Maui is known as a destination for honeymooners, but golfers have a different love affair with the island.
The Plantation Course at Kapalua rates as Hawaii’s best public/resort golf course, with its fame coming from the power of television as, each January, images of the PGA Tour’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions are beamed around the world. Those pictures show swaying palms on the steep hills of West Maui as whales breach in the Pacific. Visions of blue water, sunny skies and emerald green fairways are heaven for the many golfers buried in snow on the mainland.
Kapalua’s Plantation isn’t the island’s only good course, however, as Maui has more than a dozen other options to choose from. Since most golf vacations don’t last a couple weeks, I weighed course design, scenery and conditioning more heavily than service when choosing Maui’s 10 best public-access courses. Enjoy!
Plantation Course at Kapalua
Plantation’s character comes from its architects, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. Their efforts to create a sweeping tournament-ready layout that pairs well with the trade winds and still caters to resort golfers essentially launched their course-designing careers. The 18th hole, a dramatic par-5, is one of the best in golf.
Gold Course at Wailea
Wailea is one of Hawaii’s premier clubs because it’s one of the sunniest spots on Maui and sports multiple courses designed by Robert Trent Jones II. This picturesque setting hosted the Champions Skins Game from 1989-2006 and the LPGA Skins Game in 2003.
Emerald Course at Wailea
In 1994, Jones II redid Wailea’s Orange Course, designed by Arthur Jack Snyder in 1987. He retained seven holes but added personal touches such as a waterfall feature adjacent the double green at Nos. 10 and 17. Accents of exotic flowers and lush landscaping add beauty to the 6,825-yard layout.
Bay Course at Kapalua
The Bay Course is hardly a secondary option at Kapalua, since it has hosted more than 20 professional tournaments since opening in 1975. Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Fred Couples and Ian Woosnam have all won events here. The fifth hole, a 205-yard par-3, is the only hole on Maui crossing over the ocean.
Royal Kaanapali
This 6,700-yard course has a tournament pedigree as well, as it has played host to events on the LPGA Tour and Champions Tour. The original Robert Trent Jones Sr. design, from 1962, was renovated by Robin Nelson in 2006. Its highest holes sit above the highway, offering panoramic views of West Maui and the ocean.
The Dunes at Maui Lani
Nelson was Maui’s go-to architect. His 1999 design at Maui Lani was inspired by a love of links courses in the British Isles. Nelson used the sandy soil of central Maui to recreate an inland links with a good variety of holes in the shadow of the West Maui Mountains. Maui Lani also features a lighted driving range.
Kahili Golf Course
Nestled in the foothills of the West Maui Mountains and within view of the Haleakala Volcano, Kahili is a 6,570-yard course that opened in 1991 and has gone through several name changes. Its hilly routing affords golfers commanding ocean views both to the north of Kahului Harbor and to the south of Maalaea Bay.
Kaanapali Kai
This par-70 course is more forgiving, and arguably more fun, than its sister course. It’s shorter, at 6,388 yards, and doesn’t have greens as severe as Royal Kaanapali. The Lahaina Sugar Cane Train, which could reopen this year, might once again steamroll by several holes along the course’s perimeter.
Old Blue at Wailea
Wailea’s original course dates to 1972 and has a back nine with three par-5s and a par-3 closer. The middle holes, Nos. 8 through 12, climb to the course’s highest elevation to provide the best views of Lanai, Molokai, Kohoolawe and Molokini.
Maui Nui Golf Course
This 6,801-yard, par-71 layout, designed by Bill Lewis in 1987, offers good value and is conveniently located along the Piilani Highway connecting West and South Maui. Four ponds impact multiple holes, and the finishing hole, a downhill dogleg left, provides sweeping views of the Auau Channel and Molokini.
Jason Scott Deegan is a senior staff writer at GolfAdvisor.com, a website owned by The Golf Channel.
