Golf course review | Greens at Lion’s Paw set the standard

OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. -- As course operators on the Grand Strand continue to change to ultradwarf Bermudagrass greens, they can look to Lion’s Paw Golf Links as an example of what’s possible.

The course’s 20-year-old bentgrass greens were changed to Mini-Verde Bermuda this summer, adding immaculate putting surfaces to what was already a solid and perennially well-conditioned layout.

“The greens are some of the best that I have seen in this area in quite some time,” said Justin Riker of Wilmington, N.C., a student at the Golf Academy of America and club salesman at Martin’s PGA Tour Superstore who took part in a review of the course in late November. “I’m glad they redid the surfaces. It makes the course that much better.”

Joining me and Justin, a 1 handicap, in the review foursome were Ed Macheski of North Myrtle Beach, a retired Wall Street portfolio manager with an 18 handicap, and Tom Middleton of North Myrtle Beach, a realtor and retired Army Lt. Col. with a 13 handicap.

Lion’s Paw is a 7,003-yard 1991 Willard Byrd and Tim Cate design and one of four courses at Ocean Ridge Plantation.

Its most difficult holes are long and challenging par-3s with forced carries. The course also has several doglegs – both left and right of differing degrees – and every hole is set apart on its own amongst trees, lakes and quality homes.

“Every hole is different. It’s not repetitious,” Ed said. “It’s not holes that go back and forth. We’re going in a circle, which is nice. I really like the way they go in between all the houses. It has a resort feel yet it has a homey feel. I think it’s a solid layout.”

The course has either oyster shells or bulkheads lining the banks of many water hazards, numerous palm trees that have been added to the property and several pruned flower beds and other areas of vegetation. “The homes are very attractive, yet they’re not right on top of the holes,” Ed said.

The new greens were speedy, all were protected by at least one bunker, and most had significant slopes or breaks. “I thought the breaks were fair and made the greens challenging,” Ed said. “You had to use some imagination and judgment for speed and break.”

The course has four tee boxes and challenging length from each, measuring 6,457 yards from the white tees, 5,872 from the gold and 5,363 from the red, with just one par-4 less than 300 yards for women.

“The course architect tried to design the course to be fair and challenging for the A player, B player and senior player, and I think he achieved that,” Ed said. “He made it playable and challenging.”

Likes

Tom appreciated the friendliness and helpfulness of the bag drop attendants and food and beverage workers.

The entire group was impressed by the greens. “They’re like pool tables,” Ed said. “If you hit it online it doesn’t bounce offline at all. All 18 were excellent.”

Ed valued the property’s condition, service, facilities and setting. “The entryway is very nice,” Ed said. “It shows you’re entering a high class operation.” He also sampled the chicken and mushroom soup from Tamers Restaurant and was impressed.

Dislikes

Tom found a couple of areas around greens that were thin on grass, including near the 15th green.

Ed thought the amount of water on the back nine was disproportionate to a front nine that had only a few water hazards. “This is a visually intimidating golf course, especially on the back nine with all the water hazards,” Ed said.

Justin recognized that the tar cart paths need to be redone, and would have liked more than one par-3 to be less than 200 yards.

Par-3s

Only the 185-yard 17th hole measures less than 200 yards from the back tees, though only the 11th is more than 136 yards from the gold tee at 172 yards.

“The par-3s were a good mixture of long and short yardage from the gold,” Ed said. “There was an even mix of long, medium and short.”

The 204-yard third hole measures 178 from the white and features a full carry over a water hazard that is lined with oyster shells. A green protected by four bunkers to the right and back slopes to the front. The 228-yard sixth hole measures 175 from the white and requires a carry over a bulkheaded water hazard backed by three bunkers that front the green.

The 202-yard 11th is 188 from the white and has bunkers front, back, right and left of a deep but narrow green with a mild mound in the middle of the right side. The 185-yard 17th measures 154 from the white and features an oyster-shell surrounded peninsula green with water to all but its front, and a deep bunker front-left of a fairly flat green.

“I loved the par-3s,” Justin said. “I wish more courses had forced carries for their par-3s.”

Par-4s

Par-4s measure as long as 445 yards, and three are less than 390. “The par-4s all seemed well designed,” Ed said.

The 417-yard first hole is a sharp dogleg left around a few palm trees, and a drive of about 260 from the tips and 240 from the white tee is required to make the turn. “The key is getting it to the corner, especially from the back tee,” Justin said. “Otherwise it’s a fairly open hole to get you off on the right foot.”

The 428-yard fourth hole is a slight dogleg right with trees crowding the fairway on the left and water on the right beginning about 190 yards from the green. “The trees force you to hit toward the water so you have to decide if you want to hit driver or a 3-wood so you stop short of it,” Justin said.

The 415-yard fifth hole is a sharp dogleg right turning around a long bunker, mounding and trees, and the 402-yard seventh hole is slightly downhill from the tee and turns mildly right around palms.

The 383-yard 12th has a waterfall near the tee box, water down the left side of the hole and three bunkers and out of bounds on the right. The green slopes to the front and left. The 418-yard 14th turns to the left around a water hazard that juts in and out toward the fairway. The 445-yard 15th turns left and the 384-yard 16th turns right around water and a long bunker.

“A lot of thought has to be put into your tee shots because if you’re not careful you could be blocked out by trees or in a fairway bunker,” Justin said. “It makes you think about how to play each shot. You just can’t step up and hit the ball wherever.”

Par-5s

Though the par-5s are at least 517 yards from the back tees, only the 506-yard 18th is more than 500 yards from the white tees. “With a good drive the par-5s are very fair,” Tom said.

The 517-yard second hole turns slightly left through trees, and wetlands are present down the right side through the green following the drive. The 520-yard eighth hole doglegs right around three bunkers, a series of three bunkers on the left and one on the right affect the second shot, and the green slopes to the front from a back-left plateau. “The par-5s are generally tight and well-trapped,” Ed said.

The 527-yard 13th hole has water and a pair of bunkers to the right off the tee, and the water narrows and crosses the fairway for the second shot about 130 yards from a deep green. The putting surface slopes mildly to the front and has a long bunker to its right and four small bunkers to its left.

The 542-yard 18th has a pair of ponds to its right that pinch the fairway 180 and 70 yards from a green that slopes mildly to the front, and three bunkers protect the left side of the fairway and green. A right-side bunker must be avoided off the tee.

“From the back tees you have to stay away from the bunkers that are put right in the landing zone for the better players,” Justin said.

Favorite holes

Tom’s favorite hole was the 386-yard par-4 ninth, which measured 336 from the gold tee. It doglegs left around a trio of bunkers, has another bunker to the back right of the fairway that acts as a target, and three bunkers around a green that is wide in the front and narrow and plateaued in the back. “It’s open with an easy second shot to the green with a good drive,” Tom said.

Ed’s favorite hole was the picturesque par-3 third hole, which measured 123 yards from the gold tee. “It’s your first encounter with the oyster shells on the course, which makes it attractive,” said Ed, who birdied the hole. “The green presented a challenge with the slope and curve on it. It’s a well-designed hole and from the senior tee it’s very fair.”

Justin was also partial to the third. “This is my favorite hole of [Ocean Ridge’s] four courses because of the oyster shells that line the water line,” Justin said, “and there’s no room to miss other than left and long, and even then you’re dead because you got the water over the green coming back.”

Least favorite holes

Tom’s least favorite hole was the par-5 13th, which measured 431 yards from the gold, “because of the water,” he said. “Most of the water was not in play for me from the gold tee, but it came into play on that hole.”

Ed’s least favorite hole was the 400-yard par-4 10th, which featured a creek down the right side that cut across the fairway about 90 yards from the green and continued past the left side of a wide but shallow green protected by three bunkers. A pond backed the creek on the tee shot, separated only by a narrow peninsula.

“It’s a tight drive left to avoid the water, then it swung around again,” Ed said. “I thought 10 wasn’t as fair a hole as some of the others. It limited your options.”

The green on the par-3 11th made it Justin’s least favorite hole. “I feel as though the green is unfair to the average player because it’s so severely sloped back to the water on the left,” he said.