ktutt

Unfortunately not nearly memorable enough, the layout (A/C on this day) was made a bit more challenging due to the wind. Otherwise I'm struggling to (now) differentiate 1 hole from the next (1 week later). The conditions were good, the pace not so much, I wonder if it's just a relaxed "Hawaii thing". Not my first time playing a course designed (in part) by the "King", that will always sell me on just about any course...

What course conditions should be like, here or anywhere. The design is okay if not a bit repetitive. The big issue (if anything) on this day was the overall pace. This was worsened by a 3-some ahead of me with 1 person who felt it his right to use a launch monitor on (the tees) of most holes along with a full-size tripod for his phone (to record himself) on every tee box as well as some shots from the fairway. This was incredibly brutal to bear witness to for the entirety of my round with the realization that the group somehow managed to keep up to the group ahead. In my life I've never seen such a display of selfishness. There was also a 5-some behind me but what can I say, unfortunately I have seen that before.

Royal Hawaiian Golf Club

Like the starter on this particular day (March 23 2023), some say “Jurassic Park” to describe RHGC, I’m in the camp for another movie: “The Good The Bad and The Ugly” and I’ll explain why.
As a first round on Oahu (and in Hawaii for that matter) I was excited to make a go of Royal Hawaiian Golf Club.
Curious omen #1: a nearly deserted course at approximately 11am
Curious omen #2: the warning from the starter in relation to the fact that they had aerated and…”do you want to get your money back and go somewhere else?”
I didn’t heed his sage advice and the fact that they also had hole #13 closed (maintenance I’m assuming), replaced by their (spare) hole 3B which merely gave me 18 holes rather than not.
I almost forgot (to mention) the complete lack of any means to warm up other than a poor excuse for a putting green, it did play like most of the greens as I describe later.
Once getting over the initial shock of the unbelievable scenery of the property (believe me it’s unreal), I couldn’t help but to notice the deplorable condition of the course itself. What they consider turf is different than what I’m obviously used to but in some areas, tee boxes and fairways in particular there isn’t much of anything that you could call “turf”. Noteworthy on this day (playing from the blues), there were 2 tee boxes where the markers were placed where there wasn’t any discernible/usable turf at all (6 and 9 if I’m not mistaken). On 6 my only reasonable solution was to play from the white tee box leaving a curious wedge-wedge play to a par 4 that deserved to be played properly (from the unplayable blue tee).
Oh, did I mention it was “cart-path only” on this day? Understandable given how wet the course was, the front 9 in particular. Never in my life have I experienced so many mud balls, probably due to the sparse nature of their fairway turf. As a vacation round I decided to improve my lies and negate the mud balls to stem the frustration, my sanity needed something.
Despite zero knowledge of the course and no help due to being out there alone, I soldiered on as best I could trying to stay focused and positive, the scenery provided some welcome distraction at times. The back 9 went somewhat better, having adjusted to all that I’d faced and a slightly less saturated part of the course. Having said that there were still some greens on the back (like the front) that had been sanded as is to be expected following the aeration, but the sanding was incredibly heavy and inconsistent throughout. There was no chance to get a feel for any putts on this day. Where some of that sand was needed is in the bunkers, most that I noticed were uncared for and overgrown with weeds.
I’m not sure of the excuse for #13 to be shut down, it almost appeared to be in better shape than most of the others (as I sped through on my way to #14).
Don’t get me wrong, in addition to the location/scenery of being in the middle of a jungle, the course design is fantastic from what I could tell and is a fair to strong challenge, I just wish they gave the course the care that it deserves.
Less curious omen #3: the kid working the cart return area wasn’t shy about his feelings, “I can play here for free and (I) don’t, haven’t in over a month”, that says enough.
Royal in name only I’m afraid, I’d so hoped for better.

This course showed promise, right up until we got to the first tee. After some heavy rainstorms battered the area, this course opened and tried to operate somewhat normally but couldn’t quite pull it off. None of the tee boxes were cut, perhaps the longest I’ve ever experienced. The greens were surprisingly decent. Everywhere else was pretty soaked/damaged due to the water. The pace was far from ideal, waiting constantly on most/every hole. We were pleased to have been given a 1/3 break on the green fee ahead of time, it made things a bit better.

After playing several other courses in the greater Phoenix/Scottsdale area, I concluded my trip in grand style by playing the Champions course at TPC Scottsdale before flying out the same day. Despite a brief frost delay I had a most enjoyable day primarily due to the amazing conditions that this course offered.

This course can and does test you throughout your entire bag. Trees throughout this superb mountain course make things even more difficult. The layout is one of the best.