More top-rated golf courses than any other island in Hawaii
willing to pay for quality, love to travel, an avid and frequent traveler, family traveler, love nature, a travel writer, love local culture and products
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NOV
1
2007
Kauai, Hawaii —
Guys, I know a lot of you work hard all day, every day of the workweek. When it's time to plan a vacation, you don't want to have to put too much effort into that as well, right? If it's a luxury golf vacation you want, it should be a luxury golf vacation you get - preferably somewhere tropical, with palm trees, poolside mixed drinks, the works. If you're on the West Coast, try some of Kauai's best golf courses. You can play them all in one great week, and they are literally four of the five best golf courses in Hawaii as a whole (the fifth is on Maui).The Princeville Golf Courses: Hawaii's #1 ranked golf course is the Prince Course, designed by Robert Trent Jr. This may be the most challenging 18-hole course you'll play. Forget the elevation changes; the scenery alone is so beautiful, it's hard not to be distracted. The Makai Course, also part of the award-wining Princeville sets of links, is a 27-hole golf course, with each of the nine-hole tracks set in different terrain: Ocean, Lakes, and Woods. Splitting the game into three distinct rounds is vacation-friendly, as well.
Kauai Lagoons Golf Club: Jack Nicklaus designed all 36 holes of the Kauai Lagoons courses, and his imprimatur is clear. Much like how the Princeville courses are part of the Princeville resort, Kauai Lagoons operates under the jurisdiction of the Kauai Marriott Resort & Beack Club. Those 38 holes, obviously, are split into two different full 18-hole courses - the Kiele and the Mokihana. The former is the more challenging, with a bottom nine that finishes on a separate island green (it's quite a challenge). The Kiele won the title of "Gold Medal Course" by Golf Magazine. The second Kauai Lagoons course, the Mokihana, is smaller, less pricey, yet also a par-72 golf course. The wide open fairways here make for an easier game.
Poipu Bay Golf Course: Poipu Bay is the best public course on Kauai, and therefore, the best on the entire island chain. While it's affiliated with the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, Poipu Bay is just as accessible to non-guests as well. Golf Digest ranks this course as among North America's 75 Greatest Gold Courses., and it hosted the PGA Grand Slam (a professional golf tourney) from 1994-2006. Golf courses architect Robert Trent Jr. designed Poipu Bay with startling elevation changes, and the scenery alone helps explain why it's consistently a PGA Grand Slam locale.
Puakea Golf Course: This last of the great golf courses on Kauai is, according to golf course architect Robin Nelson, the "most fun corse to play in Hawaii." Each hole is unique, traversing up and down natural canyons and ravines, so that golfers never forget they're on vacation in Kauai's special habitat. Since Puakea is a relatively new (and Kawuai's newest) championship 18-hole, par-72 course, it hasn't racked up the awards, distinctions, and top rating of its neighbor courses. But give it time; it's sure to join the ranks of Princeville, Poipu Bay and kauai Lagoons once word gets out.
Kauai, Hawaii is recommended by Jennifer
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