The Bear's Den is one of two courses at the Kingsley Civic Center. It winds it's way through a wooded section on the west side of the park. There's a mix of different types of trees, but definitely leans more heavily on the coniferous side. Very sandy ground throughout. It almost looks like you're in the rockies because of this.

The baskets are brand new red Chainstar Pros. These are some of my favorite baskets. Easy to spot in the woods and they catch great. One pin position per hole.

The tee pads are also top notch. Very large large, level and grippy concrete. These things are exactly what you want a tee pad to be. One tee pad per hole.

The tee signs are some of the best i've ever seen. They're huge by tee sign standards. They have a very detailed hole diagram, Hole #, Par, distance and a next tee marker. There is also a next tee sign near each pin, making navigation a non issue. This course has all the bells and whistles you'd like to see as far as the equipment goes. Nicely done.

The course is free to play and there are numerous benches throughout. Probably not really the busiest course either.

The area was used very well in the design of this course. The flow is pretty seamless from hole to hole for the most part. It starts and ends a little ways away from the parking area, but that ensures that it's an entirely wooded experience. No filler to get you there or back.

The sandy terrain gets annoying after awhile. Especially if you're pulling a cart. But even just walking in the sand get tiresome. It also makes it hotter than just grass or dirt. Your feet start to feel like they're on fire in the sunny spots. Nitpicky I know, but it isn't ideal.

The course starts to feel a bit repetitive by the end of the round. Partly due to the flat nature of the course, but mostly the dead straight shot, slight left turning fairway, dead straight shot, slight right turning fairway, etc. Not much could be done about this, but worth noting.

While I wouldn't say it's easy to lose a disc here, it is very possible. Especially with all the pine trees off the fairway. These tend to gooble offline shots up. A few pines are fine, but there's tons of them. So just pitching out to the fairway can be pretty common.

I haven't had the chance to play the original yet, well 4 holes before a storm blew in today. But this is probably the superior of the 2 courses here, based on those 4 holes. Either way just won't be disappointed if you stop in here for a round or 2. But is it the most epic course in the area? Probably not. I can't say for sure because I've play next to nothing nearby here yet. But I can tell you that I'm sure you can do worse than this place. I'd play it again, no problem.

I kind of waffled on my rating of a 3.5 or a 4, and to be honest it's probably right in between. I settled on a 3.5, which is very good. I just don't think it's quite a 4. But I'd be more than happy to have this course near me.