The beautiful layout of Dancing Rabbit GC in Philadelphia, Miss.
Dancing Rabbit GC is a perfect example of the Magnolia Golf Trail’s unique beauty
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here are you when just to the west is Louisville, to the north is Lexington, to the south is Decatur and due east is Philadelphia? You are, naturally, in the middle of Mississippi and, not so long ago, the middle of nowhere. But today you can tee it up right there at what many regard as the best golf destination in the state — Dancing Rabbit Golf Club, situated in a rural area on the once-impoverished Choctaw Nation reservation, but transformed in recent years by the successful development of the Choctaw Nation’s casino hotels — the Silver Star and Golden Moon, which draw thousands annually from all over the country, especially the Southeast, for gaming and golf. There are two elite 18-hole courses at Dancing Rabbit — The Azaleas and The Oaks, which serve as nationally acclaimed amenities of the hotels. “These are the flagship courses in the state,” says Mark Powell who oversees the 750acre property that runs through primitive pines and hardwoods and traverses dozens of small lakes and native streams. Little more than 25 years ago, this remote area was far removed from a tourist/golf haven. Poverty, unemployment and despair gripped the tribe until Phillip Martin, elected the tribal chief in 1979, and brought changes for his people. Chief Martin lured various manufacturers to the area along with the casinos and subsequent supportive facilities, part of what is now the Pearl River Resort. More than 7,000 people found employment and wages soared beyond $200 million annually. 8 D ESTI N ATI ON G OL FE R
BY BOB SHERWIN
“When the casinos were built, there were literally lines to play a machine, lines to get into the building,” says Powell. “But the Chief had the foresight to realize the area still needed an identity to attract more people. He wanted to build a great golf course and wanted the best designer in the country to build it.” Tom Fazio, architect of more than 200 courses, many among the most decorated in the land, and Jerry Pate, a native son of the South and the 1975 U.S. Open champion, were hired for the job. The Azaleas course was completed in July 1997 and the Oaks in June 1999. Like the casinos, the courses enjoyed immediate success and drew praise from golf periodicals, proclaiming them the best in the state and among the 100 best public courses in the country. “Tom Fazio created 36 beautiful golf holes, but the two courses could not be more different,” says Powell. “The Azaleas has been compared to Augusta (National). It’s not Augusta but it has a feel of it with the hills, the natural creeks, and flowers. The Oaks is more open with rock formations, rock walls, and water hazards. And you have a downhill shot for virtually the entire course.” Perhaps the most intriguing hole on Azaleas is the closer, a 500-yard par-4. You need a solid tee shot up a hill to have a chance at the green in two. Then you hit a downhill approach to a narrow green opening, with a pond right front, bunkers left and a green hill around it. “The 18th green is 50 steps deep,” says Powell. “We change the hole position every day, so it might be a 7-iron to the front one day and a fairway-metal to the back the next.”
No. 13, a 206-yard par-3, is perhaps the Azaleas’s most scenic hole. A long, straight shot is required as you shoot through a narrow gap in the trees toward a green guarded by a left-side creek that turns across the front. There are also two bunkers right willing to accept any shot with the slightest wrinkle. The most talked about hole on the property, though, might be Oaks No. 12. The No. 1 handicap hole is a 444-yard, par-4 with a slight dogleg left off the tee then a slight dogleg right approach to a green protected by three large bunkers on the right and a formidable slope. The two casinos have more than 1,000 combined rooms, but the best place to stay is one of the eight suites above the clubhouse. “A lot of people say it’s one of the best stays in golf,” says Powell. “In the morning you just walk down the stairs to the pro shop.” Dancing Rabbit has a ‘golf marketing partnership’ with various Mississippi courses but is not officially part of the State’s acclaimed Magnolia Golf Trail. There is one other Tom Fazio-designed course in the state — Fallen Oak in DeSoto National Forest, near Saucier. Not surprisingly, it features ribbons of green cutting through tall forests with dramatic elevation changes. There are five par-5s, including the 600-yard 15th hole, and the course is an amenity of the Beau Rivage Resort in Biloxi. Fallen Oak is about a three-hour drive from Dancing Rabbit to complete a mini-Fazio Trail. It’s a route that takes you past Buzzards Roost, Buckatunna and Whynot, through the wistful nowhere of southern Mississippi.
