Reviews of Northern Bear Golf Club (Golf)

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Over priced

Luke Butterworth

Great course outside of Edmonton, a little dry this year, but everything is so I can't complain

Henk Vogelaar

Excellent shape at a premium price

Austin Elgie

Purchased an intermediate membership. Managers send passive aggressive emails if members if your group no show or if you don’t call in to cancel. After having some issues finding tee times that work and asking for a partial refund in June they denied it. They don’t care about members at this course, only about filling the tee sheet with public. Don’t waste your money.

Bryce Palmer

What an amazing Father’s Day Classic / Best track in Alberta / best members / best staff. Just a happy place to be . After the round the owner bought us a round and took photos with our trophy! What a beauty I wish I could a 10 star review !!!

James Fitzpatrick

Save for Green #10, course was in great shape, not too wet, fantastic Staff!

Gaby Tessier Holness

Nice staff, good food. Although prices are a little overwhelming.

Bill Warren

Excellent course!!

Peter Vandermeulen

$93 for 17 holes of golf. The 10th green is unplayable. The sand traps need attention, standing water, grass, or thin to no sand. And the cherry on top was a 4.5 hour round. Great layout, but not worthy of being one of the most expensive in Edmonton and area.

Terry Smith

Bucket list course. Highly recommend, amazing staff

Guy H

Absolutely love this course pricing is a bit high but that's just because jacks name is on it.

Spenser H

The staff are incredible. The young staff are very respectful and helpful. Unfortunately the course hasn't been the same in years. The greens in August are horrible. The amount of patches and areas without grass is surprising. The fairways have not been maintained. Lots of areas without grass or short dead grass that provides a very hard and less than enjoyable hitting surface. The sand has more rocks than actual sand on some holes. Even the cart path is atrocious. The cart path needs some major repairs. Hopefully one day this course can return to its prestigious status but for now there are much better courses to play.

Dylan Gavel

Northern Bear Golf Course is a beautiful course. With well thought and laid out holes. It is a Jack Nicklaus signature course and is ranked 17th puclic course in Canada to play. From the start you get club/cart service before checking in. With rental of cart you have a bag of range balls to take to their grass driving range. The carts have tablets in the to give you hole info, yardage, flyover and you can preview the clubhouse menu. The club house is very nice as well. Pro shop is packed with anything you would need. The staff are friendly and courteous. The only negative to pull from this was the food. It took awhile to get to us, and we even called in our order at the last hole. And the food that came was not anything special. But the course itself is great. Quite challenging with a slope of 143 from the blacks.

James Doherty

Beautiful coarse

Ted Power

The course is super well designed, as any Nicklaus course is. Unfortunately, the greens are the worst i have ever seen. I have never putted on dirt greens before....and most of the greens were dirt with a few green patches....absolutely terrible greens.

Dayton MacDermott

Probably my favorite course, tough luck with the winter kill on the majority of their greens this year.

Troy Grant

Great course, very happy to see the new ownership. I look forward to the new development coming to the Bear. South Bear Haven!

Don MacLellan

Greens have recovered this year - back to being one of the best in Edmonton

Henry Chu

Beautiful facility! It's so wonderful in fact that we are going to have our wedding there!

Liam Lee

Not good on green condition.

Winnie Lau

*caveat* i am an amateur golfer. Definately not a beginners golf course and has a more upscale feel. Open, pretty. Actual bathrooms on the course and not portapotty. Restaurant not too bad. Corn chowder was tasty. I would go again.

Owen Shaw

It won't be long now before the golf season is underway!!! Great Golf, and the food is a "HOLE IN ONE"!!!

Justin Knapik

Great course!

Alvin Thomas

The course is in Championship shape from tee to green. They have come a long way from the days when they had limited water. Speaking about water - bring some extra balls there is a couple of holes were water is in play.

Chris Gallant

Beautiful layout greens are in great shape even my son enjoyed the round and he’s a JR. shot 76 & Enjoyed the twilight & junior rates. Just like most local courses could use some more rain for sure!

Trevor Tsoi

Awesome course, cart with built in GPS was amazing.

Ronald Allison

Awesome course. Awesome value. Awesome food. Awesome service. But Jack....those bunkers!!

A Stephen

Restaurant was horrible. Draft beer was tasteless. I got 6 dry ribs with no meat on them for $16. Thanks but no thanks. I won’t be returning.

Charity A

A Beautiful Venue for a Summer August 2019 Wedding! The club house was beautiful with its elongated windows to bring natural light in, the outside terrace for the ceremony facing the green was a perfect view for our family and friends as it framed our whole bridal party as in a picture frame. It held 100 guests quite comfortably and intimatly as all the guests would feel they had a great table close to the head table. Though the dance floor was off to the side, it helped our guests get out of their seats to mingle and to see what the action was over there. The food was amazing after the ceremony and at the reception (the prime rib, chicken and the two vegetarian dishes made for those with diet restrictions) as told by many of our guests. The staff were wonderful in accommodating everyone. They can also accommodate a secret entrance way for the bride and bridesmaids if needed. Beautiful venue inside and out for wonderful pictures. Did not go out to the green for pictures as there are restrictions, nonetheless still worthwhile and picturesque around the clubhouse. It was a wonderful escape from the city, it gave an experience that you were out in the country, away from the worries and bustle of city life. A big thank you to Blair, Cindy and all the staff who helped make our day possible and lending us a most memorable venue for our wedding!

Roop Birdi

Just make sure there is no events like weddings if you want to have a pregame beverage. Other than that...I always enjoy the course. Staff is very professional.

RJ

Great Golf course. Prices are great and the memberships are worth the money. All the golf balls are in great condition and none of them are dirty or cracked. The employees are super polite and nice and I love how close it is to Sherwood-park. Amazing little place and would definitely recommend.

Clyde Sacrey

Only golfed here once this year and at the end of season but enjoyed the exceptional layout. The greens were very quick and thoroughly enjoyed the course.

Brent Macklem

I attended a wedding rehearsal and wedding. The place has a real chef and can he whip up the tasty creations!!! The place is an architectural phenomenon and we'll worth seeing. I think the potential here is unlimited as a golf course which I will be enjoying when I get past the whiplash injuries.

David Mogavero

Gorgeous course that provides a challenging play

wild nfl

Course has a nice layout, with some challenging holes. Played the course on June 23rd, 2020 and enjoyed my day, however, it was not worth the full price of $100 for the condition of the greens which were patchy and certainly not where you'd expect for late June.. A fair price would be $75 to $80 especially for a weekday .

Tyrell Scott

Beautiful, challenging and well kept. Well worth the drive.

Geoff spero

I first want to preface this with the statement, this course has been historically one of my favorite courses to play. Played the course Saturday June 23/18. The greens are worse than I've ever experienced. Top dressed and punched fall greens would have been preferable! They are essentially dirt with tufts of grass. I would recommend NOT playing the course this year and fingers crossed they can recover by next year.

Karynne Munroe

Absolutely stunning venue with delicious food. I went for a wedding and it was gorgeous.

Gary Mattie

Great course, expensive though!

Joe Miller

One of the best clubhouses in the area. Excellent staff. Fine course, slowly getting back into condition.

chance galay

Nice course management is unorganized

Ken B Hermann

This course is usually one of the finer places to play in the Edmonton area. However,the greens are the worst I have ever seen. I would not play this course even if they charged 1/2 price. Very disappointing.

Josh Archer

Great course design, challenging course and difficult bunkers. Great staff, very friendly and helpful. I really enjoy golfing here.

Brett McCumber

Great layout, fun track!

John Stevenson

Fun

Alex Weber

Great place

Stuart Stevenson

Played the Bear Friday, they have done an amazing job of repairing the green conditions from last season. Fairways and tee boxes are in great shape.

GREG CLARKE

In great early season shape. 1 temp green otherwise good

Christopher Kilosky

Great golf, pace of play is excellent, Marshall's are friendly and interactive, if your reading this your missing out ....

Inge Hendricks

Beautiful ambiance. Food is outstanding.

Michael Cronin

Golf course is in great shape, service in the clubhouse was poor at best, food took a very long time, the servers rang through an extra eggs benny that we didn't order, and charged us for it, but the golf side of things was good.

Matt Cennon

Went in with high expectations as one does in playing a Nicklaus course but ended up disappointed with the winter-killed greens here. I recommend playing Riverside or Victoria for half the price and much better condition. I asked after the round if there was a discount due to the greens and they said that $93.50 was the discounted rate. I wish I had better things to say.

Cal Drouin

Truly a top 100 golf course. No blind shots, everyhole is different, challenging but still fair try the Butter Chicken in the Clubhouse. Best Ive ever had!

Ross Werry

Beautiful course. Amazing design

Jennifer Ellis

New ownership has been amazing. New chef is incredible. The course conditions are some of the best in AB

Carla Herbers

Dining in the Dark was fantastic the food was delicious!

Chris Brown

Golf Course please great in awesome condition

Gurinder Sundal

Really like the layout of the course. The tee boxes and fairways were in good shape. The greens were not so nice. The ball rolled really well but I think it might be winter kill. The sand traps are pretty thin on sand. One of the traps had weeds growing in it. I think for the price the course could have been in better shape. The pro shop had some good sales. Staff were awesome!

Jamie Stahl

We played Northern, Bear 3 days ago only because they had a great deal. We had heard that it was not in good shape and suspected as much because of the 58% discount. The regular rate is $119 we paid $49. At least they were honest about the condition of the course when we booked and spoke with the starter. The round started off promising as the first few holes were not too bad, The tee-boxes where okay, typical of most public courses in the area, but not too bad. The fairways were the best we had ever seen them, they appear to finally be maturing, lush and green. The first few greens had some winter kill damage but appeared to be recovering, just like many of the other courses around. But the greens got worse as the round progressed and our enthusiasm waned, Most of them had virtually no living grass on them, just little sprouts every inch or two. This made it almost impossible to make a put. It might have helped it they had more sand on the greens and smoothed some of the bumps. It got to the point that if we had a put of more than a foot we just counted it as a 2 putt. The 8th hole was a temporary green as the regular green was still covered with a tarp.We could have lived with that but they could have at least cut the grass around the hole to a putting green height. It probably would have been a good idea to make all the greens temps and cut them to a descent speed. It might have been better than what they have now. Bottom line...it's a crying shame and we felt bad for the course and hope they can recover for next year. I just glad that we did not pay more than we did and hopefully no one else is paying anywhere near full price. We will be back next year with high hopes for this wonderful course. P.S.- I learned to play on a sand-green course that later converted to grass greens cut out of the fairways. Those greens were much better than what we were putting on at Northern Bear.

Nelson Cacique

Excellent place to spend a day out. They say that they just got rid of the old electric golf cart and got new gas ones, so if this is something that matters to you don't miss out on it.

Chintoo

best golf course ever

Blair Norton

I golfed this course in early August and was very impressed with the layout of the course. The first thing you notice when you turn into the parking lot is the size of the club house, one of the nicest in the province. Hint: drive right up to the main building and drop your clubs off, someone will be there to take them for you and put them in a cart.

Jakub M

Great course and clubhouse. Awesome staff.

Chris Sparrow

Great course, greens are a little bumpy from aerations but fun and challenging. Bag drop service is good, free water a bonus. Dress code in effect, collar shirts, no board shorts.

The Four Jack Podcast

This is one of our favourite layouts around the capital region. 6-7-8-9 is a great stretch of holes. The new HP has the place rocking. Good selection in the shop. Tough place to get a tee time tho! #fourjackpodcast

Drew Janes

Wish I lived out there

E Carter

Excellent service from the young lad that met us at the car with our cart & loading our clubs on the cart, to the young man that cleaned our clubs at the 18th green while we were putting. That being said, just the worst greens I have ever played on. The management has big balls charging $80+ dollars to play on concrete. If “Jack” ever came back to check the status of one of his many courses that he’s built, he’d have a stroke. It is too late in the season to hope that these greens will come back to life. It’s time to resod all the greens to make this course world class as it was intended. I will not go back until they have real greens to play on. Absolutely the worst day of golf I’ve ever played.

Daniel Alfieri

One of the best layouts in Western Canada no doubt but when we played there before the recent rains the course was in poor condition and the greens were disappointing...now my problem with that is not only are they charging a premium green fee, the fees have gone up significantly from last year while conditions have gotten worse. It was in magnificent condition last year but to jack up green fees when: 1.The condition of the course is not good 2. The economy has taken a downturn 3. It is a bit of a drive form the city 4. There are many courses in the Edmonton area in much better shape and better value for money; simply makes no sense. The bear had some tough battles when it opened with conditions and rectified those issues to become an outstanding course...to me, this is a significant step backwards..if I'm wrong and business is booming this review won't matter to them but we were there on a Saturday and it was a ghost town so I would suspect a lot of people agree with me. Get it back on track guys!

Steve Sobkiw

Nice but too expensive for my taste

Bob W

Have played 6 courses in May this is by far the best. Greens are great only 2 marginal little fairway damage. Will definitely play here again. May 28/19

Daren Aubie

The course is in terrible shape. I have played a few non premium courses this year that are in much better shape than this one. Great layout but not worth the money right now. Greens and fairways are terrible and one temp green. Don't waste your money.

Blake Anderson

Has a pretty nice layout. One of the more expensive courses in the city for what you get. Does not have a spare hole and has had a hole under construction for a long time. They have had a lot of issues with greens over the years. For a course charging over a 100 a round it would be nice to have a hole to play instead of putting on a fairway. Facilities are really nice.

Ryan Lawrence

Great course, excellent shape

Dale Henderson

Fabulous, great facility & yummy lunch.

Jason Smedley

Good golf course

Aaron Johansson

The golf course has really turned around under the new ownership. The quality of the course and area is significantly better than it was 5 years ago. The restaurant has also improved with a new and seasonal menu with a great variety.

Grant Bean

October 2019 - if the greens were rough earlier in the year they are not now. Played twice this last week -- 9 out of 10 in every department. Wonderful condition and mobile leaf-blower crew out there every day keeping the greens and fairways cleared. Price may seem high but there are deals to be had.

Rocky Balboa

Great place to golf. Everything included and right by house!

Kevin Murphy

Great design, greens and fairways.

Todd Greene

Terrible winterkill... expensive for quality. Great design and staff... but...

Lexci Krahn

Helpful staff. This venue makes for the perfect, scenic and modern space for family get togethers, conferences, etc

Clayton Laramee

greens are improving, beautiful and challenging course

Ryan Mior

Course has potential but greens are garbage. They charged 120 a round and you can't putt on more than half the greens

La Rissa Laramee

This review is based on the customer service I was given as I left before I could even start golfing. I was not told I would be paired up with two others during covid that do not live in my household. I was very upset that I drove this far to be told I’d be golfing with two strangers when I am also a beginning golfer. Very unhappy I will not be back and I will not recommend this place to anyone I know.

Alana Ferguson

Beautiful view, relaxing atmosphere, fantastic staff!!! I'm not a golfer but I love this place for the cold beer and delicious menu!

Andy Turgeon

great staff, always friendly. the course is so nice and my time spent there so relaxing. best public course in Edmonton area.

Dennis Stonehocker

My first time golfing Northern Bear was very good. It's a beautiful course. The green's were fast - a challenge (#10 was in poor condition)!

Ian Stoski

A very nice course to play, and a wonderful spot for events. A special thank you to Cindy and her team.

Ousama Kabalan

Very fun course and everyone was ultra friendly

Ray Johnson

Nice layout for the course but the greens are awful because of winterkill. Should not be charging full price to play on those greens!

Mark

Course is in great shape lots of moisture and new owner makes great golfing

Patricia

Very nice course. Has GPS, ball and club washer in the cart, 3 free tees provided in the cart as well. Carts are brand new this year. Greens were very rough and they tell you that before you pay.

Ken Van Rentergem

The greens are in good shape this year with the exception of the tenth hole. The layout of this course is one of the best in Alberta. Cart girl was doing her job and beers were nice and cold. Starter was courteous and had his discussion on the social distancing. Another great day of golf.

Maxime Lemieux

Awsome course beautiful facility going back again

Eli Yochim

One of the best public courses in the Edmonton area! Staff and amenities are top notch!

scott

Great golf course..too pricey for the volume of people or lack of that go there

Irvin Williams

Fantastic

Chris Gobeil

Very wet, looks promising when it is dry. Thunderstorms the night before. Greens were fast but played good.

Rjay Barjay

Terrible covid protocols last year as they tried to put me in a shared cart with a guy travelling from bc. I did call and let them know and they seemed concerned. I will not golf here again.

Mr. morris

Dirt greens... either they didn't prep them well enough in the fall for winter or they just got unlucky. Should not be charging full price!

Deanna Amendt

Great good

Larry Short

Good shape

Cas Morgan

Fantastic layout. The pro shop guys are great. Along with the girls on the beverage cart.The course just needs some more time to fill in. It's hard to justify the full green fee with a temp green on 10 though.

Brandi Avery

Top notch course, pro shop could have a little more ladies options, and the food could be a little better. Five star course though.

Rene Bushore

4 stars because 1 hole was on temps. The temp was terrible, long grass? So no handicap score? Too much money to have a temp... No one was working on the green that was under repair either so there seemed to be no rush to get it back in shape?

Neil Papke

Second time out this year, liked this place, a friendly place, with my friend Richard

Pat Souliere

Course is in great early season shape. Played 9 holes under 2 hrs. mid afternoon

Jerrid Archutick

Course is in terrible shape and staff is not very helpful. For 100$, I expect a course to be in good condition but the greens were a joke and worse than many 30$ courses I’ve played. The starter also pretty much told us we couldn’t play from the back tees because we would be too slow but we ended waiting on most holes. Please don’t pay for this course, many better options around Edmonton.

David Peterson

It's early so the greens are still a little rough but it's a beautiful course. Can't wait for the trees to leaf out.

Gerry Dawidowski

Played this course on July 8th with three others, one of them a guest from Arizona. We checked in a payed the course rate and no mention was made of the course conditions, and in this case, the greens. When we arrived at the first tee, the starter mentioned that some of the greens were in not very good condition. We mentioned that they should have discounted the price considering the course was not in prime condition and he said we did get a discounted rate. It seems he wasn't aware we paid a "twilight" rate which is lower than the standard rate for 18 holes. The first few holes were good, but then we started to run into the greens that we not in good condition. That is an understatement. These greens were virtually unplayable, especially given the pin placements. Mind you, it wouldn't have mattered where the pins were placed unless it was the fringe because most of the green was in bad shape. And by bad shape, many of these greens were almost dirt. There was no way a putt was going in unless you were within a club length or closer, and even then, it wasn't a sure thing. Most of the time the ball would bounce along the way and often change direction. As a group we decided that each would receive a 2-putt maximum on these greens unless you miraculously sank one by pure luck. There was even a temporary green that we came upon to our surprise. And even that one was in better shape than some of the "dirt" greens. To be fair, the rest of the course was in very good shape. We had all played this course before and enjoyed the layout and the overall condition in past which is why we chose to play Norther Bear that day. But this time, we should have been made aware of the true condition of the course at the pro shop and at least been offered a choice of whether or not to continue, or offered a better rate considering the condition of the greens.

Alec Richardson

The nicest golf course in the area.

shawn harrington

Great course

Fahad Nadeem

Beautiful , awesome place to live

Peter Bowman

Got rained out, but course is in great shape.

Gerry Robinson

Love it

mark mcdermott

Great people at this course. Staff are very friendly.

Rick Rode

Course is in pretty good shape with the hot dry weather we have. Always fun to play there. Greens were very fast! Good job NB golf!

James1 Wallce

Best place around these parts for a round indeed.

Brad Staszczak

Nice golf course. Good place for brunch

Jody Shephard

We just had our wedding at Northern Bear this past Saturday and truly couldn't have been happier! We originally wanted to book the venue because the clubhouse is absolutely gorgeous; it has a mountain chalet type vibe, with the wooden beams and high ceilings. Cindy, the manager, was SUPER easy to work with and very accommodating! Anything we asked, she was willing to do. There was no black and white, she catered our wedding to us; from the ceremony space to the champagne toast. Our ceremony was planned to be outside but ended up in the large banquet room, due to weather. Our dinner took place in the second, smaller banquet room. Both rooms were beautiful and the perfect spaces for our event! Lastly, the food was phenomenal It looked and tasted like a high quality, professionally crafted meal. All 3 entree selections were delicious and the plating was beautiful! We are coming back for our reception in December and can't wait to have another event at Northern Bear!

Arnold Broekhuizen

Decent course

Eric Henderson

Great layout, terrible shape. You can definitely tell this was a Jack Nicklaus signature course by the layout, but you also get a strong sense that the owners have just sat by and coasted on the name and association. The fairways were like playing off of concrete and the greens had large dead spots on them. One hole they had moved a temporary green back into the fairway because of poor conditions so I can only imagine how rough that one was if the others are acceptable. They charge for a premium course but there are many public courses in the Edmonton area in much better condition for less. Would not return until I know it's in better shape.

Wayne Miller

Greens are mostly winter kill

Darren Blouin

Great staff, excellent experience

Moscibrodski Bill

okay course

Carolyn Berendt

We had such an amazing wedding at Northern Bear Golf course! Cindy was so wonderful to deal with and very accommodating. The patio was great for our ceremony and it had beautiful views from all angles! The food was great quality and they were able to accommodate all of the various food restrictions we had! The pictures do not do the indoor spaces justice, you really do not have to add much to have a beautiful wedding! I would recommend this venue to anyone!

Lorne Gering

Course was in good shape 1 temp green as they are resodding #10 green

Sandy Koroll

The course is in fantastic shape! Staff very friendly and helpful. Updated menu and delicious Gluten-free!! Would definitely recommend playing a round of golf and enjoying a great meal!!!

Jo-Lynn Melin

Beautiful property excellent venue. Enjoyed a nice meal I would rate facility 9 out of 10 and meal and service 7 out of 10.

Don Middleton

The course has a nice layout and the staff is very friendly. That is about all I can say positive about this course. The cost to play is not close to being a value. The 10th green is a temporary green, but appears to be in better shape than most of the greens being played. The tee boxes are in horrendous shape and they haven't bothered to put rakes in the sand traps. I have been wanting to play this course for years, and it was a huge disappointment. I've played about 40 rounds this year and Northern Bear is probably in the worst shape. Absolutely not worth the cost.

Vic M

Potential to be one of the best tracks around, but greens, greens, greens, brutal. Cart paths, if you enjoy driving Edmonton potholes you'll enjoy the Bears cart paths. Restaurant food not as good as it once was when considering the awesomeness of the facility is disappointing. Staff is still awesome though. Can't be all bad right.

Melanie Maloney

Course is in good condition. Quite slow and rather expensive for 9 holes after 5pm. One of the most expensive courses within Edmonton and area.

Dan Plester

Excellent golf.

Brenda Compton

It was awesome.great course!! ..should have hot chocolate and baileys on cart for cooler days!!

Kirk Skermer

This place is always gorgeous but how can I be upset with torrential downpours when I can have several rum and cokes at the turn. ????

D K

Golf course is in really great shape

Jeff Mills

Course was in good condition and the greens were quick with only minor bumps due to recent tining. It is a real shame though the 10th green is still a temporary (with no signs of hope) this far into the season. Tremendous layout but the condition of the course has never met the reputation and with the amount of poa in the greens it probably never will.

Dean Paterson

Amazing food, great service, stunning views. Got married here, and we're coming back for every anniversary to come!

da newf

Over priced