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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 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
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!
Lion's Paw
It's too bad, the course layout is great. If someone would mow the lawn, this isn't brain surgery, this can be a very good course. Unfortunately the condition isn't good
Thank you fro taking the time to review your recent visit to Lion's Paw. We agree, the Lion's Paw layout is very nice. We apologize that we fell short of your expectations on the mowing height on the day you played. Overall reviews for Lion's Paw have been very good lately, so I'm not sure what happened on this particular date. Grass heights can vary for many reasons on any given day, but we strive to offer consistent conditions daily and we will take your feedback into consideration to try to improve our operation. We hope you will come again in the future to see our continued progress. Thanks again.
Meh
not a great layout. fairways needed a mow but rough was out of control. you could miss a fairway by inches and lose your ball. ditto around the greens. I realize there are consequences to a less than perfect shots but the bermuda grass was way to thick and LONG to prevent way too much time searching and in many cases losing a ball that didnt deserve to be lost. Regarding the layout, many might like it. I found it pretty dull. fyi, pace of play was good because no one else out there. kind of sad.
Thank you for taking the time to review your recent visit to Lion's Paw. This legendary and original Big Cat course went through a tough stretch at the end of summer and early fall, but we have worked diligently to return it to form and the results are certainly evident to those playing recently. The rough is actually much improved from even a few weeks ago and we have a comprehensive plan that will keep the roughs and the entire course in excellent condition as we move through the remainder of 2020 and beyond. We hope you will visit us again soon and see the results for yourself! Thanks again.
Beautiful Course
The course was in great shape, especially the greens. Staff was very friendly.
Thank you very much! Yes, we have worked diligently to make sure this wonderful and original Big Cat course is in great shape for future guests and we are so proud of the recent results! We hope you will come again very soon.
Stay away from this one
Unfortunately, the owner of this course does not care about it. This whole year has shown that a great course like Lions Paw - and its sister courses (Panther's Run, Tiger's Eye, Leaopards Chase) have been in lousy condition for years. The owner is not putting the resources into the facility and simple things like food and beverage and course conditions have suffered. He needs to sell these before they get to a point where they cannot come back.
We are very sorry you feel that way. In reading your review, I'm not sure if you have actually played the courses lately, but all of the Big Cats are much improved this fall and that includes Lion's Paw, as evidenced by the more recent reviews on this site and others. This has been a most challenging year for businesses in our nation and golf in particular has been hard hit. Despite the tremendous loss of revenue from cancelled golf trips and government mandated stay at home orders, we have persevered and have kept our employees working so they can provide for their families, while taking great strides in making necessary improvements to the courses. The hiring of two new highly experienced greens superintendents and the aid of various consultants have helped us make tremendous improvements that will allow us to offer our guests an enjoyable and memorable golf experience for many years to come. We would love to have you come back out and see the improvements for yourself. Please contact me anytime to discuss this situation further. Just ask for Bill Long and I will be happy to work with you to show you our recent progress. I look forward to hearing from you.
Lions Paw
conditions at Lions Paw have improved dramatically lately... the winter rye has grown in beautifully and the greens are in very good condition...
Thank you very much for taking the time to review your recent visit to Lion's Paw. We truly appreciate your feedback. We agree, conditions are much improved and we are dedicated to making that trend continue as we move beyond the challenges of the difficult summer we faced in 2020. We hope you will come back again and see our continued progress. Thanks again!
Thank you for the review. Conditions at all The Big Cats courses are improving dramatically and we are excited about the remainder of 2020 and beyond.
Lion's Paw
It's too bad they don't take care of the course, it's such great layout, but just in D+ shape, maybe a C-
We apologize for the conditions you described above and want you to know we take your feedback seriously. We have hired a new Director of Agronomy and a new head greens superintendent and they have a plan that will greatly improve overall conditions on all of The Big Cats courses. Progress is already evident in just a few weeks and will continue through the remainder of 2020 and beyond. We hope you will come check out the improved Big Cats again soon.
Course was in horrible shape
This course was in horrible shape. The grass on the tee boxes was higher than my ball. Fairways and rough also needed to be mowed. If you missed a fairway you can’t find your ball. We lost several balls in the first cut.
For $65 dollars it is over priced. I could have plaid courses back home in much better shape of a third of the cost.
Do not play this course!
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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.