The attractive sixteenth and seventeenth holes at Hualalai Golf Course – set as much as host the Drive, Chip & Putt regional qualifier in October.
Connor Federico
Emerald fairways and white sand, framed by Pacific blue and black volcanic rock, paint a shocking portrait on Hualalai’s closing stretch.
Bathed within the golden mild of a Hawaiian sundown, it’s an idyllic backdrop for golf. However is golf actually what we got here right here for?
“Hawaii shouldn’t be a golf vacation spot,” says Brendan Moynihan, Hualalai’s director of golf. “The attract of the ocean, the outside, the mountaineering, the swimming pools. There are such a lot of issues you are able to do — and so many issues which might be spectacular — however golf shouldn’t be essentially the most spectacular.
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My soon-to-be fiancée and I had simply arrived on the 4 Seasons Hualalai, simply minutes from the Massive Island’s historic group of Kailua-Kona. As a first-time traveler to Hawaii, chatting with a person who earns a dwelling within the recreation, I used to be shocked by the sentiment.
However Moynihan was proper. Throughout our keep, we spent hours stress-free within the ocean and testing the waters of the resort’s 4 swimming pools. We hiked by way of an enormous volcanic crater, visited black sand seashores and — spoiler alert! — we bought engaged. A caesar salad cart and bananas foster present blew us away at our celebration dinner.
And there was extra. Encounters with marine life, for example. On the resort’s members-only golf course, Ke’olu, a big pond sits alongside the fifth fairway. It’s house to 1000’s of oysters, cared for each day by the 4 Seasons’ in-house workforce of marine biologists. As soon as the oysters are grown, they’re harvested and served within the resort’s eating places. The identical Pure Sources workforce additionally oversees King’s Pond, a saltwater-aquarium pool the place we snorkeled amongst unique fish.
On prime of all that, Hualalai Golf Course is positioned in a setting in contrast to any on this planet.
Half of GOLF’s Finest Programs in Hawaii, together with Hualalai, are on the Massive Island. The youngest main Hawaiian island, it stays a piece in progress, with lively volcanoes nonetheless rounding its form. Black lava rock blankets the panorama, and its function isn’t simply visible.
A number of pictures on the Nicklaus-designed monitor take you straight over these lava rocks, and each gap options views of the lively volcano that provides the course its title. After shifting inland, the routing returns to the shimmering ocean for a rousing shut.
A longtime host of the Mitsubishi Electrical Championship, Hualalai has different memorable options you would possibly acknowledge from TV. A protracted lava tube splits the par-5 seventh fairway, making a slim opening. The 4th and eighth holes share a contoured double inexperienced. On the par-3 twelfth, the inexperienced has a bunker smack in its middle, which I discovered with my tee shot. I bought luckier on a number of different holes, when my ball knocked off black lava — and again into play.
With extensive fairways and favorable contours across the greens, Hualalai presents vacationing golfers with a pleasant check. Champions Tour winners right here have gone as little as 25-under — in solely three rounds. The conditioning of the course is immaculate, and every gap is distinctive.
“For those who’re a golfer,” Moynihan says, elaborating on his preliminary evaluation, “it’s a golf vacation spot.”
