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3.9
401 Reviews (401)
5 Stars
86
4 Stars
181
3 Stars
77
2 Stars
32
1 Stars
25
Conditions
3.6
Value
4.1
Layout
4.4
Friendliness
4.5
Pace
4.4
Amenities
4.1
85.3%
Recommend this course
312 out of 401 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
3.8
39 Reviews (39)
5 Stars
10
4 Stars
18
3 Stars
5
2 Stars
4
1 Stars
2
Conditions
3.4
Value
4.0
Layout
4.5
Pace
4.5
Amenities
4.3
StaffFriendliness
4.5
76.9%
Recommend this course
30 out of 39 reviews
Read Reviews
Average Rating
Avg Rating
3.9
89 Reviews (89)
5 Stars
24
4 Stars
49
3 Stars
7
2 Stars
5
1 Stars
4
Conditions
3.5
Value
4.2
Layout
4.5
Pace
4.4
Amenities
4.2
StaffFriendliness
4.4
85.4%
Recommend this course
76 out of 89 reviews
Read Reviews

About

Holes 18
Type Public
Par 72
Length 7003 yards
Slope 132
Rating 74.0

Lion's Paw Golf Links is an open, hilly course that treats the golfer to spectacular views of a beautiful creek valley and its adjoining wetlands. A wild and untamed layout, Lion's Paw features deep sugar white sand bunkers and MiniVerde greens.

A stunning 23,000 square foot clubhouse serves both Lion's Paw and Panther's Run golf courses and offers residents and visitors the perfect place to ready themselves for the upcoming challenge on the links. Designed with a safari theme, the clubhouse includes a full-service pro shop, a snack bar and Tamers Restaurant and Lounge, an elegant dining room serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Lion's Paw has been described as Willard Byrd's finest work. Part wild, part rustic and quiet, this magnificent course presents a lion's share of adventure and breathtaking scenery.

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Lions Paw
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Course Details

Year Built 1990
Fairways Bermuda Grass
Greens MiniVerde Grass
Golf Season Year round
Architect Willard Byrd (1990) Nai Chung Chang (1990)

Rentals/Services

Carts Yes
Clubs Yes

Practice/Instruction

Driving Range Yes
Bunker Yes
Golf School/Academy Yes
Teaching Pro Yes
Putting Green Yes

Policies

Credit Cards Accepted VISA, MasterCard, Amex, Discover Welcomed
Metal Spikes Allowed No

Food & Beverage

Bar, Grill, Restaurant

Accolades

  • Golf Advisor: Top 25 Most Improved U.S. Golf Courses (2021 #16)
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$120 in tee time credits
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Reviews

3.9
401 Reviews (401)
Advanced Filters
Overall Rating
Recommended
Handicap
Age
Type of Golfer
Gender
Played On
Reviews 5
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Previously Played
Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Default User Avatar
Commented on 10/31/2025

Thank you so much for the Five Star review of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 5
Skill Advanced
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing

Nice layout. Course in rather good shape, greens rolled true, just need help in the sand traps with the rain.

Met a nice member to play with.

Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Default User Avatar
Commented on 10/20/2025

Thank you so much for the Four Star review of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. We work hard daily to provide our guests with a fun and memorable golf experience. We hope you visit again soon. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 7
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Default User Avatar
Commented on 09/26/2025

Thank you so much for the Four Star review of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. We work hard daily to provide our guests with a fun and memorable golf experience. We hope you visit again soon. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a month
I Recommend This Course
5.0
First Time Playing
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Default User Avatar
Commented on 09/26/2025

Thank you so much for the Five Star review of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

The Paw has made a nice recovery

The course condition was very good after a brutal summer of rain and heat. The course was playable, greens were medium fast, and the pace of play was excellent. Would play here again.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Default User Avatar
Commented on 09/26/2025

Thank you so much for the Four Star review of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. We work hard daily to provide our guests with a fun and memorable golf experience. We hope you visit again soon. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Excellent
Default User Avatar
Commented on 09/05/2025

Thank you so much for the Five Star review of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 23
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once every three months
I Recommend This Course
4.0
First Time Playing

Couldn’t lick the Lion’s Paw

Friendly and efficient staff. Played in the afternoon and course was virtually empty. Got paired with a couple and they preferred I play ahead.

Course was maybe a bit ragged round the edges in places but eminently enjoyable. Fairways and greens were good and what else really matters.

Playing on your own with iffy eyesight has its challenges so lay a few balls I thought I would find.

Course is recommended especially for the price.

Conditions Good
Value Excellent
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Default User Avatar
Commented on 09/05/2025

Thank you so much for the Four Star review of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. We work hard daily to provide our guests with a fun and memorable golf experience. We hope you visit again soon. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 5
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing
Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Default User Avatar
Commented on 09/18/2025

Thank you for the very nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate it and we hope you will visit us again soon and see our continued progress. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 132
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Default User Avatar
Commented on 09/05/2025

I apologize, Lion's Paw. My mistake. Thank you again!

Default User Avatar
Commented on 08/22/2025

Thank you so much for the Five Star review of Leopard's Chase! We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 29
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Conditions Excellent
Value Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Default User Avatar
Commented on 08/22/2025

Thank you so much for the Awesome Five Star review of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 6
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Course was ok, but with all the water that fell in the area in the past few weeks the fairways and greens should have been more greener

Conditions Average
Value Average
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Default User Avatar
Commented on 08/26/2025

Thank you for taking the time to review your visit to Lion's Paw. We really appreciate it. We apologize for the weather related conditions you described. The immense overabundance of rain actually causes grass roots to "drown" and turn yellow or brown in some areas, and the hot damp conditions are a breeding ground for turf diseases that can turn the grass off color. IF we can get a more normal weather pattern for just a few days, conditions, particularly color will improve rapidly. We hope you will visit us again soon and see our continued progress.

Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Advanced
Plays A few times a week
2.0
First Time Playing

Conditions

The layout was fun with water outlining almost every hole. The tee boxes were not well maintained, there were many weeds along with really long tee boxes. Around the greens there were many patches of weeds that made short game really difficult. After 17in of rain it is understandable for the bunkers to be washed out. However it should have been raked or marked as GUR.

Conditions Fair
Value Fair
Layout Average
Friendliness Average
Pace Excellent
Amenities Average
Default User Avatar
Commented on 08/26/2025

Thank you for taking the time to review your visit to Lion's Paw. We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. We apologize you did not catch us at our best on this visit. The unprecedented and relentless rainfall we have experienced in the preceding weeks has made maintenance on the four Big Cats courses very difficult for our crew. We need dry enough conditions to get the big mowers out without doing damage to the turf. The rain and heat also resulted in an explosion of unexpected weeds that must be eradicated carefully, as to not damage the bermuda turf in the process. With all that being said, we have made great progress in recent days and all four Big Cats course are getting better daily (Despite continued rain!) We hope you will visit us again and see our continued progress. Thanks again.

Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
3.0
First Time Playing

Needs some TLC

Fairways are basically all crabgrass. Bunkers full of water. Greens patchy with bare spots. Distance markers were scarce.

Conditions Fair
Value Average
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 2
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
Default User Avatar
Commented on 08/04/2025

Thank you for the nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. We really appreciate it. We hope you will visit us again soon and see our continued progress. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 132
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Played On
Reviews 7
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played

Lion's Paw

Good course. Challenging. Small greens and lots of traps. The traps were not well maintained. Seemed more like hard pan. We finally just pulled the ball out and hit from the grass behind it for the rest of the round. The staff was nice. We were first on the course and played in about 3.5 hrs. Will definitely play there again.

Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Excellent
Default User Avatar
Commented on 08/04/2025

Thank you so much for the awesome Five Star review of Lion's Paw Golf Links. We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again!

Played On
Reviews 3
Skill Intermediate
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Wet greens

The course is a good layout and was in good condition overall however we had a 7:15 tee time and the greens were not mowed, rolled, or anything. As a result the greens actually had standing few on them for the entire front nine. It made putting very difficult as the ball would pick up water and not roll. It really took away from the quality of the course. Maybe that sounds like nit picking but I have never had that happen for nine holes. Other than that the course was fine.

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Amenities Good
Default User Avatar
Commented on 08/04/2025

Thank you for taking the time to review your visit to Lion's Paw Golf Links. We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. We apologize for the wet conditions on the day you played. The heavy rains from the night before made rolling and mowing the greens very difficult that early in the morning, but this is a very unusual circumstance for sure. I will pass your feedback along to our Director of Agronomy so they can consider any adjustments they might be able to make to their practices to help with any similar issues. We hope you will visit us again and see our continued progress. Thanks again.

Played On
Reviews 132
I Recommend This Course
5.0
Verified Purchaser
Conditions Excellent
Value Excellent
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Excellent
Default User Avatar
Commented on 08/04/2025

Thank you so much for the awesome Five Star review of Lion's Paw. We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again.

Played On
Reviews 5
Skill Intermediate
Plays A few times a week
I Recommend This Course
3.0
Verified Purchaser
Previously Played
Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Good
Friendliness Good
Pace Good
Amenities Average
Played On
Reviews 1
Skill Beginner
Plays Once a week
I Recommend This Course
4.0
Verified Purchaser
First Time Playing

Good value

Started at 925 am. Pace was a little slow to begin but was fine after the turn.

Conditions Average
Value Good
Layout Excellent
Friendliness Excellent
Pace Good
Amenities Good
Default User Avatar
Commented on 08/04/2025

Thank you for the very nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. We truly appreciate your patronage and your feedback. Be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well. Thanks again.

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