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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
1-4
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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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
Enjoyable round
Enjoyable round. Can tell they working hard to get course in shape
Revival
We vacation every year the week of the 4th of July, and have played Lions Paw at least once every year for the past 7 years, and I can honestly say this is the best condition I’ve seen this course in all those years! We played 6 rounds this week at courses near Calabash and the greens at Lions Paw were comparable or better than them all. Some of the fairways were thin and dry, and the tee boxes could be mowed a little lower, but overall, the course was well worth the price.
Thank you very much for the nice review of Lion's Paw. the original Big Cat course has definitely improved dramatically since the drought and tornado issues of the spring have been put behind us. We agree, the greens are very nice right now and overall the course is continuing to improve daily. We hope you will come visit us again soon and see our continued progress!
Some patchy ness on the greens and tee boxes. Overall very nice
thank you for the good review of your recent visit to Lion's Paw. We truly appreciate it. We are working daily to make sure this legendary course continues to improve daily as we move through the remainder of 2021 and beyond. We hope you will come visit us again and see our progress!!
Enjoy the long par 4’s and challenging par 3’s.
Course keeps on improving since the tornado. Today was extremely hot and dry so we were patched at the end of 18 holes. We looked forward to hitting the bar for sk
E cold drinks.
Thank you for the nice review of Lion's Paw. It has definitely been a difficult road to recovery after the tornado (And during a pandemic), but we feel we have made great progress with this original Big Cats course and we are seeing continued improvements daily. We expect this trend to continue through the rest of 2021 and beyond! We hope you will visit us again soon.
Thank you for the nice Five Star Review! We agree, Lion's Paw has come a long way in recent weeks and is looking very good for the rest of 2021 and beyond. Thanks again.
Dry conditions
The fairways were dry, and hard. Greens in good shape, still cleaning up storm damage from February tornado.
Thank you for taking the time to review your visit to Lion's Paw. It certainly is dry right now and we are praying for some relief from this drought daily. We are watering greens and tees as normal, but we have had to start rationing water for fairways due to the very low level of our ponds right now. We have had less than 1 inch of total rain in almost two months and it is taking a toll. But, as soon as we get some rain, things will green back up very quickly and return to normal. Right now, everything is very playable, but you can expect to get a little more roll out on your tee shots than normal, due to the dry, firm conditions. Thanks again for understanding and we hope to see you again soon when things are greener all over!
Lions Paw first time
Friendly staff, great pace of play. Good value. Nice snack shop and beverage carts service.
Thank you very much for the Five Star Review! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed your visit. We hope you will come back soon and play another round on Lion's Paw one of the other three Big Cats courses. Thanks again!
I'm very sorry to see you were so disappointed with your recent visit to Lion's Paw. I would greatly appreciate some specific information regarding areas we can improve. Please feel free to message me directly at blong@oceanridge.com with more details of your visit and I would love to work with you to help improve our course for future visitors. I look forward to hearing from you., Thank you.
Average track
Found the overall conditions just average.
Not as nice a layout as the other courses
In this complex.
Thank you for taking the time to review you recent round on Lion's Paw. As you may have heard, Lion's Paw was hit by a major tornado a few weeks ago and cleanup and restoration are still continuing in certain areas. The course is currently very playable and is getting better daily. We anticipate it will be back to 100% very soon. We hope you will come visit us again and see our continued progress and improvement. Thanks again!
Thank you for playing Lion's Paw recently.. Unfortunately your round closely followed a major tornado that passed across a section of this course, so conditions were not at their best during your round, but that is changing quickly as weather is improving and the cleanup is nearing an end. We would appreciate some more specific feedback regarding your impression of the course, to determine if there are other issues we need to address or if it is more related to the tornado damage etc. If you will, please email me at blong@oceanridge.com to provide any further feedback you think would be helpful and I will make sure we do everything possible to address your concerns. Thanks again.
first time
The first time we played. Lots of damage due to recent tornado damage, was priced accordingly. Like the course, not too challenging, wide open for the most part.
Thank you for playing Lion's Paw recently. You definitely did not catch it at it's best due to the major tornado that caused damage on some of the holes on this course. Cleanup and repairs are continuing daily and the course is also improving daily and we expect it to be in very good overall condition through the coming spring golf season and beyond. Thank you again.
After Tornado
Was pleasantly surprised by how nice of shape the course was in after the tornado a couple of weeks ago. Still plenty of housing debris to clean up but the course was in great shape. It’s a totally different course now that most of the trees are gone. A must play.
Thank you very much! Yes, there are some different looks out there now, but the character of the course is still 100% Lion's Paw. We hope you will come visit us again very soon.
Great layout
Course just opened back up after the tornado a few weeks ago, it was cart part only but had a great time great layout friendly staff would play anytime
Thank you very much for the four Star review! We appreciate your patronage more that we could ever say and we hope you will come and enjoy another round with us soon. Thanks again!
Thank you for the 4 Star review. We really appreciate it!
Highly suggest playing elsewhere
Tee boxes had same grass length as the rough. Course layout could be fun if the course was well maintained, but that is not the case here. Greens rolled sometimes but no consistency. Saw a starter 3 separate times in 9 holes as we were waiting on the group in front of us, but pace clearly isn’t a concern as we waited on every single shot.
I’ve never walked off of a golf course at any point in my life until I visited Lion’s Paw. The fact that they can charge $45 to play here is astonishing. I would suggest finding somewhere else to play or not playing at all if this is your only option.
My wife and I played Lion's Paw on Thanksgiving and the course surprisingly was in great shape. This course has a great layout with many challenging holes. Now that the course is in great shape I highly recommend playing it
Thank you so much! We agree, Lion's Paw is in very good shape now and we expect this trend to continue for many years to come! We hope you will come visit us again soon and see our continued progress.
Great staff
Everyone we interacted with at the course made us feel appreciated and welcome. Layout is fun and greens are fast. Stay in the fairways and You'll avoid trouble.
You definitely can't go wrong keeping it in the fairway (If only it was as easily done as said!) But thank you so much for the kind review. We appreciate it very much and hope you will come back and see our continued progress. Thanks again!
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Thank you very much! You are correct, we are taking major steps to return Lion's Paw to its intended position as one of the top courses in the area. We hope you will visit us again and see our continued progress.