Biloxi Greens

DANCING RABBIT

A dawn start was required to make our way to the Pearl River Resort and an early tee-time at the award-winning Dancing Rabbit Golf Club. Featuring two championship courses designed by Tom Fazio and Jerry Pate, this 700-acre canvas is a feast for the eyes. With over five miles of ever-present spring-fed streams and stunning floral displays, this resort has been called “The Augusta You Can Play” and it’s easy to see why. Five tees on every hole make this accessible to all standards while presenting a stern challenge from the tips. The Oaks and Azelea courses also offer differing challenges with different grasses being used on greens and fairways on each course.

After a warm welcome from Director of Golf Mark Powell, we played the Oaks Course in perfect morning conditions. Featuring pristine Zoysia fairways and slower, grainier Bermuda greens, this is perhaps the best course for the mid-level players. With uphill approaches a common theme, holding greens are a positive. Make sure you take advantage of the superb practice facilities before heading out, especially the bunkers. The bunker sand here is exceptionally soft and can take a little getting used to.

With so much beauty and tranquility around it’s hard to pick a standout hole, but the par 3’s stick in the memory most. From the tips, the 190yd 5th hole is downhill to a green sloping away with water beyond and the natural temptation is to leave it short… and be left with a chip to a downhill green with water beyond! The 220yd 11th, with water in front, is a stern test, calling for a draw but with endless trouble on the left, and the 177yd 17th slopes sharply from left to right over a creek in front and offers no bailout. Just go for it!

The Azelea course is the older of the two, just as spectacularly beautiful but perhaps edges the Oaks on the difficulty front. With grain free bent-grass greens this is perhaps where the Augusta comparisons come from in terms of speed and difficulty. Where the Oaks offered several putting routes to the hole, the Azeleas calls far more for a precise read and the need to find the right part of the green with the approach.