Thursday, November 20, 2014

Golfing Puakea Golf Course Hawaii Review


There are golf courses and then there are Hawaiian golf courses. Take one golf course, sprinkle in mountains, ocean views and feral pigs and you have a whole new golfing experience.


Sure there are more famous courses than the Puakea golf course on the island of Kauai. Some people might look to Kapalua on Maui or Koele on Lana'i but for my money the beauty of Puakea is right up there and a MUST play if you are on Hawaii.


The post is going to have a lot of pictures but I just wanted to give you my general impressions of the course. It is not overly long, which is a good thing for me and there is a great variety to the holes. interesting uses of water,


crazy elevation changes


and sand, lots o sand




Your ball will find the trap on this course so be prepared to spend even more time at the beach here in Hawaii.

The course is pretty reasonable, $99 before 11am and dropping in price every few hours thereafter. While initially puzzling as to why that is for this Mainlander, the answer becomes clear as the wind picks up as the day moves along so the rates drop accordingly. The staff is super friendly and got me set up for my day was enthusiastic that I was playing the course.



The mountains loom large, especially on the back 9.


Rental clubs were Nike game improvement clubs. The 3 wood and the hybrid irons were pretty boss.


Kauai was a lot cloudier than Maui but made for a cooler, nicer round of golf.




The greens ran pretty slow at Puakea. Not a lot of terracing or challenge to the putts but when you are lining up a putt, how can you help but be distracted by the scenery?




The tee boxes were in good shape and set up the hole well.  I played from the blues, it made the course the "right" length, the whites and reds were too far up and I am not that much of a glutton for punishment to play from the tips from this bad boy, after all, I was on my vacation!

The real bonus was getting to play a round with my wife, who took all these awesome shots. It was so great having her there and also, we had the course to ourselves so we could enjoy an awesome Hawaiian golf experience.

Definitely check out Puakea when you are there, here is a link to the course: http://www.puakeagolf.com/