be played from the back tees.  The course routing from green-to-tee is good and there is variation in hole design.  The green complexes all have tiered/shelf structure............so if you're not on the right shelf, 3-putts are the soup du jour.  The par 3's are very challenging (if the short par 3 #7 is played from the Palmer tees up top.  Lots of forced carries off the tee and on approach shots on par 5's.  And the closing stretch of 16-18 are good closing holes.  I'm not a huge fan of some of the par 4's - #4 and #6 for example, as I think the forced carries and distances are awkward.

The course is quite penal as any shot off line is difficult to find in the natural grasses/waste areas.  Some would say that early on, the course was made far too difficult.  As the years have passed, they have done a good job of clearing trees to better frame tee shots, etc.

The course often hosts the major amateur events in the area because of its difficulty.  It also has a great caddy program.  And Scott and the guys in the pro shop are top shelf.

hope that helps......

[Adam Russell]

This seems like a really interesting place. For three months in Denver I hung out with locals and never heard a word about it. Also it seems a strange project to take on for someone like Palmer - an all-male club (when one of your key associates is a woman) and with a name associated with your rival.

Tony, do you have any good pictures?

[Tony Gorski]

Yes Adam - it flies under the radar, and we didn't mind it at all.  Funny enough, you made me think.......I have thousands of pics of golf courses and none of this course.  I'm heading out there in the coming days and may just grab some for you.  will let you know.

[Adam Russell]

Much appreciated Tony. I looked at it on Google Earth and it does look hard!

[Tom Huckaby]

Funny a thread about "the Bear" would come up here.  One of my best college friends was a member there for many years... and in fact I played in the "Bear Claw" member/guest with him once.  Oh my was that fun.  In any case, Tony describes the course perfectly from my recollection (it's been at least 5 years since I've been there):  very tough, some strange holes, great club, great group of guys.  I think it flies under the radar because most don't want to say much about an all-male club in these politically correct times....

[Tony Gorski]

Tom - Ahhh yes - the Bear Claw - great fun.  We also have the Heaven and Hell tournament - the toughest tees with the toughest pin placements, and the easiest tees w/ the easiest pin placements..........loads of fun.

I should also mention that the superintendent does an impeccable job at keeping the course in excellent shape. 

[Kalen Braley]

Only because I feel contractually obligated to do this to keep my membership on GCA.com... here is the aerial. 

P.S.  It does indeed look like 1 tough hombre

[Tommy Williamsen]

I was disappointed in the course but loved the down time in the locker room.  I was expecting something grand.  It has some very good par threes and a couple of good par fives but most of the course was only above average.

[Keith Phillips]

Guys, thanks for the comments - the aerial is interesting...I presume there are plans to add more homes along some other fairways, or is the terrain not suitable?  Are the existing homes far enough removed from the field of play, or is out-of-bounds a constant problem?  I will be in Denver in a few weeks and hope to take a look - will post comments/pictures

[Keith Phillips]

This is a long-overdue follow-up to my initial post - I finally joined Bear Creek as an out-of-state member and have really enjoyed my time there - I only get to Denver every 6 weeks or so, so I have only played the course ~15x - I'd say the following:

 - staff/members are terrific - a very welcoming group with a great feel in the pro shop/locker room - i'm not around on weekends so haven't played any of the tournaments but i love the feel of the place
 - the location is good - <20 minutes from downtown denver, far better than alternatives i looked at like Colorado Golf Club (played for the 2nd time last week - an awesome place, but not too convenient for the business traveler)
 - the practice area is unsurpassed, particularly for a course of this vintage - vast areas to practice long game and short game, all in good condition
 - the terrain is difficult but the routing supports the walking game - most members carry/walk, a testament to the healthy living in Colorado!
 - the golf course is challenging but playable - several visually intimidating shots which become a lot easier with familiarity - i have never played a course which offers such 'home course advantage'
 - the par 3s are very fun...2 are very short (7 and 13), 1 is a long carry over water (17)
 - the two par 5s on the back are not my favorites, but do reward course-knowledge - for me, 14 is a 4-iron, 4-iron, PW hole...anything longer than 4-iron off the tee seems to bring too much trouble into play
 - i guess 18 could be described as a 'cape hole', and it wasn't until this past week that i figured out the right line for me - with the long colorado vistas i was always biting off too much...on this hole you aren't carrying water, but a substantial valley/waste area - i hated this hole until last week, when i finally found the line and parred three straight days
 - holes i love include the opening par-5, the two drop-shot par 3s #7 and # 13, and the reachable par-5 9th
 - holes i haven't figured out include the #1 hcp 4th, with a blind tee shot and long carry over water to a 3-tier green, the par-4 11th which requires something less than a driver short of another valley/waste area, and the aforementioned 12th and 14th...as a push/slicer of the ball on bad days, I am also not a huge fan of 15, with houses hugging the right side of the fairway
 - #16 is a cool hole with a tee shot out of a shoot to a mostly blind fairway, then a mid-/short-iron over water to a great green
 - the club is 'men only' and is incredibly low-key...a lot of fun

Overall, Bear Creek is a really great place for members...awesome staff, great facilities, very interesting course...my Denver-based clients love the invite!

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I had a group of friends who played it last week. they thought it was tricked up and nothing special. They are not GCA types but see a lot of golf courses. They loved Golf Club of Colorado and Ballyneal by the way.

[Bruce Leland]

I played there a number of years ago and two things stick out in my mind: not sure if the sign is still there but inside the entrance there was a sign that read "Men only, No dogs or women allowed"  I walk into the locker room and the first thing I see is a big black lab laying in the middle of the room and the attendent says "she's the exception!"

The other thing I remember is that there were a number of holes that were very visually intimidating from the tee as a first time player but in reality there was plenty of room to drive the ball.  The course was in great condition and we had a great match with our host.