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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 |
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Bar, Grill, RestaurantAccolades
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Golf Advisor: Top 25 Most Improved U.S. Golf Courses (2021 #16)
Reviews
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Better than was expecting
Read the greens were terrible, not so. Very fast and playable. Bunkers need a little TLC. Overall a fun layout. Will play again
Back after a few years…
Was back after a few years following a previous positive experience. Pace was terribly slow and course was pretty dried-up with no maintenance of the sand traps.
very nice course
great views, course condition was great, staff was exceptional
Lions Paw Needs a Drink
Enjoyed playing Lion's Paw of the Big Cats. It was very firm, both the greens and the fairways. They could each use some softening up. It was very difficult to assess yardage as there were only markers embedded in the fairways, and it seemed like not on every hole. Thanks to an extra discount from GolfPAss it was a very good value.
Lions Paw is back
I played with my son and his best friend and was surprised how nice the conditions were. Tees and fairways were very good and the greens were in very good shape. Well worth the money and a great and challenging golf course.
Customer service is impeccable
From arriving at Lions Paw and being greeted by the attendants (all were amazing!) to speaking with the starter who didn’t talk down to you to stopping for water before our round to stopping for a sandwich at the turn to getting a cold one afterwards (btw Chrissy is wonderful).. this is a great place to golf.
Holes are well maintained. Some high grass areas probably due to it being so wet. This is now our favorite place to golf in The Sunset/Ocean Isle area - hands down!
Thank you very much for the awesome Five Star review of Lion's Paw. We are so happy you enjoyed your visit. We have been working diligently to provide our guests with a fun and memorable golfing experience and we certainly appreciate the feedback. Be sure to visit the other Big Cats course as well!
Thanks again!
Needs Work
Greens were in so, so shape. Sand traps were horrible. No sand and hard packed. Several had standing water. You could tell they had no work done too then for a while.
Well worth the money!
From the outset we had an excellent outing. The staff were excellent and very understanding when we had a player not show for our reservation. We were among the first few groups out and the pace was great. Things slowed down briefly but the course ranger made a correction and it picked back up.
The only complaint of the day was that the sand traps were so dry and hard they weren’t playable. In years passed we’ve spent twice this to play the Big Cat courses, for the money this exceeded expectation.
Thank you very much for the nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. We truly appreciate your patronage and feedback. We are happy to hear you enjoyed your round! The heavy rains of the past couple of weeks definitely impacted the sand traps during your visit, but we are hard at work getting them back to normal and they should be in very good condition going forward. Thanks again and we hope you will come visit us again soon.
We had a 4 some in front of us ( we were a 2 some ) that were playing screwy games the entire time and would not allow us to go around them. Very poor management that doesn’t send starters out to check on the pace of play
Thank you for your feedback on your recent round at Lion's Paw. We do have a course marshal on duty for each day at all of the Big Cats courses (Barring any unforeseen circumstances) and I did confirm that we definitely did have a marshal on duty on the day you played, but it sounds like he did not do a very good job of communicating with your group. Based on our tee sheet, we were very busy that day and it's likely there was no open space beyond the group in front of you, but, even if so, that certainly should have been communicated to your group. We apologize it took longer than you expected to play, but this can sometimes be the case, especially on a busy day with mostly foursomes on the course. I have passed your feedback along to our golf director and asked that he review with all course marshals the importance of maintaining good communication with our guests, especially on a very busy day. Thank you and again, we apologize for the inconvenience.
Super Slow Greens
Greens needed to be mowed or rolled. Very slow compared to surrounding courses.
Thank you for taking the time to review your recent visit to Lion's Paw. We apologize you did not catch us at our very best. The heavy rains of the past couple of weeks have hampered some of our maintenance efforts. (Summer Rates reflect this fact) But we are committed to taking whatever steps possible to offer our guests a fun and memorable golf experience. We hope you will visit us again soon and see our continued progress.
Good value
When searching for a tee time in the area most courses were $75 to $100 for an am tee time. While the course isn’t in as good shape as it was several years ago it’s still a quality layout. Greens were in good shape as well.
Thank you very much for the nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. Please be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses as well..
Needs investment
Played with a threesome and we had a really good time. The layout was really fun but it’s a shame the owners don’t care for the course. Wouldn’t blame others if they stayed away until there was more care to the course.
Also, one of the starters was rude. Not knowing they had a guy who loads the cart with clubs, we arrived at the starter after checking in and said we would just take the front two carts. He said, laughing, “you’re not going to take a cart.” When I said “what do you mean we’re not taking the carts,” he asked if we checked in and said one of the guys would take the clubs and walk 10 feet from us to put it in the cart. The three of us thought the comment was rude. Other than that, the staff was very kind.
Main takeaway: It was fun. Wouldn’t pay $60 to play in the current shape.
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Thank you very much for the nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. We truly appreciate your patronage and we hope you will come visit us again soon.