jrosedds

Overall, great value for the money. Enjoyed excellent conditions on the greens and tees, decent fairways and mediocre bunkers.. Layout is flat and a bit bland. There is OB left on just about every hole on the front nine. Geese everywhere, so lots of "loose impediments". Pace of play was great until we caught up to a fivesome on the back nine. Didn't use the clubhouse or F&B facilities although the drink cart was out and visited our group every 4-5 holes or so.
There is a big range and practice green although I didn't have a chance to use them.
Don't plan your trip around it, but worth a visit for a good value round if in the area.

I booked as a single on short notice and was paired up with three beginners. This is a nice old-style parkland course set in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. With the exception of #1, 5, and 9, I found the front nine a little bland, being generally flat and wide open with very short rough. Tee boxes and fairways were shaggy, but the greens were excellent - smooth and very fast but held well.
The back nine was much more interesting, with tighter tree lined fairways and some wild elevation changes, most notably the par three 12th which drops over 150 feet from tee to green. A GPS is handy to get yardages to lay up areas on some holes (10, 13, 15), especially for longer hitters who will likely keep driver in the bag. Overall I enjoyed the course, the weather was great, and the price was right!

I had only one day on the Kohala Coast, and pondered my choice of courses for a while before deciding on a twilight time at Hapuna. It seems to be affiliated with Mauna Kea, a world famous facility, so I figured "how bad can it be?"

As it turns out, not bad at all! I booked for $75 for the first twilight time at 1:09 pm. We were paired up with fellow Canadians, which was nice. With sunset at about 6pm, that gave about 5 hours and as it turned out, we needed just about all that time! Pace of play was about the only negative though - Hapuna is a really nice test of golf and an enjoyable, playable course. It is esthetically pleasing with fantastic views of the Pacific from most holes. It isn't overly long even from the tips, and for the most part is right there in front of you with very few tricks or blind shots (exception: #11 second shot and #15 tee shot). Condition of tees, fairways, and greens was excellent - the best of the five courses I played in Hawaii.

Range balls and bottled water were included, which was a nice touch. The locker room was reasonably well appointed and available for guests to use. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go to the bar to take advantage of their after-round special - one penny per stroke for your first beer!

The bag drop didn't really seem to work since there wasn't anyone there to take the bags or load them. There was a call button which I pressed but no one came. I ended up lugging my clubs through the clubhouse to the cart area myself, which I don't mind but some might. The drink cart came only once, on the 6th hole (before 3pm). The girl said she was quitting early because she started before 7am. The halfway house, which is pretty much the farthest point from the clubhouse, was also closed. I don't get that! With a packed course, shouldn't refreshments be available all day? They're missing out on way more revenue than they're saving on wages! But I digress.

I really enjoyed Hapuna and will definitely return next time I'm on the Big Island!

I did my homework before booking a round at Ko'Olau. I read reviews and spoke to some locals that I was paired with a few days earlier at another course. I heard that it was visually "awesome" but tended to be wet, and that the course was very difficult with a slope rating among the highest in the USA. Being a low handicap, I looked forward to the challenge and figured I could tolerate a little wetness. I booked at $80 each for a twosome - not bad.

We were greeted by exceptionally friendly gentlemen both in the pro shop and on the first tee, and teed off at our leisure. The course was seemingly empty for our 11am tee time! My dad and I whizzed around the first four holes in no time. First impressions pretty much matched expectations. The course is visually stunning, with lush jungle-like vegetation and spectacular mountain views on just about every hole. Several tee shots have mountains as a backdrop and there is nice rolling terrain, mounding, and bunkering. There is little room for error with any shot, with hazards lining most every fairway. But at least the softness helped contain shots a little bit.

It was immediately obvious that the biggest negative was course conditioning. It was indeed wet and most shots picked up mud. While the greens and front tees are shaggy but playable, the fairways and rough are essentially sparse weeds and crab grass. The back tee decks appear to have been mostly abandoned, having taken on the appearance of weed patches. Additionally, sightlines from the tips were occasionally blocked by overgrown trees, forcing intentional hooks or slices to find the fairways. Finding a decent lie is a challenge on the fairways and around the greens, even with lift clean and place, and the sparseness of the turf makes striking the ball properly very difficult because the ball just rests on the mud below. I've probably played 200 different courses in 30 years of golf and this one stands out as the worst conditioned course I've ever played. Maybe it is the soil or the climate or just a limited operating budget, but if course conditioning is important, you'll definitely want to book elsewhere.

Pace of play was another big negative. We hit a wall on the 5th hole with a group of beginners and never recovered. It took nearly another 5 hours to complete the round. There wasn't a marshal in sight, not that it would have mattered much - this course is simply too penal for all but the straightest of hitters. Fred Funk would lose balls here. Add to that the multiple blind shots and there's no surprise the pace of play is brutal. There is no GPS in the carts (and they have to stay on the paths anyways) and there are no sprinkler heads for yardage. On quite a few holes, (eg. #5, #10, #16) I had no clue where the hazards were, how far it was to a dogleg or layup area, or even where the green was. A handheld GPS is mandatory here, if you have one.

I really have mixed feelings about this course. On one hand, the visual appeal and the sheer challenge makes me want to go back and take another crack at it with a GPS and a bit more of an idea of how to play it. On the other hand though, the absolutely horrendous conditioning and pace of play strips away just a tad too much of the enjoyment for me to want to make another tee time. It's a shame that this place has seemingly been "let go" - it really could be amazing.

Perhaps a victim of the Niagara Golf Boom and Bust, Royal Niagara is an excellent course let down by poor course conditions. This poor track was screaming out for a little TLC. Tee decks were shaggy and lumpy, fairways were scruffy, and greens were quite possibly the slowest I have ever played. The greens literally looked like they hadn't been cut in three days, so putting was nearly impossible. Bunkers looked reasonable although I didn't play from any. Some greens were obscured by overgrown reeds that desperately needed to be trimmed down. It's really a shame, because it is a nice layout with plenty quality holes with nice hazards, bunkering, and mounding.

I'd love to return if/when the course receives the kind of conditioning it deserves, but I suspect that Royal Niagara is working hard at cutting operating costs.

Hunter's Pointe is an enjoyable course to play, and an outstanding value - so much so that I actually joined the course as a member for 2014. I've played this course several times, so this review represents my overall opinion rather than one isolated experience.

Hunter's Pointe is well staffed with friendly attentive folks all over the place. Pro shop, starter, beverage cart, clubhouse - everyone I've encountered has been super nice.

The golf course itself is fun to play, with a nice mix of long and short holes. On calm days there are lots of birdies to be had, but when the wind blows the course takes on a whole new character. Greens are some of the best in the area, especially considering the volume of play the course receives. The same cannot be said for the bunkers, which are sadly in need of total overhaul. Fairways and tees are also in nice shape most of the time, although tend to drain slowly after rains.

Pace of play is perhaps the biggest negative. There are frequently tournaments scheduled at popular times and there's simply just a lot of play. The course represents such outstanding value that I guess a lot of people want to take advantage of it. Expect to take about 5 hours on a busy weekend day.

I have played Grand Niagara before but it rained both times so the course was soggy and played extremely long from the back tees (7400 yards). We teed off at 2:40 on a Monday and enjoyed great pace of play and beautiful course conditions. The course was nice and firm, allowing tee shots to roll out. Greens were receptive, smooth, and a manageable pace. Tee decks are billiard-table flat and tight - just perfect. Bunkers were well maintained. Driving range facilities were nice, with turf conditions similar to those on the course. Service by proshop, starters, and beverage cart was friendly and efficient. For $48 on a golfnow hot deal, including cart and range balls, this was too good to pass up. Highly recommended, especially at this price.

This was a really nice layout that was somewhat let down by shaggy and water-damaged conditions brought on by recent heavy rains and hot temperatures. Routing is excellent - each hole seems to be on its own with no distractions from elsewhere on the course. Ussher's Creek comes into play on several holes, both alongside and in front of greens. We played at 7am for $40.00 including mandatory cart. Having the place to ourselves, we completed play in 3:20 including a few extra shots here and there. Had the course been firmer and faster, I would have offered 5 stars but again I feel that conditions were somewhat dictated by the weather. I'm looking forward to returning in the fall.

We played on a Monday morning at 8am. Cost was $39 cart included, which represents outstanding value.

Pros: Very warm reception by pro shop staff and starter. Nicely maintained course with lush turf conditions throughout. Pace of play was great early in the day as there were mostly twosomes in front of us, so we played in 3:40. Nice classic parkland layout with a good mix of long and shorter holes that tested every club in the bag. Nicely maintained landscaping around clubhouse and on the course. On-course ranger came around with cold face towels at one point, which was a nice touch on a hot day. Staff seemed genuinely concerned that we had a good day.

Cons: fairways were soft and shaggy and greens were smooth and slow but to be fair the weather was very hot, so they were probably being generous with watering and cautious with mower heights). Bunker sand was sparse making explosion shots difficult. Three of the gold tee decks were out of play (unmaintained) so some of the potentially more dramatic shots (#6, 12, 16) were unavailable. Tourist helicopters were overhead the entire time, which was cool at first but soon became annoying.

Summary - an excellent, enjoyable course to play and one that I'm looking forward to playing again.

Nice mix of long and short holes tested every club in the bag. Options are available off the tee. Fast, challenging greens that are difficult to read the first time out. Classic, well bunkered and raised green complexes on shorter holes and larger more open ones on longer holes. We took a power cart for the second round of the day and it was a little expensive at $38 - more than the green fee. A really enjoyable course to play and not to be missed if you're in the Peterborough area. Located right off the main drag. Recommended.