Lion's Paw Golf Links
351 Ocean Ridge Parkway SW, Ocean Isle Beach, NC 28469Lion's Paw Golf Links
- Par 72
- Slope 138
Lions Paw, awarded 4 STARS in Golf Digest’s “Places To Play” has been described as the eminent Willard Byrd’s finest work. Wild and untamed, rustic and quiet, this magnificent course presents a lion’s share of adventure and challenge accompanied by nature’s best scenery. The finishing hole plays open from the tee and then flows through the trees to the green.Golf Digest also declared Lion’s Paw “The best in the Myrtle Beach area.”
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Ocean Ridge Plantation is home to Myrtle Beach’s four Big Cats, and the success of Lion’s Paw Golf Links made it all possible.
A co-creation by Willard Byrd and Tim Cate, Lion’s Paw doesn’t receive the acclaim of its younger siblings, Tiger’s Eye and Leopard’s Chase in particular, but this Cat still roars. The course was the first to open at Ocean Ridge and still provides plenty of challenge and fun.
A 4-star layout, according to Golf Digest, Lion’s Paw rewards players who are on top their game. The layout is fairly long at 6,457 yards from the white tees and demands precision with the driver as native pine forests, swampland, and environmentally sensitive areas can swallow errant shots.
A good rule of thumb when putting together a game plan at Lion’s Paw is to take advantage of the par 5s, attack the par 4s in the right spots, and hope for the best on the one Grand Strand’s most challenging collections of par 3s.
How tough are the par 3s? Three of the four play at least 175 yards from the white tees and require a carry over water. The 17th hole “only” plays 154 but it’s into a peninsula green.
Twenty-four years after its opening, Lion’s Paw Golf is still worth the trip to play.