I am going to do this a little different than previous reviews and break the course down hole by hole. For me what makes a great course great is that every hole is unique. I don't mean that it has to be one of a kind, but it should be one of a kind for that course. So I will start with the holes that are unique in the pros section. I play mostly RHBH so when I'm talking about shot selection take that into consideration.

Hole 1: Slightly uphill shot with a few trees in the middle of the fairway. a couple of the trees form a gap with somewhat of a low ceiling. There are a couple of options here. Straight up the middle through the gap in trees or a Hyzer around the trees.
Hole 2: Straight, wide open, downhill shot. This is the longest hole on the course. If you're not over 400ft expect to take a 3.
Hole 5: Blind anhyzer shot out of the woods into the open and back into a narrow gap in the woods. Pin is maybe 40-50ft back in the woods. If you are long enough to get there and you miss the gap, your second shot will be very difficult.
Hole 6: Elevated tee with fairway narrowing about 80-100ft out and bending around to the right where the pin is protected by several large trees. The low ceiling where the fairway narrows makes this a very challenging tee shot. It is possible to throw a thumber over the top here, but if you miss right you will be in a densely wooded area that is nearly impossible to escape for par.
Hole 7: Blind, slightly up hill with a little turn to the right. The fairway feels narrow here, but is wider than it appears. Usually a putter or a mid here with just a little turn. This is one of the most birdieable wooded holes.
Hole 8: Blind anhyzer shot with a couple of trees in the middle of the fairway right were the fairway begins to bend to the right. If you make the bend in the fairway, you will have a look at 2.
Hole 9: If there is a signature hole here, IMO this is it. The fairway here quickly bends to the left over a creek and back to the right where it narrows to the basket, which sits on a slope angled toward the creek. Your tee shot is a hard hyzer to a landing area just in front of the creek. If you can get it across the creek, even better. The second shot is pretty straight, but very narrow, and the slope at the basket has caused a lot of good shots to end up wet. I have a love/hate relationship with this hole. I absolutely love the layout of the hole, but one bad shot and you can end up with a 5 or worse.
Hole 10: Ace run! Straight, fairly narrow, slightly down hill with some large overhanging branches. Fun hole.
Hole 14: Tee from the woods to an open fairway that bends to the left. A big hyzer is the shot here, and beware of the usual head wind. I don't know why, but out of all the holes facing this direction on the course, the wind seems to factor in the most on this one.
Hole 15: Open, uphill tee shot with woods all along the left and a tree on the right about 50ft off the tee. The basket is in a gap in the woods on the left a little over 300ft of the tee. The hole plays much longer than it is, and if your tee shot lands to close to the woods, you may not have an angle to hit the gap with your second shot.
Hole 18: Blind tee shot out of a narrow gap in the woods with a hard turn to the left. A big hyzer off the tee could put you close, but make sure you hit the gap off the tee.

As I said before, to me unique holes make a course great, so cons to me are holes that are not unique. In this section I'm going to group the holes that are pretty much the same.
Holes 3, 4, 12, and 16: These holes are all straight off the tee into an open fairway other than one or two trees located in the center of the fairway. The only thing that really separates them is that 3 is uphill, 2 is downhill, and 12 is a little longer. 12 and 16 both tee from a gap in the woods, but its not really tight enough to make it that interesting. These are pretty much all your choice of hyzer/anhyzer to miss the tree.
Holes 13 and 17: Both of these holes are a wide open, straight shot off the tee into a narrow gap in the woods. 13 is a little longer than 17 but they still pretty much feel like the same hole.
Hole 11: This hole is unique, but the wrong kind of unique. Previous reviews have noted this hole as well, but I wanted to touch on it too. I play this hole as a par 4. It is probably the shortest hole I have ever considered a par 4 and probably the shortest I will ever consider a par 4. For a RHFH player it would be an extremely sharp S curve shot, but honestly there is not enough distance to get any disc to complete an S shape. Even if you did happen to get the correct shape and you end up in the middle of the fairway, you still have to contend with the large shrub that pretty much completely protects the basket. I'm not sure if these is a really bad design flaw, or if things have just over grown and narrowed the hole over the years, but IMO this hole needs a makeover.

I have played this course 50+ times over the last couple years, and my opinion has changed a bit since the first time I played it. It's kind of like buying a new house. You may have thought it was perfect when you bought it, but after living there for a while you start to notice all of the flaws. I absolutely loved Bear Cave the first time I played it and now I'm starting to see the flaws. Even with the flaws, this is still my favorite course in the Rochester area.

1) Big trapezoidal concrete teepads here. There are blue and red boards to also indicate which tee you are on.
2) Mach baskets with the number plates facing the tees which is always appreciated.
3) DGA signs with Hole #, Par and distance.
4) There are a few benches out there for seating.
5) Excellent variety of the foliage density. There are completely wide open holes, some moderately wooded hole, and then the extreme tight fairways too. This always makes for an enjoyable day because you cannot feel like every hole is the same.
6) There is an excellent shot variety needed on this course. You have to throw all directions, on many different lines. You might even be able to throw a roller.
7) Beginner friendly for the most part because it is fairly open. There will be a challenge on the tight wooded holes but they are short enough it isn't a big deal, because they can always throw out a simple recovery shot if necessary. It also exposes beginners on what to expect on other disc golf courses as they play more challenging courses. I would like to think that is what keeps people coming back.
8) The challenge of some of the shorter holes rewards a great shot . . . it feels like you got an ace when you park some of those holes. It means your execution was right on. I only had a few birdies but I appreciated it when I did make one.

1) There is quite a bit of compaction and subsequently erosion around some of the tee-pads and in the woods. There is no way turf will grow on some of those wooded holes and there really isn't much mulch used here to help keep the soil in place.
2) There are a few dangerous spots out here due to fairways passing near others, or tees in precarious spots where stalled out drives might dive off to the side. I hate to see these sort of things, I imagine some of them have occurred over time as the course got more and more beat in, so hopefully it wasn't a design problem. I do consider thinking about the future and potential destruction should be part of the design process if we want sustainable courses that can stay in the ground for a long time.
3) Crazy double dogleg hole (#11 I think) hyzer all the way out with a massive shrub in front of the basket. It is possible to hit the right line here, it just seems like it might be just a little bit too difficult. The turns are super tight and super short so it seems virtually impossible even with an incredible shot.
4) Maybe a little too much reliance on the prairie holes. I much prefer wooded holes because the prairie holes typically are just wide open and throw wherever you want. Personal preference and not necessarily a reflection on the design.
5) Signage could be better with maps.
6) Directionals could also be helpful for navigating the course. The flow is not really intuitive in a few spots so it could lead to confusion.
7) Repetition with a handful of prairie holes, then a handful or tight dense woods, then back into the prairie. It is too bad they couldn't somehow break things up better, but that is not a fault of design, this is simply a goofy shaped property.

I came here expecting a Bear Cave. I was disappointed we didn't get to play inside or near a cave. I guess that is what made me drive to St. Louis to play Crystal City Underground just a week or two later.
It is a decent course with some issues but also was still a lot of fun to throw. I am glad I stopped on my way, but I might look for alternatives if I ever pass through here. Nothing was so breathtaking or overwhelmingly awesome that I would feel the need to come back. I would not avoid the course if I had no other options however. I would say the course is slightly better than average . . . due mostly to the variety.

Lots to offer in this multi-use park besides disc golf: softball complex, walking trails, multiple shelters and pavilions, soccer fields, tennis courts, horseshoe pits, grills, and an archery range. Park was maintained well as a whole, the entire park looked great. Kiosk area for the course. The course seems to be separate from most if not all other activities.

Nice large concrete tee pads (for the longs). Wooden boards for the shorts (though I didn't pay attention to see if they were all still in place). Baskets seemed to be in good shape. Several benches throughout course to rest on (mostly around the wooded holes). Trashcans available on most holes. On the open holes, the fairways were mowed shorter than the grass around it, giving it a ball golf field. Not a lot of elevation available, but there were several holes that were slightly up or down hill.

Nice mix of left to right and right to left holes. Also a good mix of open vs. wooded holes. On a few holes, you start by throwing within a wooded area to an open area, and on others you threw from the open area back towards the woods where the pin was 20' - 40' in the timber. Several holes had blind pins, which added to the challenge.

No map at the kiosk, and on a lesser note no scorecards were available at the time. Normally neither of those would not have been an issue but.... Tee signs were a large issue here. Many signs were missing and even those there were either inaccurate in both distance and pin location or unreadable. So, a map in the kiosk and - or a scorecard with distances would have been helpful.

Navigation was difficult in a few areas and I found myself doing a little backtracking. There were many little offshoots (aka I think my disc went in here) that at times could be mistaken for trails leading to the next tee.

Many holes became very repetitive. Though I liked throwing into and out of the wooded areas, many holes were like the one before it, and truly felt as if I was throwing the exact same hole.

A couple holes I liked: Hole 5 which was a big anhyzer (RHBH) hole teeing off from inside the woods, throwing into the open and then the pin is back in the timber 40ft or so. Hole 6 has a slightly elevated tee, throwing over a very small stream (though no water was present on my trip), fairway closes around 180ft and becomes very tight and elevation comes into play and you are throwing up a fairly steep incline, pin is around the corner up to the right with large tree's protecting the pin.

The course was fun to play, but some of the cons took away from the game play. However with that said, this is a course that will reward you for playing safe on several of the holes. Playing safe can give you a good par score, but go for it and chuck your throws in the woods or off line with the openings for the pins, you're going to have issues trying to regroup and save a bogey.

Also, I appreciate the "rough" on the open holes not being waist high prairie grass. Shin height was perfect for saying you were in the rough yet still having the ability to find your discs.

If there could be some updates and or new tee signs, this course would be really great. Regardless, I will probably try to hit the course again if I am in the area.

Good flow to course.
Two sets of tees most (or all) holes. Red board in ground marks short tees and we didn't notice a couple; but, they were probably there, as course lengths indicate our numbers were a bit high for those we listed as having only one tee.
Trapezoidal tees for longs.
Lots of quality shots, with even split for right and left.
#9 is signature hole; dogleg left with lots of pinball action to get across creek (I was in with a good shot that got knocked down). Hole finishes uphill and right. Tough three.
#10 tough blind uphill anheiser (rhbh); through the woods.
Some "chucker" holes where you gotta throw far. You'll get your chance to stretch your arm; but there are also good wooded holes; pretty nice balance IMHO.

Tee signs are missing info on nearly half the holes. Some of those that do have info; have had a laminated sheet taped over the existing sign. These had water damage and were hard to read. I would say this course has undergone a redesign (or two), and they need to catch up with the signage. (Course easy enough to navigate, even with info not correct).
We did require a bit of local help for navigation. No real trouble; but all of the courses in this area could use some sort of next tee marker.
Some of the best holes are pin ball type. This is not a real pain; but high rated players will consider too much luck to be involved; and say good shots are not always rewarded.
Everyone was parking on the road by the course when we were here. Perhaps because gates were still closed; until spring. Hard to tell; didn't really see a lot for disc parking anywhere. This would be trouble if lots of players were present. As it was, the road was pretty full on this early spring day.

Partner and I played seven courses in two days in the Austin, Albert Lea, Stewartville, St. Charles area. Bear Cave was in a tie with the top three courses of journey. Will I come back again? Perhaps....I think Bancroft in Albert Lea would probably be first choice (mainly because it has 27 holes). With the exception of #9 (which is debatable due to pin ball effect) there are not a lot of signature type holes here; but the discing is decent to good. I wouldn't be offended to have this as a home course; but would go elsewhere to play "top ones." Both of us played pretty solidly in windy conditions to end up slightly over par (I unfortunately took a 5 on #9 with a water stroke). We were playing @900 rated disc. So, this is a fairly solid blue rated course.

Good variety of left/right, trees/open holes. Signs on most all holes if I remember right. No non golf traffic. Easily play 8-10 holes if you want a short game.

Short, (hence birdies not bears). Pro/Long tees aren't much over 300 on most holes. Some elevation, but not a lot.

For those who like a quick round in the Rochester area this is a great course. If your looking for a little more head down to Todd park in Austin.

Very nice layout with a good mix of wooded & open holes. Good paths & fairways are mown regularly. Course is at one end of the park; not a lot of traffic by patrons other than disc golfers.Scorecards are usually at the shelter by the first tee.

The holes have signs but mostly all you can read from them is the hole #. Novice/Rec. tees are grass and are uneven. A couple of the baskets are almost out of the ground as is one of the signs. Garbage cans are available but some don't know what they are apparently.

This is an enjoyable course to play. Not a lot of OB & usually you're able to find your disc. I wish the signs were better maintained with par & distance clearly defined on them. The rec. tees could use some work as most of them are bumpy & uneven. Lots of wildlife; don't be suprised if you see a few deer now & then in the woods.