Dante8747951

This golf course has so much potential to be one of the best courses in the area. One of the coolest layouts I've seen and it has an awesome club house and amenities. But the course is not nice.

To start I went inside to pay and the guy warned me that the greens were extremely fast, probably rolling an 11, and to be ready to putt cautiously. I get to the first hole and I walk back to the tips. I played the tips and the rest of the group played the second tees, so we weren't by any means going for a short round nor are we bad golfers. The highest handicap in our group was maybe a 15. The tips were awful. Every tee box was so long that I was always brushing grass, and they were uneven and in such strange spots on most of the holes. I'd say on about 5 holes as well as this there were objects in the complete way of my tee shots. Not just partial. Entirely in the way, one so much that I was forced to attempt a 60 yard fade that started out of bounds. The fairways were the only good part of the course, some patches here and there and in general they were well cut.

The greens were awful, no other word for it. You could hit 10 putts on the same line from the same spot and not 1 would roll the same way. They were long bumpy and uncared for. The old holes all protruded a lot and got in the way often. After the round the head pros excuse was that it's not their growing season. I played a $15 golf course with better greens and this is no excuse at all. Not properly repairing holes and fixing patches has nothing to do with the growing season. Either they need to change the grass, or need to do a better job of maintinence.

Even this was not the worst part. For $90 this course was already charging way above it's value if not for the layout, but the experience was the worst part. From the start, the group of members behind us playing the very front tees at 4000 yards were consistently playing as quick as they could, hitting as close as they could get to us and waving and wistling. The starter approached us on the 7th hole and told us we were 20 minutes behind pace. We were completely confused as we had just played all very long holes, not a single par 3 yet, and we were about 1:50 in. It was then that we learned that the courses max pace was 4 hours flat, and that members expect to play in 3:30. This is absolutely ridiculous. It was our first time playing and from the tips the course played 7300 yards with a lot of wind and water on all but 2 holes. How could anyone possibly expect a foursome to play that in 3.5 hours. I have played a number of nice and professional courses that would never expect a round of under 4 hours. 4:30 is the standard pace. But nonetheless, we were forced to play quickly and uncomfortably the entire round, and the ranger was even following us and watching every one of our shots throughout the round. This was extremely frustrating and I didn't feel like I could get a good round going because of it. We were then also forced to skip 10 and the ranger kept giving us attitude when we tried to explain that we have never played the course and we're doing the best we could. In the end we finished in about 4:30 and were told the members behind us were outraged and that they do not like it when the round takes long. That is not my problem. I paid $90 to play the course and you choose to make your course public. If members don't like that, that's not on me. You cannot expect a group of even the best players to get around a round in 4 hours on a 7300 yard course with a 75/137 rating. There's just no way. I have never heard of such a thing. After the round I went in to talk to the head pro and his response to everything I've said in this review was, "oh well no one ever plays the tips." He was a very nice guy and we had a good conversation, but it still left me feeling like they completely neglect a player like myself. If this is true and you're not going to cater at all to the people that are good players and do play them, who are paying customers just as much as anyone else, then get rid of your back tees.

In the end I would not recommend this course to a skilled golfer. If you're looking for a nice round with nice views and a very nice clubhouse and amenities and you have the money to pay for it, go to this course. They were nice, helpful, and it felt like a nice high end club. But the course itself was just not it. Greens need work and the pace for me is just so ridiculous. Also, the fact that they really can't even cut the back tees is sad. How do you have a completely separated set of tees for good players and just not even cut them because you claim no one ever plays them. That's unacceptable for a course charging $90 a round. Overall disappointing experience and I felt like I really wasted my money.

The charge for play is entirely because of the Arnold Palmer name. When we arrived, there was no one at bag drop and when I went inside to check in both the guest services emplyess were standing in the pro shop. Course was in terrible condition except for the fairways. Rough was so deep, half the time not one of us could find our ball. Lost 7 golf balls and 1 of them actually was to a hazard. Would not recommend. Especially to recreational golfers that aren't always in the fairway.

The course is immaculate. Greens roll very true and the fairways were real grass, unlike ever other course I have played on the island. Much better than waikoloa beach and village courses. The 15th hole is breathtaking and there is a stretch of 3 holes that borders the water that is beautiful. I will definitely play here again.

Hidden Gem? This course at first seemed cool with the long drive through thick forests and beatiful peacocks. But the condition was terrible. The bunkers were unplayable and certain areas of the fairway as well. Multiple times I had to move my ball over 10 yards just to find Some grass. Some of the tee boxes looked like the rough. If the conditions were better, The course would be pretty fun to play. Definitely not worth the rate, or even a hot deal for me. If you have played hapuna or mauna lani you be extremely disappointed with this course.

I am an experienced golfer with a 6 handicap and this course was too hard for me. On the back 9, drives 10 yards left or right were in the water and part 4s required longer second shots than first ones because driver was unusable. Staff was very friendly. I couldn't find scorecards anywhere and they weren't on the carts so I ended up having to go back to the pro shop for one. Good for the money if your up for a challenge. And be prepared to lose a lot of balls.