Golf Trip Part III: Bear Trap Dunes
Bear Trap Dunes in Ocean View, DE was the 2nd course we played on our 2010 Golf Trip. The 27-hole facility is was located about 7 miles from our house which made it easy to get to for our 7:30am tee time. On the Friday of our golf trip, we play 36-holes. The morning 18 is the regular tournament format while the afternoon 18 is team scramble event.
I'll get the bad out of the way first because it's been bothering me. We arrive at about 7:15 for our 7:33am tee time with no intention of hitting the driving range or practicing. As we opened our doors at the bag drop we were greeted by a "starter" who's first words were "you guys better hurry up or your going to lose a tee time". I understand we were 18 minutes from our first tee time but that's not the way to welcome a group of 10 golfers to your facility to play 36-holes. The first group rushed to the tee box only to sit there and wait while the group in front of them teed off. Waiting on the tee box was a theme at this course.
(A common layout at Bear Trap requires an accurate tee shot or you could be wet.)
Bear Trap Dunes: The Course
The layout of Bear Trap Dunes is 3 sets of 9 holes: Grizzly, Kodiak, and Black Bear. Our morning round featured Grizzly and Kodiak while the afternoon round was Black Bear and Grizzly. I didn't find much difference between the 3 sets but the ranger told me Grizzly was the easiest, something my scorecard did not agree with.
The course is kept in excellent condition. The fairways and greens on all three of the courses are well manicured which is the important thing. Hit a good tee shot and in most cases, you're rewarded. In the morning I moved us back to the "back" tees which played about 6,400 yards and had a rating/slope of 69.9/122. Challenging enough to for the better golfers in the group and fair enough for the guys who don't play as much.
As the picture above showed, water comes into play frequently. Of the 27 holes at Bear Trap, 20 have them have water directly coming into play.
(A short par 3 with water along the left side, bail out to the right and chip up is a safe play)
Follow Technorati