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Lion's Paw at Ocean Ridge Plantation
Rating Snapshot
About
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.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | 72 | 7003 yards | 74.0 | 132 |
| White | 72 | 6457 yards | 71.3 | 128 |
| Gold | 72 | 5872 yards | 67.5 | 118 |
| Gold (W) | 72 | 5872 yards | 71.0 | 126 |
| Red (W) | 72 | 5363 yards | 69.0 | 121 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue M: 73.5/137 | 417 | 517 | 204 | 428 | 415 | 228 | 402 | 520 | 386 | 3517 | 400 | 202 | 383 | 527 | 418 | 445 | 384 | 185 | 542 | 3486 | 7003 |
| White M: 71.0/131 | 387 | 477 | 178 | 385 | 399 | 175 | 364 | 495 | 352 | 3212 | 375 | 188 | 372 | 493 | 396 | 408 | 353 | 154 | 506 | 3245 | 6457 |
| White/Gold M: 69.2/126 | 351 | 477 | 128 | 385 | 366 | 136 | 364 | 495 | 352 | 3054 | 375 | 172 | 322 | 493 | 393 | 382 | 353 | 131 | 506 | 3127 | 6181 |
| Gold M: 67.3/115 W: 72.7/133 | 351 | 433 | 128 | 361 | 366 | 136 | 332 | 478 | 336 | 2921 | 349 | 172 | 322 | 431 | 393 | 382 | 319 | 131 | 457 | 2956 | 5877 |
| Red M: 64.2/108 W: 68.8/124 | 335 | 416 | 108 | 326 | 353 | 125 | 303 | 455 | 305 | 2726 | 307 | 110 | 300 | 413 | 321 | 366 | 286 | 121 | 406 | 2630 | 5356 |
| Handicap | 1 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 18 | 12 | |||
| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 72 |
| Handicap (W) | 1 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 16 | 6 | 14 |
Hot Deals at Lions Paw
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Course Details
Rentals/Services
Practice/Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
Bar, Grill, RestaurantAccolades
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Golf Advisor: Top 25 Most Improved U.S. Golf Courses (2021 #16)
Reviews
Reviewer Photos
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Photo submitted by logancriss on 04/13/2026
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Photo submitted by logancriss on 04/13/2026
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Photo submitted by logancriss on 04/13/2026
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72 year-old with good swing form! Photo submitted by PKStamm2418 on 01/18/2026
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Carlos was a great welcoming committee Photo submitted by james9852821 on 10/14/2025
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Photo submitted by u000007843074 on 06/13/2025
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Photo submitted by u000007843074 on 06/13/2025
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Photo submitted by u000007843074 on 06/13/2025
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Photo submitted by Richard1399167 on 05/16/2021
Greens
I would have to tell my friends that the greens are in really bad shape.
Thank you for taking the time to review your round at Lion's Paw. We greatly appreciate the nice Four Star review. Several unexpected factors have hampered our greens during the late spring, but with the rapidly improving weather conditions, the condition of the greens will be rapidly improving as well. We are looking forward to the remainder of 2023 and beyond and we hope you will visit us again and see our continued progress. Thanks again.
Lions Paw fun
Enjoyed the round at a lLions Paw. Fantastic staff that was super friendly, honest, and helpful. Although the greens were terrible, the price adjustment helped. They were honest about the condition of the greens up front. I hope the greens improve as the layout, fairways, tees, experience were all great. Thanks for a fun day. I’ll return.
Rough Conditions
The greens were in very poor condition. Staff very friendly & accommodating. Course needs a year with no play to survive & begin to once again thrive like in the past.
Neglected Greens!!
Greens were very disappointing in comparison to the rest of the course. Very weedy, Burnt, and bumpy.!! They’re in desperate need of love! Rest of the course was nice, the tee boxes were level and the fairways are in great shape and well. For the price I give it 3/5 stars. First time there would not recommend until greens are repaired.
Thank you for taking the time to review your round at Lion's Paw. We apologize for the condition of the greens. We have been aggressively treating the issues you described and will continue to do so. We fully expect the overall conditions to continue to improve rapidly and for the greens to be in great shape for the summer. We also have a plan in place to use some newly available products to proactively treat these issues and make sure we do not experience a similar situation in the future. We apologize again and hope you will visit us again soon to see our continued progress.
Surprised
Surprised the greens were in such poor shape for this golf course.
We apologize we were not at our best during your visit to Lion's Paw. We have been aggressively treating the issues you described and we expect the conditions to continue to improve rapidly now and for the course to be in great shape for the summer. We also have a plan in place to use some newly available products to proactively treat these issues and make sure we do not experience a similar situation in the future. We hope you will visit us again and see our continued progress.
The Paw was alittle tired
Majority of the greens were in poor condition and number a fairways had rough spots.
Beware of looking for balls near the water… yiu might meet a new friend
Switched to Panthers Run
I wanted to play Lions Paw but a Member tournament took precedent and caused me to be bumped to Panthers Run. A much lower rated course.
This course was in horrible condition. Greens had little or no grass. Bunkers no sand. With gators and snakes abound, it wasn't the safest course either. Restrooms locked code didn't work. Icing on the cake, No Food or Water available.
I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS COURSE TO ANYONE PERIOD.
We apologize you were switched to a different course. I'm not sure of the circumstances on the day you played, but our staff tries to accommodate all of our guests to make sure they have the best overall experience possible. Panther's Run and Lion's Paw are very comparable courses. In fact, Panther's Run is often rated even higher than Lion's Paw in many listings, as it is newer and has some very unique design features. Regardless, we apologize you were not satisfied with your experience and we would like to work with you to help resolve the issue. If you can contact me directly at blong@oceanridge.com, I will work with you to find a solution. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.
Put MONEY into the course
These courses have so much potential but the course conditions are so sub-par that it’s not worth the money. Greens were very bumpy, lumps of grass, some greens had little grass, just sprayed with the green stuff. Tight lies were everywhere even in the middle of the fairways. Staff is extremely friendly and courteous which was a plus. Knowing it’s Resort Golf I still wish a Marshall would “speed slow players “ along
Thank you for taking the time to review your round at Lion's Paw. We apologize we were not at our best during your visit. We have been aggressively treating the issues you described and there has been significant improvement since you played. We expect the conditions to continue to improve rapidly now and for all of the bermuda greens to be in great shape for the summer. We also have a plan in place to use some newly available products to proactively treat these issues and make sure we do not experience a similar situation in the future. We hope you will visit us again and see our continued progress.
Poor Poor Greens
The whole course needs some TLC, all of the greens are worst that I have played on in 20 years. Staff were very friendly.. Would not recommend this course.
We deeply apologize for the unsatisfactory conditions you described. Lion's Paw was hit by a breakout of Poa Annua this spring, similar to many other bermuda greens courses in our area, and we very aggressively treated this issue with every available viable product. After a couple of weeks, the conditions began to improve considerably, as the Poa began to dissipate. The weak areas left behind on a few of the greens have also bee addressed and the course should be back to 100% in the coming days. We have formulated a plan of action, using some newly available products, to assure we do not experience a similar issues in the future. Hopefully you made your concerns known to the staff on duty, as they are empowered to do whatever necessary to make sure each guest has an ultimately satisfactory experience. If this is not the case, please let me know and we will work with you to rectify this issue. Email me directly at blong@oceanridge.com and we will come up with solution. Thank you and we appreciate your understanding of this unfortunate, but temporary situation.
Beautiful Course
Friendly staff. Good condition.. I would highly recommend.
Thank you for the very nice Five Star revieiw of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate your patronage and look forward to seeing you again soon!
Great course
Great course, great staff. Greens had a little bit of a problem with some poama(so?) grass on some. Otherwise beautiful, lush fairways and the cart paths are very smooth. Course is beautiful. Will play again!
Thank you for the very nice review of Lion's Paw! The Poa you mentioned has been aggressively treated and is fading fast and the greens are looking very good for the rest of the spring and beyond. We hope you will visit us again soon.
Early season conditions
Some greens were bumpy. Fairways so so - grass is dormant in some spots still. No yardage markers- not even a stake. Had to pass a threesome for slow play.
On a positive note- easy to navigate- just follow cart paths to each hole. Also $43 on Golf Now is a good price compared to other courses in my area. I’d imagine that in a few months course would be visually appealing.
Bag dropoff area is run well
Thank you for the awesome Five Star review of Lion's Paw! We truly appreciate your feedback and hope to see you again soon.
First big cat
Great course, greens being switched but made do and they gave us a discount because of it, staff was great.
Thank you for the nice review of Lion's Paw. The greens will be getting even better now that the weather is warming up nicely. We hope to see you again soon!
Scenic challenging track
Overall a good value course offering good distances from the whites with most part threes around 180 yards. About 6 of the greens were in rough condition but may just be coming into season. Very pretty natural features and challenging approaches with deep traps. I didn't have a range finder today but would be nice to have more natural distance markers. Thanks to Joe at the bag drop for good advice and friendly cheer to start the round.
Thank you so much for your nice review of Lion's Paw. We really appreciate that and you're correct, the greens are getting even better daily, now that the weather is warming up nicely. We hope you will come visit us again soon!
Coming back
Very nice course, greens were in transition but playable, staff was great and friendly. Very nice clubhouse and pro shop. Looking forward to playing the other big cat courses.
Thank you for the very nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. We truly appreciate your feedback and we hope to see you out chasing birdies with the Big Cats again soon!
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Thank you for the very nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. We really appreciate it and hope you will visit us again soon!