Royal Kunia, Oahu, Hawaii W/PICS

pitbull808 · June 28, 2005

more golf in Hawaii pics!

Played a twilight round at Royal Kunia with PM Hacker. $30 sounded like a good deal, but once on the course we realized we were a little short changed.

The course is located in Kunia, Oahu, Hawaii. It's been open for about three years now although it was completed I believe at least seven years ago. Due to some ownership problems, it stayed closed to the public. We first played it when it initially opened and were slightly impressed with the layout, but due to it being closed for so long and unkept, the weeds had invaded the course. We knew we'd have to let them catch up with the upkeep before we played it again. Our second round was played about a year ago, and we noticed the weed problem was still evident although the greens were about average. Today, it looked like they got the weed problem under control, but totally lost the greens. It appeared they just aerated about three weeks ago while most other courses on Oahu aerated about three months ago. The greens didn't appear to have been cut. They did a poor job of sanding the greens and filling the holes. Putting was more like playing the right bounce then break.

All in all, the course has a great view of Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head and the Honolulu skyline. They just have to get their greens back in shape and they would be a pretty good place to play on Oahu. It's a pretty wide open layout. Bunkers are shallow and easy to get out of. They offer four tees to hit off of making the course range from 7.007- 4,945 yards. Prices are about medium for Oahu.

Here's the break down of the course and pictures.

Black Tee-----70007 yards----73.8-----135
Blue Tee-------6505 yards----71.6----131
White Tee------6002 yards----69.2----125
Gold Tee--------4945 yards---64.5----110

1st Hole, Par 5, 552 yards from the Black...View from the tee box

1st Tee view to the rear of the tee box or Pearl Harbor and Diamond Head in the distance.

2nd Hole, Par 4, 406 yards, View from the tee box

3rd Hole, Par 4, 432 yards, View from the tee box

4th Hole view from the tee box of Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head in the distance and Honolulu Skyline

8th Hole, Par 3, 200 yards, View from the tee box

18th Hole, Par 5, 495 yards, View from the fairway, 200 yard marker. Yeah, thats my ball, but don't ask me where my second shot went. :busted_cop:

aussiefreddy · June 28, 2005

Thanks for the pics once again Reid!

Any chance you wanna part ways with that Bettinardi blade putter ? :)LOL

pitbull808 · June 28, 2005

Thanks for the pics once again Reid!
Any chance you wanna part ways with that Bettinardi blade putter ? :)LOL
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Thank you for noticing. :vava: I was hoping someone liked the pics I take while "attempting" to play golf.

Sorry the Betti is firmly in the Blade collection. :D

bruinmw · July 1, 2005

great pics... i played here last year while visiting family, and i loved the views of the course. yes, course could use some work, but overall, i would still go back just for the views...

next time i'm out visiting family, we'll have to get a round in... :vava:

sergizmo · July 2, 2005

Outside of the greens, sounds like a good time. You could just have a 2-putt rule or something.

Do all courses in Hawaii have that very dark orange/brown sand? How does it play?

pitbull808 · July 3, 2005

Outside of the greens, sounds like a good time. You could just have a 2-putt rule or something.
Do all courses in Hawaii have that very dark orange/brown sand? How does it play?
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It pretty much became that. "PM Hacker" and I were giving each other all kinds of putts that day. Put it this way...it was so bad you could intentionally drag your spikes on the green and not see any difference.

As for the traps, a lot of it has to do with the area the course is in. Hawaii has a lot of red dirt. The red dirt stains everything, from the sand to cart paths to the white vinyl on the cart seats. They play pretty much the same as any other trap. It's just the color. At some of the better maintained courses with less rain, you'll find whiter sand traps. But all of them eventually get that red tinge to them.

pm hacker · July 3, 2005

This course has the potential to be one of the better courses on Oahu, but unfortunately the greens really suck. The choreography of a typical "straight" 5 foot putt on the greens there would go something like this: hop, left, skip, jump right, jump right and stop 18 inches from the hole. It was more like playing hopscotch than putting. Other than that, the conditions from tees to greens are excellent.

For those who possess a valid military id, you get a discount on your green fees.

Personally, I won't play there again until they get their greens up to par.