Lions Paw

Good news about course maint being done at LP. 
 
Thanks!

Thanks for the report. Nice to hear conditions seem to finally merit a return to the Cats

Thanks to take time to write a report on Lions Paw. Weather appears to be a factor to take in consideration on the courses. Choosing the right golf clubs is important for the scorecard. Hoping you warmer days for your next rounds of golf.

Thanks for the report.  Sure hope, and I bet the homeowners up there do too, that the Cats are working to restore their courses to the good conditions they once were.  

Posted by: @leftygar1

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Played here on the 15th, first cool day as temps hit a high of 61* but a 20+ MPH north wind kept it cool and club selection was difficult.  They had us play CPO but we found no wet areas on the course other then a few traps.  Over all it was a pleasant surprise as the course was in decent shape as compared to a few years ago, money looks to be being spent to fix the course up.  Some tee blocks on the Par 3's were in need of some work, bareish spots on 3 of them but you could find a spot to tee it up.  First 2 greens holes 1 and 2 had what I would call charcoal pressed into them in a few areas to get them into the condition they are looking for.  The rest of the greens were good and ran at a good speed.  Fairways as well were over seeded and ball sat up, some rough areas which were growing in gave you a poor lie, not crazy bad though.  Sand traps were being worked on as the previous day we had an inch and half of rain.  One thing the course does need to address is to paint the red, white and blue lines back onto the cart paths, plus add the poles of the same color on the fairways to give the golfer an idea of how far you have to go to the green, not everyone has a yardage finding with them. If you play Lions Paw in the future bring your "A" game, it is a good test of golf and IMO a good replay after playing Leopards Chase.  Panther's Run was booked up and Tigers Eye looked to be fairly empty, hope t get back to play all the Cat Courses.

All 4 courses at Ocean Ridge Plantation turned the corner in 2023. I've been sending them a ton of rounds because their conditions improved and they didn't go "RATE CRAZY" like others (Crow Creek $175, last weekend on April, baaahahhaaa). I've literally had 2-3 compliants in the last year there with over 1500 rounds played.
Tigers Eye and Leopards Chase are the 2 best values for Mid level courses on the beach. Other mid levels like Oyster Bay, Rivers Edge, Crow Creek, The Pearl, Long Bay, Myrtlewood, Wild Wing, Prestwick, River Hills, etc ... they're all more expensive than those 2 and they're very comparable. 

Now a days everyone has a cell phone with GPS, so yes the on course yardage indicators are suffering and becoming less and less important to the courses. 

@bnlongdriver

Great to have this information concerning the courses at Ocean Ridge Plantation. I agree, a rate of 175$ for Crow Creek is crazy. Hoping it is not a new trend. Myrtle Beach has been recognised as an affordable golf destination until now. Is it beginning to change? I hope not.

That definitely wasn't my experience in the summer -- Leopard's Chase was okay (especially compared to previous years), but in much, much worse shape than courses like Rivers Edge and The Pearl.

I think I only paid $45-50 to play, so it was okay, but the rack rate was like $80-90 and I would have been really unhappy paying that price for the mediocre conditions.

Maybe they're doing a good job with the overseed but still struggling with the underlying bermuda.

@uncgolf I get the Passport rates and I felt the price for what we got course and condition wise was good.  Played there 2 years ago and grass was non existent on the fairways, playing Tigers Eye this Friday to see their condition.

@leftygar1 Yeah, I have the Passport too which is what made it palatable -- except that I could have played the Pearl for the same price or maybe less, and it was in much better condition.

This was in late June. The fairways at Leopard's Chase were okay, but they had patches where the grass was 1+ inches long, and other places where there was little grass at all. The greens were patchy too, with a few that were pretty bad, although they had at least cut the pins away from the large areas that didn't have much grass on those greens.

It was still a huge improvement from where the courses were a few years ago -- I wouldn't have played them for free back then -- but it still didn't really feel worth even the $40-50 price tag, mainly because I could play other courses in better shape for the same price.

The only really nice thing was that the course was completely empty. We played a little after 10 and didn't see a single other player on the course; the parking lot only had 5 or 6 cars in it.

I assume they're just not really spending much money during the summer and focusing on getting the overseed etc. perfect for the big package seasons.

@uncgolf The day we played the parking lot for Panthers Run and Lions Paw was packed, maybe 12 cars at Tigers Eye at 930 our tee off time, double that when we finished.  our POP was 4 hours with CPO, guys behind us never pushed us once.  Two years ago not sure if I would have played for free either, it was a nice surprise to see what I saw when we played.   Passport just reduced their rate by 10 bucks for all their courses, hopefully Friday's weather will be decent as we tee off at 10 on Tigers Eye.

I played LC in Oct with JW11.  We were very happy with the conditions.   
The clubhouse is still a trailer, OK with a foursome, but not so good if you 
have a group of 20 who likes eating in the clubhouse after play.   
I also saw TE empty.   
 
It's odd that they bring LP + PR back, but it appears not TE, which most
would vote as their favorite Big Cat.   
 
Brian's booking should give us confidence.   I wonder if Big Cats mainly 
doesn't do well at maintaining conditions when the weather gets difficult
to grow grass?   
 
Looking at spring, I saw the $175 weekend rate at Crow Creek. 
That might be the most overpriced in MB per value/design and this early
in the booking window.             

@artmbgolf we play Tigers Eye on Friday, will post what I see afterwards.  $175 for Crow Creek is  Bit much I feel, but with the Dynamic pricing they have now who really knows what will happen with green fees, time will tell I guess.

My guess is the Ocean Ridge courses are good with overseed and not so good without, which is why the conditions weren't great in the summer. Hopefully they're still working on that too, though.

And $175 for Crow Creek is crazy. There are several better options right around it in Brunswick County.

The Golf Package Business is March, April, May June, Sept, Oct and Nov.. In the past, you'll find that 75% of the revenue for golf beach wide are in those months so the courses work hard to get, and keep, the courses in good shape for those time frames. In Late June the courses transition from overseed to bermuda and no one is in good shape during that process. ((That's why the prices are low in the Summer.)) The bermuda kicks back in for 3-4 months and when it's basically perfect, they aerify it, spray it out and overseed it again. So yes every course goes through it's rough patches in the summer. No one is immune from transition, even The famed Dunes Club. From the golf package side, ORP has kept the courses in the kind of shape they need to in order to please the Golf Package Golfer in those peak rates months. 

As a Passport Discount Card Holder, the rates are tremendously less expensive as that card exists simply to fill unused tee times that the golf packagers and courses couldn't sell themselves. Not all courses particiapte in the Passport program. The card holder can only book 3 days prior, so that allow stheocurses the flexibility to offer a special via The Passport or not. If the course isn't busy that week will enter a Passport Special, if they're busy then they will not offer a Passport special. 

Yes, 100 out of 100 catagorically agree that those courses were in bad shape for a few years - they know it, we know it and the world knows it but they're fine now after the reinvestment of Resources and Staff they are tremendously better. ((Just like Oyster Bay, they have been terrible, but over the last year or so - no real complaints!)) I get that some of you have played there when it was in less than desirable condition, and you're holding a gridge or holding onto a bad memory. We're not seeing those poor conditions anymore so let's try to put it behind us and look to the future instead of the rear view mirror.

Ohh hey, I also heard the Glen Dornoch rumor over the weekend, it's in great shape, overseeded greens were faaaast and it; snot going anywhere anytime soon!!