Lion's Paw at Ocean Ridge Plantation
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.
Course Details
Rentals & Services
Practice & Instruction
Policies
Food & Beverage
Awards & Recognition
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Top 25 Most Improved U.S. Golf Courses(2021 #16)
Golfer Photos
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Photo submitted by u835220769 on 07/17/2026
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Photo submitted by u950416169 on 05/16/2026
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Photo submitted by u950416169 on 05/16/2026
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Photo submitted by u950416169 on 05/16/2026
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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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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
Golfer Reviews
Poor conditions
The greens were horrible!! I get that it’s Feb but wow, every putt bounced thru the fungus or as my buddy called pieces of broccoli on most parts of the greens. Greens need LOTS of work. Fairway not too bad. Will not play there again til possibly Spring.
Thank you for the nice review. We hope you will come visit us again soon!
Thank you very much for the nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. We hope you will visit us again soon and be sure to check out the other Big Cats courses as well.
Thank you for the nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. We really appreciate it and we hope you will visit The Big Cats courses again soon!
Not good
One of the best layouts I have ever played but course conditions are not good. Staff friendly.
Thank you for taking the time to review your recent visit to Lion's Paw. We appreciate the Excellent rating for our course layout and staff friendliness! Regarding the classification of Fair for course conditions, we apologize we fell short of your expectations on this visit. January is not the ideal time to play bermuda grass courses in our region and we had two consecutive weekends of brutal icy conditions, including on the day prior to your visit, which can further contribute to less than ideal conditions in the immediate aftermath. That is why the cost to play is much lower this time of year than in the warmer seasons. Overall conditions will improve rapidly as we move into the early spring and the bermuda courses will be in excellent condition as the warmer weather allows. We hope you will come back and visit us again.
Thank you very much for the nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. We truly appreciate it and we hope you will come check out the other Big Cats courses as well!
Thank you very much for the great Five Star review of Lion's Paw! We are so excited for 2022 and beyond! Be sure to come check out the other Big Cats courses as well.
Lions Paw Shoutout
My first time on Lions Paw will not be my last. Interesting layout. Course in good shape. Friendly staff.
Shout out to Rick and Rick Jr whom I was paired with. Great guys and made for a terrific day.
There is some over seeding going on but in general, the course is in good shape. They have several sets of tees which helps for all skill levels.
Thank you very much for the nice Four Star review of Lion's Paw. We are so happy to hear you enjoyed your visit and we look forward to seeing you again soon! If you get the chance, be sure to check out the other three Big Cats courses. All of them are moving in a very positive direction and we are excited about the coming year and beyond!
Great pace of play
Mid morning tee time on a holiday and the course was crowded. Got paired up with a very nice guy. Sent off the back 9. Finished round right at 4 hours. Course in good condition. They overseeded for winter, greens ran true., traps could use some attention, of course I could avoid them if I was more accurate with my approach shots.
Thank you for the very nice four star review of Lion's Paw. We have been working very hard on all of the Big Cats courses and it is so great to see all of the positive feedback! Be sure to try the other three Big Cats when you get a chance. Thanks again!
Thank you for taking the time to review your recent visit to Lion's Paw. We appreciate the nice four star review and we we hope you will come visit us again soon.
Great course for the money!
Course condition has improved greatly since playing here a year ago.
Greens were a little slow but in great shape.
All I dreamed…..
Been awaiting my chance to play this for years and iit was great.
Thank you so much for the nice Five Star review! We agree, Lion's Paw, the original Big Cats course, is still one of the favorite layouts of many longtime golfers. We hope you will come visit us again soon and check out the other Big Cats!
Keep it in the fairway
Course is in good shape considering the storm that came through a few weeks ago. Greens roll true , but are a little spongy (soft) feeling. Ruff is just that! Ball sets down and hard to find if your off track. Very friendly staff !! Cart paths are in very bad shape so stay up the side of the fairways. Will play here again
Thank you very much for the great Five Star review of Lion's Paw. We truly appreciate it! We have been working diligently to continue to improve all of the Big Cats course and we are glad to hear all the hard work is paying off! We also had planned to address the cart path issues last year, but the pandemic-related difficulties have caused this project to be delayed. We expect to resume that restoration process very soon. We hope you will return soon and see our continued progress.
The course is in fairly good shape
Course was well worth 37 dollars on golf pass hot deals
Thank you for the nice Four Star Review of Lion's Paw. We are working hard daily to continue to improve all of the Big Cats courses and we are excited about the reminder of 2021 and beyond! Please come visit us again soon and see our continued progress!
Humrickhouse Review
Course in less than average condition. Greens recently aerated & terribly slow, to the point of being almost unplayable. They were not mowed. Obviously not enough invested into course maintenance, & maybe not enough money to put into the course.
Thank you for taking the time to review your recent round on Lion's Paw. We sincerely apologize we were not able to meet your expectations on this visit. I know we had a very heavy rain shower on the day you played, and another shower the day before, which likely contributed to the slower than usual greens speed. In general, Lion's Paw has received solid reviews in recent months, with the greens particularly being noted for being in good condition. Again, we apologize this was not the case on the day you played. Despite the many pandemic related challenges we are all facing, we are working diligently on all four of The Big Cats courses and they are all progressing nicely. We hope you will come visit us again and see our continued progress.
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 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.
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!
Thank you for taking the time to review your visit to Lion's Paw. We greatly appreciate your patronage! The remnants of Poa Annua that you referenced have been aggressively treated and will now dissipate quickly. This condition should be rapidly improving as we move forward and should not be an issue for spring golfers. We hope you will come visit us again.