Wailua Golf Course

Unbelievable experience. Check-in/Amenities: The locals were extremely kind to us in the pro shop. When you check in, the pro shop is literally just a shop, not where you check in, but you do get range balls there. In order to check in for your tee time go to the little booth next to the pro shop and talk to the man through the window. There is a very large practice green and a decent sized chipping green. Range was off Mats and you hit directly into the ocean, which I would assume would be straight into the wind majority of the time. Nothing special. Course: The course was developed in stages and it's pretty clear once you play the whole course. The story is that the original 6 holes were designed by an actual course architect, then extended to 9 holes(the current back 9). When they decided to add the new front 9, it wasn't done by a course designer, and it's very noticeable. The front 9 is now a pretty boring, very straight forward 9 holes. Guessing they just cleared some trees and added some greens from the looks of it. First 2 holes have great ocean views, and it's still a decent 9 holes for a muni. The back 9(original course) is a completely different course and is great. Variance of dog legs both left and right, and this is where you'll find the signature 17th, the highlight of the course. If it's your first time, I would definitely suggest looking at the course layout or using a GPS app as you can take a pretty aggressive line off the tee depending which set you play. A couple of shots I thought were going to be bad were in the middle of the fairway and vice versa not knowing the right lines. Greens rolled great, surprisingly firm with the amount of rain this week(November). Some of the pin locations seemed crazy, talking 2 feet of break in 6 feet, I would say borderline illegal. Bunkers were interesting, coming from southern California I had never played this type of sand, got stuck in the first bunker by taking too much sand, then figured out how to compensate. Best of all, this course is really adamant for pace of play. Sorry for those of you that think a round should be 5 hours, but here they require everyone to be done in under 4, which we did easily as a group of 3. When you factor in the price, this course is a must play on the island. We will definitely be back.

Beautiful golf course. Hard to call it a Municipal Golf Course. Very well maintained. And, the view at all of the holes, particularly #17 WOW! what a view. Staff very friendly & personable from the check in to the starter. Sad there wasn't any food or drinks available, but I read another review & it sounds like the food service needs help! Only negative was the attitude of the pro shop pro. Rude upon arrival, even when we went the day prior to check out the rental clubs to make sure they had a set for me. He asked question after question regarding our golfing, and how often we golf, our handicap, etc. I realize there are a lot of folks who come out in vacation & tear up the facilities. But, honestly, He'd get a lot further with folks with an attitude adjustment. Definitely worth it to play at this course. Next time I may bring my own clubs, which may produce a better demeanor out of the pro.

The course is beautiful for a municipal course. However, the atmosphere here is horribly malignant. For a muni, they asked me when I scheduled if I was a beginner and then when I got there they asked for the handicap of all the golfers playing. There were signs everywhere about pace of play and being banned from coming back there. We were relatively slow (about 10 minutes behind pace of play) and when we finished the range marshal asked me if there was anyone slowing us down. I said no and that we were the slow ones. He proceeded to tell me that they have tee times every 6 minutes, and that most courses do every 10-14 minutes and the way they make an additional $3000 dollars a day. He then told me my group cost him $3000 dollars for the day because of how slow we were playing. I understand pace of play is important, but when I paid 130 dollars for a relatively well maintained course I don't expect to be accused in that way. It definitely turned me off from ever coming back to this course. We were ten minutes over the pace of play... Additional comments. Driving range is on mats. A little cheap feeling. Maybe other days they allow grass, but it didn't look that way. The pro shop is barely there and there are only vending machines for snacks. There is no water jugs on the course except for the turn so be prepared with lots of your own water. Overall, it seems like this place has the attitude of an expensive private course with the ammendities I would expect from a crappy municipal course. The course was beautiful, but being in Hawaii what isnt? I will not be returning to this course and would not recommend going here if you have a handicap over 10.