Kauai Golf: The People’s Pebble Beach

Kauai provides a mix of affordable ocean-front muni’s, daily-fee wonders and resort courses

Story and Photos By Jim Bebbington

 

The problem with playing golf on the Hawaiian island of Kauai is the waterfalls.

As the western-most public island in the Hawaiian chain, Kauai’s lush landscape, beautiful beaches, and relatively pristine mountainsides are always within view.

 

The problem with playing golf on the Hawaiian island of Kauai is the waterfalls.

As the western-most public island in the Hawaiian chain, Kauai’s lush landscape, beautiful beaches and relatively pristine mountainsides are all in sight wherever a visitor may go.

So it is not unusual to be playing a golf course  in the shadow of a nearby mountain and having gorgeous waterfalls cascading down the tropical, green slopes. Some waterfalls pop up just when it rains up high; some are always there.

As local hazards go, there are worse.

More: Kauai Off the Course – Where to stay and best beaches

Because Kauai is a little more out of the way than its neighbors Maui, Oahu or the island of Hawaii, it is blessed with a sense that it is your little secret. Even among some of the denser resort developments, it is very easy to feel secluded, secure, and to still have easy access to fantastic golf.

But it packs a lot of good golf in a very small area – just on the eastern side of the island. Here are some courses worth your time:

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The Ocean Course at Hokuala

Alongside the Lihue Airport – which has direct flights from Denver via Southwest and United – sits the Ocean Course. A resort course for the surrounding Timbers Resort, the course is surprisingly close to downtown Lihue, but feels remote and quiet.

The Jack Nicklaus-designed course (like many Troon-managed courses the Ocean Course uses flexible pricing; 18-holes were $250 in April and $300 during the winter holidays.)

The Ocean Course was originally 27-holes but nine have been taken off-line and the remaining 18 renovated. The course starts inland for the front nine, then on the back nine wraps around the shoreline to the bay and finishes with beautiful views of the bay an downtown.

The course claims to have the longest stretch of oceanfront holes in Hawaii, from the 13^th green through the 16^th green. The holes are not shoreline-level but sit on a bluff about 40 feet above the water.

The coastline comes into play throughout this section, with some stunning forced carries required.

The perfect hole is No. 14, a shoreline par 3 to a challenging and undulating green. The view from the drop-zone to the green and beyond has been used for decades as the production logo at the beginning of movies created by Adam Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison Productions.

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Puakea Golf Course

This little bon mot of a course is surrounded by residential housing in Lihue for much of the track, but still finds a way to provide awesome mountainside experiences. At 6,471 yards from the blue tees and with only one hole more than 500 yards it offers a great opportunity to test your irons and skills around the green. Wind from the nearby ocean will also determine whether the course is playing long or not.

The front nine begins in the development but by No. 6, the courses signature hole, players are surrounded by lush forest. Six is 176 yards over a pond to a heavily protected green well below the tee box; choose at least one club less.

At around $150 a round the course is among the lowest priced on the island. The course also offers a package for players visiting locally for a week: $499 for one round a day for seven days.

Partly because of the price the course is very popular and busy. Conditions are still good with grass, tee and green conditions

If you are traveling with non-golfers, this course should remain on your itinerary if only for the food. The Puakea Grill, in the small clubhouse, is operated by a local restaurateur – Executive Chef Kristin Yanagawa – and is outstanding. It is not just better-than-most-golf-course good, it is a simple destination in its own right for delicious Hawaiian-influenced breakfast or lunch.

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Poipu Bay Golf Course

On the southeast tip of Kauai, about a 15-mile drive south of the airport, is Poipu Bay – the resort coast of the island and home to several hotels, condominium communities, excellent beaches and golf.

Poipu Bay Golf Club hosted the PGA Grand Slam of Golf for 12 years in the 90s and early 2000s, and remains a challenging, gorgeous course in top condition. Tiger Woods won seven of the eight Grand Slam’s he played in here.

The ocean views here define many of the holes and there are on-course ponds that play a larger role here than at many other island courses. The wide fairways and excellent conditions make this a good course to try to go low. It is 6,612 yards from the blue tees, but stretches to more than 7,100 yards from the back.

No. 9, the No. 1 handicap hole on the course, is a long par 4 to an elevate green and bunkers which bracket the typical landing zone.

The home stretch of No. 15, 16 and 17 run along the coastline with hikers common on the shoreline path which at times comes onto the course.

The finishing par-5 requires focus; players hit to a narrow green protected by water on the left and sand right and back.

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Princeville Makai Golf Club

On Kauai’s northern shore, just around the corner from Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg’s 2,000-acre ocean-front compound, sits Makai Golf Club and its companion hotel, the 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay.

This is waterfall central.

Across Hanalei Bay to the west, a string of hills and low mountains dip toward the ocean. High up waterfalls crash down at all times. But after heavy rains five or more new ones will sprout from the mountainside and stream all day. It is gorgeous.

Princeville Makai Golf Club ($270 to $300 a round in summer; more during the holiday season) is a stunning round of golf. Resort-quality (perfect grass, wide fairways, some bunkers that can give you real trouble) the course has several coastal holes where on windy days the sea foam rises 50 feet up the bluffs onto the tee boxes.

The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones II and he made use of some wonderful terrain. The front nine starts off with a standard, welcoming, kicking the rust off first two holes. Then No. 3, a 150-yard par 3, takes you into bowl in the land that creates an arena, with cliffside homes on both sides, Hanalei Bay in the back, and glory awaiting.

The next par 3, No. 7, has a tee box so beautiful they do yoga classes on it at dawn. The hole itself is a serious 213 yards over a ravine with the foamy Pacific below awaiting anything but a crisp tee shot.

The back nine makes a little more use of the inland neighborhood, but even here players will get another seaside tee shot or two. The final two holes – the par 4 17 and par 5 18 – are played around and over a series of churlish and insubordinate ponds that can absolutely ruin a good score.

The staff is very encouraging, and they offer sunset cart tours of the grounds with talks full of local lore and fascinating history, some of which is even true. The grounds here make for great stories – golf or otherwise.

 

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Wailua Municipal Golf Course

There is laid-back golf, and then there is Wailua Golf Course.

Besides being one of the least-expensive rounds of golf available for tourists anywhere on the islands ($80 to $100) this municipal golf course in Lihue is a chilled-out, barefoot-golf testament to the spirit of Kauai: Visit. Enjoy. Respect. Leave no trace.

Case in point: During a visit in December a bunch of pudgy, collared-shirted golf writers tumbled out of a rental van for a round. One of their escorts grew up on Oahu and was dressed in an ironed, stylish, untucked t-shirt patterned with surfer imagery.

Without a hint of irony, the starter thanked him for respecting the spirit of Wailua and dressing appropriately.

This is a course where they want you to relax.

And how could you not? The first two holes play along the Pacific shoreline, and beautiful waves and white-sand beaches are mere feet away the entire time. On the back the No. 17 green is so close to the water that if you’re playing even a little poorly you are tempted to chuck it all, strip naked, and walk into the surf. You would not be the first.

The course is genuinely entertaining. The front nine was built in 1961 and is a simple, mostly-flat set of holes and challenging greens. But then you make the turn and everything changes. The back nine was built first, in 1931, by golf architect Toyo Shirai. It starts out modestly but you are soon facing real terrain – highs and lows, tricky greens and long carries.

Nowhere is the rough more than a slight irritant, and some of the mountain views make it genuinely difficult to stay focused on the task at hand.

Wailua Municipal Golf Course reminds us that some of the best things in life can still be available to us all.

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Kauai may be smaller and quieter than its neighboring islands, but when it comes to golf, it delivers something special.

Between ocean cliffs, mountain views, and those ever-present waterfalls, it’s a place where even a bad round feels unforgettable.