Dancing Rabbit Golf Club
Location » Philadelphia, Miss.
Phone » 888-372-2248
Rates » Weekday $110-135; Friday-Sunday $135-150
Par/Yardage/Rating/Slope
The Azaleas: 72/7,128/74.4/135
The Oaks: 72/7,076/74.6/139
Web » www.dancingrabbitgolf.com
Description » Dancing Rabbit at the Pearl River Resort includes the 13-year-old Azaleas course and the 11-year-old Oaks, which offer different challenges on rolling, wooded land, crisscrossed by spring-fed streams and wetlands. Built on sacred Choctaw Indians land, the courses are the centerpiece of a resort where gambling is the main attraction. This is an inexpensive option to Las Vegas and Atlantic City.
Reasons to play » Convenience, southern hospitality and 36 holes of world-class golf just a five-minute walk from the Golden Moon and Silver Star hotel/casinos. Dancing Rabbit is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 100 courses, was named the best new upscale public by Golf Digest in 2002 and hosted a Hooters Tour event for four years.
Different strokes » The manicured and ornately landscaped Azaleas is a postcard-perfect southern classic, appearing mature beyond its years. Much less care has been taken in grooming the Oaks, which sustained significant damage from Hurricane Katrina (1,000 trees lost) and will be renovated this summer. While not as pleasing to the eye and appearing younger than its 11 years, the airy Oaks is still a strong complement to the claustrophobic Azaleas; it features more undulation and elevation change and requires more strategy.
Stay and play » What sets Dancing Rabbit apart are the eight luxurious guest rooms in the clubhouse. This is a unique opportunity to roll out of bed, walk downstairs for breakfast and head out the front door to your golf cart. Players can relax outside their rooms on a balcony that wraps around the top floor of the clubhouse. Golf carts (with headlights) remain available in the evening for the short ride to the casinos, restaurants and nightspots.
Grand designs » Noted course architect Tom Fazio and former U.S. Open champion Jerry Pate collaborated on Dancing Rabbit. Pate took to the craft immediately, also building Kiva Dunes and Limestone Springs — Alabama courses that rank among the nation’s top 100 publics, according to Golf Digest.
Signature hole » No. 9 (Azaleas), Par 4, 439 Yards
Framed in tall trees, bisected by streams, adorned with azaleas and backed by a waterfall, No. 9 evokes Augusta more than any other at Dancing Rabbit. It requires two careful shots. Trees on the right and the stream on the left pinch the fairway. The narrow, deep green is tightly guarded as well. The hole is even more dramatic when viewed from the clubhouse balcony.
Best hole » No. 3 (Azaleas), Par 4, 453 Yards
From the elevated tee, players have a choice as they consider the split-level fairway. Playing the direct route — to the lower half of the fairway — cuts yardage but requires an approach over an environmental area and two sprawling bunkers. Players who make it to the tougher-to-reach upper half of the fairway will be rewarded with a significantly easier shot — even a bump and run is possible — to the diagonal green.
Toughest hole » No. 18 (Azaleas), Par 4, 475 Yards
The longest par 4 at Dancing Rabbit features a long approach to a green guarded on the right by water and on the left by a bunker. With severe contours, the green is tough but fair. All the greens, especially at the Azaleas, are slick, smooth and true.
Best of the Oaks » No. 5, Par 3, 190 Yards
The hole plays downhill to a green that slopes front to back, toward a pond and with the Golden Moon Hotel & Casino looming in the distance above towering pines and oaks. A huge white sphere at the top of the Golden Moon resembles a golf ball.
Name game » The course was named for the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, an agreement between the Choctaw and U.S. government to seize 11 million acres of land in Mississippi and provide 15 million for the displaced in Oklahoma.
