one4dgolf

A once excellent course has been long neglected.

Turn over in staff and extremely poor customer service had a negative affect on my experience.

The Kai at Kaanapali has so many issues, I'll just jump to the glaring:
- Fairway has brown spots on almost every hole.

- there is no first cut rough; the rough that remains is no longer cut daily; A good drive that rolls out just a few feet in the rough can easily get lost ( causing unnecessary lost balls and delay of play).

-There is tall grass weeds growing on tee boxes AND greens/fringes.

- Several greens had large craters/dead patches and/or ant hills that have nearly destroyed the putting surfaces.

- Bunkers are in terrible condition… Weeds growing out of many of them… Felt from the bottom coming up, due to hardly any sand left in most of them.

- Price is extremely high for the condition of this course: $80 for super twilight!

If you're going to spend over $130 for a round of golf… Might as will head up to the bay course and get your moneys worth and excellent service to boot.

Also worth noting, I have been a long time loyal customer to Kaanapali golf courses, but this last visit I was treated rudely by a staff member and I will not return.

There's a few great employees-- notably the boys downstairs--that remain here provide awesome service, unfortunately the "bad apples" spoiled my experience.

Rumor is the Kai is about to shut down and Kaanapali will be converted to a 27 hole course. A rebirth will be excellent opportunity for this once great facility.

As the starter will tell you, "you're in for a treat"; which is true.

I've played this course at least a dozen times. It's tucked away in the canyon, which adds to the beauty and reduces the wind.

Pros are:

- Great driving range
- Excellent fairways and greens.
- Uniqueness of having 5 Par 5's and 3's
- Great, but playable, design with plenty of bunkers, trees, and water holes.

Cons:

- Tee boxes are a little rough--some are uneven and the grass too long.
- Range balls are over priced -- $7 for a small bucket (less than 1/2 of a medium becket).
- The management has continually raised the price over the years, up to $109 now, which substantially brings down the overall value here.

Worth noting, the outdoor staff is very friendly and helpful. However, there is one female employee (dark hair, I never got her name), who is consistently unfriendly and boarder line rude (my playing partner and I assume her dad owns the course--trying to figure out why she still has a job there).

Over all great day of golf close to downtown Palm Springs.

My friend and I played a practice round on the Champions course before the Golf Channel tournament. The clubhouse and practice facilities are great. Putting greens, chipping greens, practice bunker and practice fairway bunker. The fairways on the Champions are in great condition. The fairways have a lot of dog-legs and bunkers. The bunkers can be deep, especially the green side bunkers--which have pretty fluffy sand. The greens are challenging, with a lot of levels and slopes, but are fair--not too fast or slow, etc. We played the blues which were about right for players who average around 240 yards per drive (so move up or back accordingly). The course does play slow, about 5 hours on a Friday. The staff was friendly with one EXCEPTION: after our round we wanted to try a replay on the Legends course; it was closed so gentleman in the pro-shop told us to play the Champions again for no charge. When the marshall passed us on #4, he for some reason turned around and asked us for a receipt. I asked him to call the pro-shop (since we weren't given a receipt to re-play); he refused to listen to me and kept rudely asking for a receipt. I gave it to him and he pointed out that it was for 10:00am....that's why I asked him to call the pro shop! So after we endured a 5 hour round the first time, this guy decides to delay us 10 minutes on one hole! Had he simply been polite and called like I asked it could have been verified in less than a minute. I won't hold the entire staff responsible, but beware.

Because this course is in Maui and so close to Kapalua, it does suffer by comparison. That said, it's challenges are primarily the wind. It has 2 reachable par 5's and 2 unreachable par 4's (depending on wind of course#. And that really gives you an idea of how this course will challenge you. The fairways are relatively generous and in good shape #some brown spots). Greens are Hawaiin grainy...fast down, slow up, and will break with the grain significanly--and they're in good shape. The bunkers however, are in terrible shape--so much sand is missing that the felt is visible and will catch your club when you 'try' to hit out. The course is way overpriced for what you get #and can get at nearby courses#--Golf Digest simply stated that with Kapalua so close and Kaanapali's prices, why even bother #I agree#. Conversely, just 2 years ago, this course was a great deal! Green fees were around 40% less AND they offered an all-you-can-play deal for $499 #that was 7 days unlimited for BOTH courses#. It seems management simply wants to raise prices as much and as often as they can. Big turn off and the reason I won't recommend #if you can get a great golf-now deal, then definitely check out#. Staff, especially the boys who set you up and greet you after, are real characters and are the best thing aobout Kaanapali!