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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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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
Friendly staff-good bones…horrible condition
Wow…the shape this course was in was on another level of bad. Tee boxes were mud, the fairways were awful. Cart paths were indescribably bad. The greens, however, were in decent shape. Think they had been redone.
The course could be really good. And nice layout. It just needs a lot of time and money to get the course there. The check in staff was great.
Thank you for the nice Four Star review! I'm glad you were able to play ahead of the massive nearly 5" rainfall on 8/3. Fortunately things have dried out well and the course is looking good once again. We hope you will visit us again soon.
Getting Better
Played here back in June & it was in pretty bad shape in my opinion. Fairways were dried and & not much turf, tee boxes were beat up pretty bad.
As of this round fairways were ok, had a lot of crab grass growing in them. Greens were in really good shape & had decent speed to them. Sand traps have grass growing in them and are very hard. But we did see the crew working on them so hopefully they are fixing that problem. Women’s tee boxes were mostly dirt. I’m my opinion use to be one of the best places to play about 3-4 years ago and to me iits just average now.
Thank you for taking the time to review your recent visit to Lion's Paw. We agree, it is getting better daily. Please come visit us again soon and see our continued progress!
Course had potential. Poorly maintained with crabgrass in the fairways and heavy dead grass clippings on the course. The greens were in good condition.
My guess is they have a personnel shortage causing this.
Thank you for taking the time to review your visit to Lion's Paw, the original Big Cats course. We agree, the greens are in very nice condition for the summer months. We have aggressively treated the course for any and all invasive grasses and that is improving daily as well. We expect course conditions to continue to improve rapidly through the rest of 2021 and beyond and we look forward to offering our guests an enjoyable and memorable golfing experience.
Great course in recovery
First time playing here. Staff was exceptional and super friendly. Like others have said, course and homes are recovering from the storm in February. Loved the par 3’s over water and fun finishing hole. Will definitely be back.
Thank you for the nice review of Lion's Paw. We agree, the course is recovering nicely from the major tornado we experienced this past spring, and we expect to continue to improve daily until this original Big Cats course is back to 100%, which should be very soon!
Very nice place
Tou really can’t beat this place for the money. One of the nicest places are playing in the Myrtle Beach area. The greens were putting pretty well, fairways were in great shape. Not too hard of a course, pretty challenging for all levels I would say.
Thank you for the nice five star review of Lion's Paw! We agree, this is one of the best places to visit for golfers of all skill levels. We look forward to seeing you again soon!
Thank you for the great Five Star review of Lion's Paw! We really appreciate it! We agree, Lion's Paw is certainly one fun course to play!
Aversge
It was a decent price for what you get. The pro shop guy was nice enough but the first impression from the guys in the parking lot wasn’t good at all. The greens rolled fine but inconsistent and the course was in need of a mower in many cases.
Thank you for taking the time to review your recent visit to Lion's Paw. We apologize for the initial experience you described at our bag drop. I will review your feedback with our staff and take whatever steps necessary to address the issue you mentioned. Thanks again.
Challenging but fun
Challenging golf course with friendly staff and service. Love playing at Ocean Ridge when we are down here. Hard to beat for $39. Course was in good shape considering that a tornado recently touchdown in the community.
Thank you for the very nice review of Lion's Paw! We really appreciate it. You are correct, the tornado this spring was devastating to our community, but the recovery process has been amazing and we look forward to continuing to improve the course conditions until they are back to 100%, which should be very soon. Thanks again.
Enjoyable round
Enjoyable round. Can tell they working hard to get course in shape
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.
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.
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Thank you for taking the time to review your visit to Lion's Paw. We apologize you had the misfortune of playing only a day or two after we received 5" of rain in one day (8/3) Our rainfall for the past 30 days is more than double the typical amount for this time of year. As evidenced by the majority of recent reviews being Three, Four or Five stars, I hope you will agree your experience was somewhat of an anomaly. The cart paths do in fact need work, but this was greatly exacerbated by the massive rainfall, as was the muddy conditions you mentioned. We agree, the greens are actually quite good right now and they were redone just a few years ago. I'm glad to hear you were treated well by our staff, which is always very important to us. We hope you will come visit us again and hopefully will catch us on a much better weather day than your last visit.