Fallen Oak vs Grand Bear: access, price, design and conditions compared

Fallen Oak vs Grand Bear comes down to access. Fallen Oak, Tom Fazio's 2006 course, is open only to Beau Rivage guests and is regularly ranked the best in Mississippi. Grand Bear, Jack Nicklaus's 1999 course in the De Soto National Forest, is public. Both sit in Saucier, north of Biloxi, and both play over 7,200 yards from the tips.

They are the two big inland courses on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and many trips try to play both. This guide compares Fallen Oak vs Grand Bear on access, price, design and conditions, so you can decide which one to build around. Prices were checked on October 25, 2026; neither course posts a current public rate card, so confirm when you book.

Quick facts

• Fallen Oak: Tom Fazio, 2006, Saucier. Beau Rivage guests only. Tips 7,487 yards, 76.5 / 142.
• Grand Bear: Jack Nicklaus, 1999, Saucier. Public. Tips 7,204 yards, 75.5 / 143.
• Price guide (October 2026): Fallen Oak about $275 with cart (GolfLink estimate), sold with a stay; Grand Bear about $170 (GolfLink), with directories quoting $65-$150.
• Booking: Fallen Oak through Beau Rivage with a room; Grand Bear through the club, GolfNow or TeeOff.
• Neither publishes a booking window or overseed policy.

Fallen Oak vs Grand Bear at a glance

Access: the deciding factor

Fallen Oak

Fallen Oak is open only to guests of Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi. You book the room and the round together through the resort, and the resort runs transportation between the hotel and the course, about 28 minutes north on the map's routing. There is no public tee sheet and no other way in.

Beau Rivage sells golf with the room as stay-and-play. In October 2026 it offered "1 night, 1 round" packages for two in a standard room, bookable through December 31, 2026, on request. Older packages were quoted from $180 per person, double occupancy. Current room and package prices were not read in our research, so ask when you book. The resort fee was $23.52 a night on a June 2026 tracker. Our guide to getting a Fallen Oak tee time walks through the booking.

Grand Bear

Grand Bear is public. It moved from Caesars (Harrah's Gulf Coast) to VICI Properties in 2017. Anyone can book through the club, GolfNow or TeeOff. Harrah's Gulf Coast guests get tier-based Caesars Rewards discounts on green fees, but there is no current stay-and-play package. The club website had a broken security certificate on October 25, 2026, so call ahead at 228-265-9363.

The upshot: if your group is not staying at Beau Rivage, the comparison is over before it starts. Grand Bear is the best big course you can book in Saucier.

Price

Neither course posts a current rate card online, so these are guides, not quotes:

• Fallen Oak: GolfLink estimated about $275 for 18 with a cart in October 2026. The real cost is the round plus the Beau Rivage room, since you cannot have one without the other.
• Grand Bear: GolfLink estimated about $170 with a cart. Other directories quoted $65 to $150 depending on day and season, with the lowest prices Monday to Thursday and at twilight.

Room rates matter here too. Beau Rivage rates were not read, but its record notes that weekend rates jump. At Harrah's, a Deluxe 2-queen room was $121 (special rate) on Tuesday November 10, 2026, and $289 on Saturday November 21, including the $21.39 resort fee. Weekday trips cost less at both. Our guide to whether Fallen Oak is worth it runs the full numbers.

Design and difficulty

Both are big, modern inland courses with very similar slopes from the back.

Fallen Oak tees

Tee names are not published on the GolfLink card these ratings come from. Fallen Oak is the longest and highest-rated course on the coast. It has wide fairways, big greens, and a quiet, private-club feel because only resort guests play. A 2014 bunker renovation cut the bunkers from 89 to 65.

Grand Bear tees

Grand Bear sits about six miles into the De Soto National Forest, with tall pines, cypress wetlands and the Biloxi River on the closing holes. There are no homes on the course. Its Teddy Bear tees, at 4,802 yards and a 98 slope, make it the friendlier of the two for beginners and forward-tee players.

Our Fallen Oak course guide and Grand Bear course guide have both on the 3D map.

Tournament history

Fallen Oak hosted the PGA Tour Champions event, the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic and later the Rapiscan Systems Classic, from 2010. Grand Bear hosted it in 2022. The title sponsor opted out after 2022 and no edition has been played since. Grand Bear has hosted PGA Tour Champions Q-school stages, including a first stage in November 2024.

The current event at Fallen Oak is the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational. In 2026 it ran October 17 to 19 with a 15-team field of top-100 programs, co-hosted by Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss, and it was free for spectators. Guest tee times may be limited that week, though that is not confirmed.

Conditions and season

Neither course publishes an overseed policy. Most coast courses are bermudagrass, and many leave it to go dormant (tan but playable) from about December to March. Being inland, Saucier runs about 3 degrees F colder at night than the beach in winter, and frost delays are more likely here than on the coast. Plan winter tee times for mid-morning. Our guide to winter golf in Mississippi covers what to expect.

Spring (March to May) and fall (October and November) are the coast's two high seasons. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, with the main risk from August to October.

Getting there

Fallen Oak is at 24400 Highway 15, Saucier, and the map's routed estimate from downtown Biloxi is about 29 minutes and 19.5 miles. You do not need to drive, since Beau Rivage arranges transport.

Grand Bear is at 12040 Grand Way Blvd, Saucier. Our routed drive time from downtown Biloxi is about 57 minutes and 28.7 miles, longer than the straight-line distance suggests, so allow extra time and check your route before you leave.

Which one should you play?

• Play Fallen Oak if the trip is built around the best course in the state and you are happy to stay at Beau Rivage. Book the room and round together.
• Play Grand Bear if you are staying anywhere else, want a big forest course without a resort booking, or want to control cost with weekday or twilight rates.
• Play both if you are at Beau Rivage for several nights. Both sit in Saucier, so they pair naturally for a two-day inland swing.

Our guides to Grand Bear golf course, Beau Rivage golf and the best golf courses in Biloxi go deeper on each option, and Biloxi golf packages compares every casino stay-and-play.

Plan it on the map

Open the Biloxi golf map to see Fallen Oak and Grand Bear in 3D, with drive times from every hotel. The $30 plan can build your trip around a Beau Rivage stay with Fallen Oak, or around Grand Bear and the public courses, with weekday nights where the rooms are cheapest.