The Golf Courses of West Maui
Maui and its sister islands, Lanai and Molokai, are home to 21 golf courses, most of them located on the grounds of world-class resorts. Each comes with its own distinct understanding and set of challenges. Expect greens fees at the championship courses to exceed $100, usually far in excess of that. Fees at municipal and private courses tend to range from $30 to $50.
Kapalua Bay Resort, 10 miles past Lahaina on Maui’s northwest coast, is surrounded by three challenging and scenic courses. The Village Course, the Bay Course and the Plantation Course offer 54 holes of award-winning golf. A dominant feature of all the courses is the wind. It’s a factor to be considered on all but the most novel days. So are the fabulous views that can distract from the task at hand, particularly during whale season.
There are two golf courses at Ka’anapali, the Tournament North Course and the Resort South Course. Both courses offer sweeping coastal panoramas. The Tournament North Course is one of only two courses in Hawaii designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. This course challenges golfers with huge, rolling greens and unpredictable trade winds. The recently renovated Resort South Course combines narrow fairways with subtle greens to create an all-level golfing experience. Check out Ka’anapali’s afternoon Wine & Nine special available for two with a take-home golf caddie bag. The North Course is just completing a renovation.
The Golf Courses of Central and South Maui
A cross section of golf facilities is located in Central Maui, from unique golf clubs and spas to the basic county-run municipal course. On the road to Hana, in Spreckelsville, is the Maui Country Club, the only private country club on the island. It is open for play seven days per week but the public can play only on Mondays. Walking is allowed. This course is the oldest golf facility on Maui. It opened for play in 1925, and has nine holes, so it is played twice and is very well maintained.
Elleair Golf Course in Kihei is a reasonably priced daily fee golf course. If it were attached to a resort, the greens fees would be much higher. It’s located on Lipoa Street reach the Maui Research & Technology Park and part of the course can be seen from the Piilani Highway. With multiple tees and wide fairways it is a reasonable test for all skill levels.
Makena Resort is home to two excellent golf courses, North and South. They were redesigned and created from the original 18 holes at a cost in excess of $20 million. Robert Trent Jones Jr. was the designer in both cases. Both of these beauties wind through the natural landscape.
Wailea offers everything one could want in a golf club: two clubhouses, and three very different golf courses, each with its own personality. The Blue Course, designed by Arthur Jack Snyder, opened for play in 1972. The Wailea Emerald Course is the newest and was voted one of the top ten new courses by both “Golf Digest” and “Golf Magazine.” Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., it winds through some of the most beautiful tropical gardens in Wailea. The Gold Course has a more rugged character, with elements of classic course design and has been called “one of the best designed layouts in the world” by “Conde Nast Traveler.” A recent special at the Wailea courses offered 3 rounds for $399. At that price, I would have expected sex with the drink cart girl but I was sadly mistaken – -which is often the case.
The Kahili Golf Course, formerly known as Sandalwood, has completed major renovations to all 18 holes. Golfers will enjoy enhanced playability, improved conditions and magnificent views of the Maui ocean and mountains. The Kahili course now features TifEagle greens, reshaped fairways and bunkers, GPS-equipped golf carts and a modern dramatic finish on the 18th hole. If you bogie the hole, you are duct-taped to your golf clubs and thrown into a shark-filled tank outside the club bar for the amusement of fellow golfers and tourists who pay to watch. Okay, I’m joking. They don’t throw in the golf clubs. They give them to charity. Well, at least this is what I’ve been told.
Across the isthmus, on the slopes of Haleakala, Pukalani Country Club is original on Maui because of its 1200-foot elevation, making the course a bit cooler than the clubs down on the Maui skim. The course offers views of the West Maui Mountains, Iao Valley, and Maui’s north and south shores. One of Pukalani’s holes has two greens. Golfers can take their pick: one that requires the ball to cross an 80-foot-deep ravine or an easier one that plays downhill. This well-groomed course with smooth greens is reasonably priced, and its restaurant serves authentic Hawaiian meals with a local flavor. It’s a good stop for refreshments whether you’re playing golf in Maui or objective sight-seeing.
On the isthmus between Maui’s two mountains lies a course that opened to rave reviews in 1999 but which I like for its restaurant. It is a great spot to stop for morning breakfast. The Dunes at Maui Lani takes advantage of sand dunes shaped by trade winds over the centuries to look much like the fresh golf courses built in the British Isles. The Dunes has holes that can test the best of players. Terrain that features dramatic natural elevation changes, dense kiawe forest, and swirling trade winds will challenge golfers to employ patience and care in planning their shots. A day on this course might inspire you to exhaust some time at the Dunes Practice Facility, the only lit practice range in central Maui with grass tees and target greens. This course has been called by those who know as the best pure golf value on Maui.
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