Mini golf at Poipu Bay on Kauai: New shortened round promises quick experience, budget rates

You may have heard of nine-hole rates at some golf courses, but now one prominent resort in Hawaii is offering seven-hole rates.

Poipu Bay Golf Course on Kauai, former home of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf (which Tiger Woods won seven times), has introduced its new "7-Hole Stretch" program, which allows golfers who don't want to play or pay for 18 (or even nine holes for that matter) to just play the first seven holes for $70. The promotion includes holes 1-7, as well as warm-up range balls, golf cart with GPS and bottled water. Golf club rentals are available at a special rate of $25. The program is being offered throughout 2016.

How does that compare with the normal green fees? Rack rate for Poipu Bay, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design, is $250 ($180 for guests of Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa). Club rentals are normally $60.

More important, many resort golfers are casual golfers and don't necessarily want to spend four and a half hours on the golf course. While playing the first seven holes means you will miss Poipu Bay's terrific finishing stretch, it's not like the first seven holes don't have any wow factor either, and they should only take around 90 minutes or so to play.

That leaves plenty of time for other activities such as snorkeling, surfing, shopping and exploring the rest of the island.

It also makes sense for the resort, too. It's another stream of revenue it might not get otherwise. And it's good for pace of play, eventually at least. With some golfers leaving after seven holes, it can open up the golf course for players behind those groups who are playing the entire course.

Poipu Bay Golf Course is situated on 210 oceanfront acres on Kauai's south shore. It was the host site for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf from 1994-2006. It was ranked among the top resort courses in the U.S., including Golf Digest's 2013/2014 list of "America's 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses." Poipu Bay was also ranked fifth among the best golf courses in Hawaii for 2015 by Golfweek magazine.

For more information, call (800) 858-6300 or visit poipubaygolf.com.

Mike Bailey is a former Golf Advisor senior staff writer based in Houston. Focusing primarily on golf in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America with an occasional trip to Europe and beyond, he contributes course reviews, travel stories and features as well as the occasional equipment review. An award-winning writer and past president of Texas Golf Writers Association, he has more than 25 years in the golf industry. He has also been on staff at PGA Magazine, The Golfweek Group and AvidGolfer Magazine. Follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeBaileyGA and Instagram at @MikeStefanBailey.
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Mini golf at Poipu Bay on Kauai: New shortened round promises quick experience, budget rates