Playing Around the Golf Isles: Hawaii
by Karen Misuraca
As each of the Hawaiian islands is entirely unique, so are the more than 90 golf courses in the island chain. Fairways are carved out of fearsome black lava fields on the "Big Island" of Hawaii, while tropical jungle is the backdrop on Kauai. Golf courses are laid like soft, green blankets on the steep slopes of Maui's dormant volcano, and the roar of crashing surf fills the ears of golfers on Oahu.
The top names in course design have made their mark out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, from Arnold Palmer to Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and Jr. and Tom Fazio, among others. Year round temperatures in the 80s make the chill of winter a distant memory when the PGA TOUR, the Champions Tour and the LPGA play seven annual professional tournaments during the "Aloha Season" of January and February.
Prince Golf Course, Princeville at Hanalei, Kauai
The north shore of the Garden Isle of Kauai is a misty mountain wilderness where rainbow-crowned waterfalls drop from sheer cliffs into the sea. Floating on high plateaus between jagged peaks and Hanalai Bay, the Prince Golf Course is criss-crossed with streams and falls, deep ravines and dense vegetation--7,309 yards of roller-coaster target-style golf. Five sets of tees, with up to nine additional tee boxes on some holes, give every golfer a chance; although, players must have handicaps of five or less to play from the "black" or tournament tees. Dramatic elevation changes and wildly undulating fairways are the order of the day. The Prince is not far from Mount Waialeale, said to be the wettest spot on earth. When rain showers come and go, golfers hop in and out of the shelters placed around the course.
Plantation Course, Kapalua Resort, Maui
The PGA Tour's season opener, the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championship is played on the Plantation Course, a Coore/Crenshaw-designed layout that careens around canyons and gorges in the foothills of the West Maui Mountains. Fairways are extra-wide to counteract the unpredictable, often gusty winds. The 203-yard 8th hole asks for a carry across a ravine to a forward-sloping green protected by a deep bunker in front and a brace of sandy traps behind, with strong crosswinds from the right. Golfers, save your energies for the longest hole on the PGA tour, the 663-yard 18th, a downhill slide with canyons to the left and a view of the island of Molokai beyond the green (assisted by a tailwind at the 2004 Mercedes event, Davis Love, III blasted a 471-yard drive). Rather less intimidating to mere mortals is the Bay Course at Kapalua.
 Ko'olau Golf Course, Kaneohe, Oahu
Of the thirty-nine courses on Oahu, Ko'olau is by far the scariest--Golf Digest calls it the third toughest in America. 15 minutes from Honolulu International Airport, at foot of the Pali Lookout, the course is a Shangri-la of luxuriant rainforest, jungly gorges and mountains gone green from over a hundred inches of annual rainfall. Although a 162 slope rating from the back tees indicates a daunting challenge, the other tees are positioned to offer a pleasant experience to the average player. Nonetheless, the 18th hole is not for sissies--long carries must fly over two bottomless canyons while avoiding 22 sandy traps. After their rounds, golfers stagger into the clubhouse to enjoy ocean views and Don Ho's Special Ramen Noodles at Honey's, the restaurant named for Honey Ho, a popular local who was the mother of Honolulu's most famous entertainer, the late Don Ho.
Kiele Course, Kauai Lagoons Golf Club, Lihue, Kauai
On breezy promontories far above the cruise ships anchored in Nawiliwili Harbor, amid a labyrinth of freshwater lagoons, Jack Nicklaus created two courses, the Kiele and the Mokihana. Upping the ante on the Kiele are more than 100 bunkers, winds off the ocean and plenty of water hazards and forced carries--add to that clifftop-to-clifftop shots into the teeth of the trade winds and an island green on the 18th--and it's no wonder golfers load up with extra balls. The blind tee shot on the 16th hole jets over booming surf and a craggy ravine to a narrow fairway that slopes down to the coastline to a mini-green near old Ninini Point Lighthouse, a beacon guarding the bay. Five minutes from Lihue Airport, the golf resort lies along the white sands of Kalapaki Beach, a popular spot for surfing, sunning and snorkeling.
Gold Course, Wailea Golf Club, Maui
Tumbling down the slopes of the 10,023-foot dormant volcano, Mt. Haleakala, the tournament-tough Gold Course requires accurate shot-making. Ascending steadily upward, the Trent Jones, Jr. track is tilted and terraced between ancient lava rock walls and high, dense flora along the fairways. Like bits of torn white paper, herons fly above the ponds and lakes, and you can hear the pounding surf on the back nine. Cameras click on the 8th hole, which aims out toward the ocean directly at Molokini, the tiny, crescent-shaped islet offshore. The new David Leadbetter Golf Academy opened here in 2006, headed up by the playing coach of such notables as Nick Faldo, Ernie Els and Hawaii's own teen phenomenon, Michelle Wie. Completing a triumvirate of golf at Wailea are the tropically landscaped Emerald and Blue courses.
 The Challenge at Manele, Four Seasons Resort Lana'i at Manele Bay, Lanai
Just 13 miles wide and 18 miles long, Lanai is a quiet hideaway with just two resorts and two golf courses. The Nicklaus-designed Challenge at Manele rides tilting volcanic hillsides and rocky plateaus above Hulopo'e Bay, where whales and spinner dolphins are often sighted. Every hole enjoys wide ocean views and ocean breezes--the reason why the flags are wind socks. Zillionaire Bill Gates was married on the twelfth hole, a notorious 202-yard gut-wrencher requiring a 200-yard carry across a yawning gap that drops 150 feet to the roiling water below--pray for wind at your back. At 1,600 feet in elevation in the misty highlands, Greg Norman laid out The Experience at Koele, a cool course meandering beneath towering pines and banyan trees. From the 17th tee, drives drop nearly 250 feet to a patch of turf at the bottom of an emerald gorge.
King's Course, Waikoloa Beach Resort, Hawaii
One of the most challenging of the Tom Weiskopf/Jay Morrish designs, the King's Course is Scottish links-inspired, watered by six lakes and dotted with pot bunkers as deep as five feet. Inland from Anaeho'omalu Bay on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island, the track runs through massive lava outcroppings that make for high-bouncing errant shots. Rare double greens occur on the third and sixth holes. At the adjacent Hilton Waikoloa Village Golden, koi glide in a lily pond on the elaborate 30,000-square-foot seaside putting course, a good place to warm up the putter.
Ko Olina Golf Club, Ko Olina Resort and Marina, Oahu
Roy Yamaguchi's famous fusion cuisine and an Ali'i beer are the golfer's reward at the Bridge Bar overlooking a waterfall-decorated lake on the showstopping, multi-tiered 18th green at Ko Olina Golf Club. Just 17 miles from Honolulu International Airport, the club hosts the LPGA Fields Open in February, and scores of vacationing golfers all year long.
Generous fairways are kind to resort players, while elevated, undulating greens and acres of translucent lagoons, ponds, lakes and cascades, plus a scattering of pot bunkers, raise excitement level. Three pools, a large lake and a waterfall at the green guard the 18th fairway. GPS in the golf carts makes it easy to navigate between the waving coconut palms and the overhanging banyan, plumeria and monkeypod trees.
Just a long iron or so away, JW Marriott's Resort and Spa is the lodging of choice for golfers. Right on the beach less than an hour from the airport, it's all there--snorkeling, luaus, kids' and teens' programs, a full-service spa, and lots more for non-golfers.
 Royal Ka'anapali Course, Ka'anapali Beach Resort, Maui
In the heart of the sprawling Ka'anapali Beach Resort, one of only two golf courses in Hawaii designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., the famed North Course was recently closed for months for a multi-million dollar face-lift, and renamed the Royal Ka'anapali Course. Starting alongside sugar-white Kaanapali Beach with a dogleg par 5 bordered by water, tee to green, the updated layout rambles up into the West Maui Mountain foothills before dropping back to the ocean for three stunning finishing holes. Brushed by prevailing northeast trade winds, the 18th plays along a lagoon the entire length of the fairway and green. Nicklaus and Watson will defend their title at the Wendy's Champions Skins Game here next February.
Arnold Palmer Course, Turtle Bay Resort, Oahu
In love with Turtle Bay Resort and with his fiancé, Arnie got married and competed in the PGA Champions Tour Turtle Bay Championship on the same weekend, playing for the first time on the course he designed here on the North Shore of Oahu. The resort's beachfront cottages provided a romantic setting for the couple, who wed at sunset overlooking five miles of sandy shore. A Scottish links-style layout, the Palmer Course surrounds Punaho'olapa Marsh, where waterfowl and endangered Hawaiian birds take refuge. Giant waste bunkers and water on fourteen holes, constant sea breezes and legions of ironwood trees keep golfers on their toes. The surf rolls beside the 17th fairway, where nine ball-eating bunkers lead to a green perched just 100 feet from the shore.
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