Golf on the Big Island

 

BIG ISLAND GOLF COURSES

• SWING ZONE~ old Airport area Driving Range and 9 holes Tel. (808) 329-6909
• BIG ISLAND COUNTRY CLUB~ Mamalahoa Hwy
 Kailua-Kona Kona District
• HAMAKUA COUNTRY CLUB~ Hamakua District Tel. (808) 775-7244
• KONA COUNTRY CLUB ~Alii Drive
 Kailua-Kona 
Tel. (808) 322-2595
• MAKALEI HAWAII COUNTRY CLUB~ Hawaii Belt Road North Kona District 
Tel. (808) 325-6625. For a completely different golf experience, unique to the Big Island, check out Makalei Golf Club, an 18-hole championship course overlooking the Kona-Kohala Coast from the lower slopes of Hualalai, the island's third highest mountain.  Guests of Prince Properties Vacations enjoy $59 anytime rates.   Makalei is one of only five in the state to feature Bentgrass greens, the "grainless" alternative to Hawaii's more common Bermuda putting surfaces.  Its elevations range from approximately 1,800 feet to 2,850 feet, offering challenging play, panoramic coastal views, as well as nesting areas for pheasants, turkeys, and other wildlife. Over 100 wild peacocks roam the course, including one rare white female. Distinctive features on the course include lava tubes, cinder cones and a stone wall dating back more than 100 years that traverses the length of the course.  Call 808-325-6625 or book online tee times. "Time to play! At Makalei!" Be sure to ask about Makalei's monthly "Golf Nine with Barefoot Wine" 9-hole and wine tasting event.

• MAUNA KEA BEACH HOTEL GOLF COURSE~
 Mauna Kea Beach Drive
 Kohala Coast, South Kohala District 
Tel. (808) 882-5400
• MAUNA KEA RESORT~ HAPUNA Kaunaoa Drive
 Kohala Coast South Kohala District 
 Tel. (808) 880-3000
• MAUNA LANI RESORT NORTH COURSE
~ Mauna Lani Drive, 
 Kohala Coast, South Kohala District Tel. (808) 885-6655
• MAUNA LANI RESORT SOUTH COURSE
~ Mauna Lani Drive 
Kohala Coast, South Kohala District 
Tel. (808) 885-6655
• NANILOA COUNTRY CLUB
~ Banyan Drive 
 Hilo Downtown Hilo District 
Tel. (808) 935-3000
• SEA MOUNTAIN GOLF COURSE
 ~
Pahala Kau District 
Tel. (808) 928-6222
• VOLCANO GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB~
 
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Volcano District 
 Tel. (808) 967-7331
• WAIKOLOA BEACH RESORT~ 
Waikoloa, South Kohala District 
Tel. (808) 886-7888
• WAIKOLOA VILLAGE GOLF CLUB~ 
Waikoloa, South Kohala District 
Tel. (808) 883-9621
• WAIMEA COUNTRY CLUB
~ Mamalahoa Highway
 Kamuela North Kohala District 
Tel. (808) 885-8053

MUNICIPAL

• HILO MUNICIPAL GOLF COURSE
~ Hilo Downtown Hilo District 
Tel. (808) 959-7711

PRIVATE COURSES

A few miles down slope, Ke'olu is a private Tom Weiskopf course that is part of the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai. "The key draw for us is the overall scope of the resort and the value for the money," said John Freitas, director of golf and club member services. "In addition to the Weiskopf course and the private clubhouse, membership also includes use of the Jack Nicklaus resort course, sports club and spa, and the Canoe Club, which features a variety of beach and ocean activities. We also have a residential concierge, which provides all the services of a hotel concierge." The golf course is blessed with some of the most dramatic lava formations on the Kona coast. Weiskopf made great use of them, turning lava spires into target lines and building the ninth green beside a giant collapsed lava tube. It's a good members' course in that there are some blind shots and lots of visual trickery requiring local knowledge. 
Ke'olu translates to "gentle breeze" and secondarily as "a pleasant place to be." That's certainly the case at the clubhouse, a series of elegantly understated pods that blend with the terrain. It often feels just as much like an art museum, starting with a pair of tall hand-carved doors that graced a castle in Bali two hundred years ago.

Sharing a property line with Hualalai is Kuki'o, where a 375-lot residential area runs from the ocean up to six hundred feet in elevation. Kuki'o features a beach club and spa, and a casual family atmosphere prevails -coats and ties are rarely seen at dinner. The course at Kuki'o, designed by Tom Fazio, now vies with Mauna Kea, Kapalua's Plantation course and the Prince course at Princeville to be the top course in Hawaii. The layout is breathtaking: Fazio routed holes through little valleys, sometimes playing from lava promontory to grotto. The par-five sixteenth is especially dramatic, with a volcanic cone rising nearly two hundred feet on the right. Kuki‘o is the only private equity Golf and Beach Club on Hawaii's Big Island. The Beach Club includes a full service Member's Clubhouse, extensive spa and fitness facilities, dining pavilion, beach bar, a ten-hole Tom Fazio-designed short course and Kukio's signature Outdoor Pursuits Ocean Sports program. Upslope from the short course is Kukio's eighteen-hole Tom Fazio-designed championship golf course, featuring dramatic panoramic views of the coastlines. The Kukio Golf Clubhouse includes an open air bar, dining pavilion, full size men's and women's locker rooms and Golf shop. http://www.kukio.com

Nanea Golf Club. Developed by Charles Schwab and Safeway magnate George Roberts and designed by David McLay Kidd of Bandon Dunes fame, Nanea Golf Club is the most exclusive retreat west of San Francisco Golf Club.  Nanea allows nearby Kealakehe High School's golf team to practice and play home matches there. 
Nanea's clubhouse, developed by Group 70 International of Honolulu, was designed to resemble pu'u-cones created by the island's five volcanoes. As for the course, Kidd has said the founders wanted a walking course similar to the British links they loved yet in the tradition of the top clubs of America. And they wanted a challenge, with no corners cut for the sake of resort hackers.

On the south side of Kailua-Kona is Hokuli'a. 
Jack Nicklaus had completed the golf course by 2004, when a series of lawsuits shut down further construction. The legal problems arose because the land was zoned for agriculture; through an agreement reached last year, all lots must now include an agricultural component. Is now in bankruptcy but open to owners and guests. Hokuli'a covers two and a half miles of rocky coastline-no sandy beaches here-and rises to 1,250 feet in elevation, with 650 planned home sites just a handful currently built. The Nicklaus course-his twelfth for developer Lyle Anderson-plays up and down hillsides and along the shore, as well as by a number of ancient archaeological sites. Nicklaus made great sight-line use of towering Pu'u Oahu. The turf is championship Bermuda, which on greens displays less grain than other Bermuda strains do.

Convinced the BIG ISLAND is the only place to be? Start by booking your accommodations with PRINCE PROPERTIES INC. ISLAND VACATIONS.

 

Prince Properties Inc. Vacations "Purveyors of Fine Island Homes & Estates"â„¢
75-169 Hualalai Rd Suite 300A • Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 • office: 808-930-0007