Bear Trap Dunes | Lighthouse Sound | Rum Pointe | Eagles Landing
Ocean City Golf & Yacht Club | River Run | Ocean City Introduction 

Bear Trap Dunes is Delightful

Former Jack Nicklaus Design associate Rick Jacobson is an adept golf course designer who appears to shun the more devilish proclivities of his erstwhile boss. Bear Trap Dunes in Ocean View, Delaware, is the third Jacobson course I have played, and the course is another testimony to his ability to fashion courses that capture the imagination without putting the fear of the golf gods in people who play them.

Opened in July 1999, Bear Trap Dunes is a delightful 18 holes filled with enough challenge to keep an expert player’s interest but fair enough for the higher handicappers to ensure a satisfying round of golf, all in a beautiful setting only minutes from the Atlantic.

Located just off Delaware state route 26 some 30 minutes from Ocean City and a few miles west of the quiet seaside resort of Bethany Beach, Bear Trap Dunes golf course is set on a former wheat and corn farm. A hardwood and pine forest lies adjacent the left side of the opening holes, but otherwise the site is wide open and treeless.

On this flat piece of property, Jacobson has appropriately created a links style layout. No less than seven lakes wind through the compact course that features modest sized mounds and a prominence of exposed sand (waste bunkers) that nicely frame each hole while providing a challenge and strong visual effects. On a course with virtually no wind breaks, it will be the wind that presents the biggest challenge.

Judged by his courses, Jacobson is a disciplined designer who keeps a steady hold on the penal reins. He seems to understand that golfers wish to enjoy themselves and not be mauled by the bear. Consequently, the fairways are either flat or modestly sloped and the greens, while somewhat contoured, are not overly tricky. The landing areas for the most part are fairly generous. Some greens are built up and have drop-offs into grassy declivities that make getting up and down challenging but certainly not impossible.

The course with four sets of tee markers stretches from 5208 yards to a modest 6834 yards from the championship tees from where par is 72 and the rating is 125. There are a string of strong holes on Bear Trap, especially the four par 3s that include two relatively short holes, a medium length hole with a green nestled close to a lake, and a long one-shotter that plays just over 200 yards.

The par 5’s are also elegantly laid out and include the best hole on the course, the 522- yard (550 from the tips) 16^th. Here, Jacobson has built five tee boxes in recognition of his appreciation for the difficulty of the hole. The landing area is guarded on the left by a trio of fairway bunkers (there are few such bunkers on the course) and a waste bunker slightly right of a margin of rough. At about 350 yards out the hole veers left slightly around a lake on the right. The second shot presents the greatest challenge because of the lake and a bank with two more bunkers on the left. The elevated green sits just left of the lake and is guarded by a good sized bunker in front. It’s a beautiful hole requiring precision.

Another beauty is the 397-yard (423 from the back) 7^th that doglegs around another lake which extends the entire length of the hole on the left. To the right of the fairway the hole is banked. Among the few short par 4s, the 365-yard 15^th stands out. Yet another lake extends on the left from the forward tee box out to about 250 yards. Four fairway bunkers stand ready to capture tee shots pushed or sliced right. If you can safely negotiate this terrain, you have a short iron into a large green with only one bunker on the left side.

Bear Trap is entirely of bent grass, and the greens are outstanding, providing a true roll. The greens like the rest of the course are immaculately maintained. No doubt these same superior conditions will be apparent with the additional nine holes scheduled to be opened in the fall of 2001. The new nine will lie south of the existing 18 and provide plenty of opportunity for guests and members of this semi-private club to enjoy the windswept beauty of southern Delaware.

The course is the centerpiece of The Village of Bear Trap Dunes and a project of Freeman Golf, a division of Carl M. Freeman Communities, a Potomac-Md.-based company which owns Sea Colony in Bethany Beach. The golf division also owns another Ocean City area course, The Bay Club in Berlin, Md., and Hells Point in Virginia Beach.

The Village of Bear Trap Dunes has been designated as an example of "the new urbanism." Modeled after the Disney community of Celebration in Orlando, it is an integrated living community conceived of as a town within a town (Ocean View). When completed in the fall of 2002, the village will have a large clubhouse with restaurant, a town center with shops and services, a tennis facility, parks and trails, a recreation center complete with indoor pool and health and fitness services, and an outdoor amphitheater and pool.

The village will also include 700 homes. Bear Trap Dunes will remain a semi-private golf club offering various categories of membership, with members enjoying preferred and unlimited tee times.

For tee times and membership information in the golf club, call 1-877-BEAR-TRAP. For real estate information, call 1-877-332-5454.

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Bear Trap Dunes | Lighthouse Sound | Rum Pointe | Eagles Landing
Ocean City Golf & Yacht Club | River Run | Ocean City Introduction 

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Alan B. Nichols is a professional golf-travel writer residing in Bethesda, MD.
He is the featured golf-travel writer for GolfLink. Alan appreciates your
comments on his features and the courses he has written about. 
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