Hawaii Golf Course Conditions & Reports

[pitbull808]

Played Royal Kunia this morning...first time out.

Today was now just under two weeks since they've aerated. The green have healed pretty good. Some are still a tad bit bumpy and slow but at least there's not sand all over the green. There was no need to play automatic two putts as they were pretty playable.

[drck1000]

Played 9 at Navy-Marine last week after work and it was a week since they aerated and the greens were still sandy with the dimples of the punch holes. They punched the fairways as well, so that made for some interesting lies. We have tournament there in about 4 weeks, so hope the greens and fairways are healed and back to normal by then.

Played Makalena Saturday afternoon and they had recently aerated their greens as well. We hadn't planned on golfing that day and when a friend got done with some home repairs early, we decided to walk-on somewhere and ended up at Makalena. I haven't played there in years and while I wasn't expecting super nice conditions it was pretty bad with large weeds in the middle of the fairway and to a lesser extent on the greens. It was still pretty fun and interesting putting, especially with some money on the line. My friend is usually a pretty good putter and he 3-putted the first par 3 from about 25 feet, missing about a 3 footer for par. The course was very hard and dry with lots of roll on a few of our drives. On the back nine they have a 500 yard par 5 followed by a 480 yard par 4. The 480 yard par 4 played into the wind and I was joking with my friend that that was the kind of holes that the pros play everyday. Definitely not a driver-wedge hole.

[mauiatheart]

Just played Coral Creek and it sucked. The greens were super slow. Although our club had the first tee times, starting at 6:36, they slid three groups ahead of us. And the groups were slow. Didn't get done till 12:30. I won't be going back any time soon.

[da master 808]

No golf for me since I had to work. I did discover you can make roast pork skin extra crispy with a heat gun! Guess that's better than someone's 6 hour round.

[pitbull808]

Played Royal Kunia yesterday....was greeted by a sign on the door.


As of August 1st...RATE CHANGES

Kama'aina- Weekday- $60 Weekend $70
Seniors- Weekday- $50
Non Residents- $150


Sorry Royal Kunia...been playing you ever Saturday for the past three years....We're going to look into a new Saturday location where the green fees are comparable to the GREEN conditions. For that price there are a lot more courses on the island with much better and much more consistent greens to play.

[rok78]

[quote name='pitbull808' timestamp='1309733485' post='3361983']
Played Royal Kunia yesterday....was greeted by a sign on the door.


As of August 1st...RATE CHANGES

Kama'aina- Weekday- $60 Weekend $70
Seniors- Weekday- $50
Non Residents- $150


Sorry Royal Kunia...been playing you ever Saturday for the past three years....We're going to look into a new Saturday location where the green fees are comparable to the GREEN conditions. For that price there are a lot more courses on the island with much better and much more consistent greens to play.
[/quote]

Ouch! +1 to that. This is not exactly the best time to be raising green fees.

[pitbull808]

[quote name='rok78' timestamp='1309756120' post='3362781']
[quote name='pitbull808' timestamp='1309733485' post='3361983']
Played Royal Kunia yesterday....was greeted by a sign on the door.


As of August 1st...RATE CHANGES

Kama'aina- Weekday- $60 Weekend $70
Seniors- Weekday- $50
Non Residents- $150


Sorry Royal Kunia...been playing you ever Saturday for the past three years....We're going to look into a new Saturday location where the green fees are comparable to the GREEN conditions. For that price there are a lot more courses on the island with much better and much more consistent greens to play.
[/quote]

Ouch! +1 to that. This is not exactly the best time to be raising green fees.
[/quote]


Especially when their greens have been iffy at best for the past year. I thought it was an extremely odd move to make shortly after giving everyone a survey. I know I wrote down that they charge too much for lousy greens! They've now put their price in the Kapolei range...and I'd rather play Kapolei and the better greens for that. They can now cancel our tee times that go into 2013!

We've now secured times...rotating between Mililani and New Ewa. Mililani may be slow but at least the ball rolls better then RK.

[rok78]

[quote name='pitbull808' timestamp='1309819737' post='3364287']
[quote name='rok78' timestamp='1309756120' post='3362781']
[quote name='pitbull808' timestamp='1309733485' post='3361983']
Played Royal Kunia yesterday....was greeted by a sign on the door.


As of August 1st...RATE CHANGES

Kama'aina- Weekday- $60 Weekend $70
Seniors- Weekday- $50
Non Residents- $150


Sorry Royal Kunia...been playing you ever Saturday for the past three years....We're going to look into a new Saturday location where the green fees are comparable to the GREEN conditions. For that price there are a lot more courses on the island with much better and much more consistent greens to play.
[/quote]

Ouch! +1 to that. This is not exactly the best time to be raising green fees.
[/quote]


Especially when their greens have been iffy at best for the past year. I thought it was an extremely odd move to make shortly after giving everyone a survey. I know I wrote down that they charge too much for lousy greens! They've now put their price in the Kapolei range...and I'd rather play Kapolei and the better greens for that. They can now cancel our tee times that go into 2013!

We've now secured times...rotating between Mililani and New Ewa. Mililani may be slow but at least the ball rolls better then RK.
[/quote]

And hopefully Mililani will get back to how it used to be. Those are much better courses for the price.

[propredicr]

That's too bad about RK. One of my favorite courses to play and I could usually get on, whenever. We'll soon see if their "plan" works, or if they can get the course in Kapolei condition.

Played Mililani, yesterday TUES. What happened, here? It was looking okay about a month-and-a half ago. Slow play. 5-10 minute wait on tee box and, again, on second shots. It wasn't that it was too busy...just slow players. The greens are okay, but, the fairways are looking like Makalena...hard and bare. The redeeming thing is the $41 rate or if you go out after 1:30pm (take your chances getting in 18 holes), it's $25.

[AlohaJim]

RE: rate increases for clubs.
I play in two senior clubs (Mon/Fri weekday mornings) that rotate thru the private courses on the island. Royal Kunia, Mililani, Coral Creek, Hi Prince, New Ewa Beach, Turtle Bay (Palmer), Waikele, Koolina, etc.
We've been getting letters from many of the courses about upcoming club rate increases. I guess the rest will follow.

RE: Royal Kunia.

Agree with previous posters. The course conditions at Royal Kunia seems to be getting worse as years go by. Maybe money. Dunno. Rates are pretty high given the course conditions. We don't play there as much as we used to. It used to be one of my favorite courses.

RE: course conditions for the money.

The best conditions for the money still might be New Ewa Beach for 35$ (senior weekday) ($32 with year card) and Coral Creek. Both with Seashore Passpalumnnn grass. Of course Olomana has a good balance between green fees (senior weekday), puttable greens, and great food at good prices.

I heard that the owner of New Ewa Beach also owns Mililani and has started a long term program to improve the course. The new cement cartpaths are a lot better than the backbreaking broken asphalt ones. The yearly discount card for New Ewa Beach also works at Mililani, also same discounts for lunch at each.

FWIW I think there should be green fee discounts when the greens are punched and until they are completely healed over. As a courtesy, there should also be discounts and notifications at the front desk and when calling in if there are alternate tees and greens (Hawaii Kai).

Comment: Been seeing 5somes and 6somes on some courses while other courses are getting stricter about not allowing 5somes. Duh.

[mauiatheart]

Kapolei was in very good condition. The greens could have been faster, but they rolled fine.

[propredicr]

Have been driving by Waikele on the freeway and started to notice the greens/fairways, actually look alive and green! Decided to take a shot at a round, this morning. Wow! The new owners are definately making a statement with the upgrades (colorful plants, curbs, signage).

The most impressive turnaround were the fairways and greens. Only one green wasn't in shape (I believe it was #10). The fairways were lush and not all spotted up with red dirt patches.

Round was 4:45 on a Sunday morning. Not too bad. They charge $60 on Sunday, but, who isn't charging that much?

[mauiatheart]

Volcano - Greens are not good. Splotchy with fast and spongy parts. But cheap.

[golf80808]

Yes Waikele is looking pretty nice. I drive by it almost everyday. Maybe I can get on the course one of these days...

[quote name='propredicr' timestamp='1311553015' post='3419992']
Have been driving by Waikele on the freeway and started to notice the greens/fairways, actually look alive and green! Decided to take a shot at a round, this morning. Wow! The new owners are definately making a statement with the upgrades (colorful plants, curbs, signage).

The most impressive turnaround were the fairways and greens. Only one green wasn't in shape (I believe it was #10). The fairways were lush and not all spotted up with red dirt patches.

Round was 4:45 on a Sunday morning. Not too bad. They charge $60 on Sunday, but, who isn't charging that much?
[/quote]

[mauiatheart]

Played Hokulia today, , in the Ellison Onizuka Space Center fundraiser. Greens were almost totally healed from being punched. A little bumpy and slower than usual, but they did just punch the greens 3 weeks ago. Fairways were perfect as always. If you are lucky enough to play it, wait a week or two to have the greens heal.

[monkutare]

Last week Sunday, played Mililani, decent conditions, but some greens have large patch repairs
Last Monday played Kapolei and it was in excellent condition but green fee $65
Also played pm round Friday at Coral Creek, slow play but course was in good shape

[tod071]

Played Klipper last Thursday, course was pretty dry, but greens were very nice. And fast as heck!

Played there again today, still dry, but greens were a little slower and manageable this time around. Pin placement was still on the edges though.

[propredicr]

FYI...Pearl CC aerating some fairways. Dusty or muddy depending on the mauka showers.

[pitbull808]

Played Royal Kunia yesterday after our self imposed boycott due to price increase. Sad to see after almost a month now of price increase, none of the dollars went into the greens. They still are pretty bad. it's a toss up now...play a slow round at Mililani on greens better then RK..but the rest of the course sucks or play a more expensive round at RK in 2.5hours where the greens need work but everything else is great.

[mauiatheart]

Kapolei is looking good. Greens on the front were slow. The greens on the back was typical of the normal speed. Rolls great on either side.

[tod071]

Heard Hawaii Kai got aerated recently. Any word on their current conditions?

[toddnt]

Where should I play when in Kauai???

[drck1000]

Played at Ewa GC yesterday and the greens were aerated. They looked like they were aerated about 1-2 weeks ago. You could still see the sand filled holes, but they actually played ok. Or maybe I like healing punched greens as I had one of my best putting and short game days in a long time. They did have reduced rate of $45.

I've heard that Navy-Marine also aerated recently, I think middle of last week. We were going to play this past weekend, but heard that they recently aerated.

[propredicr]

yes, N/M was just done and is very punched and very sanded...as of yesterday.

other courses getting aeration, as of last week...Mauna Lani-South (Kona), Makalei (Kona).

[golf80808]

Played Coral Creek this past weekend. Course in good condition, greens rolling fast and true. Too bad my game was terrible.

[propredicr]

+1 Coral Creek. They are punching/sanding one hole every Monday. #1 was done this past Monday. Course looks nice, all over.

[GOLF808]

Heard Ko Olina had a $55 special due to aeration,but greens not too bad last sat. No holes just a little sandy ,not sure how long they will have this offer .

[propredicr]

Hawaii Prince (Ewa Beach)-best I've seen it in years! Greens were punched and sanded about a month ago and are starting to roll, nicely. Rough wasn't too bad and they cleaned out a lot of the trees and crap where you would normally lose balls. The wind is still a huge factor (did you feel it, yesterday?), but, they've made the course a little easier for the weekend golfers. Stay out of the bunkers because the the sand is very inconsistent.

[GOLF808]

Played Olomana Saturday, haven't been there in a while. Fairways were much worse than I remember, very wrinkly, riding the cart felt like I was in a motocross race with only whoop -e-dooos. 90% was all dried out and cracked 10% was lush overgrown and mushy. Most of the water hazards were dried out. Amazingly the greens were excellent, green, receptive, fast and smooth . Go figure?

[Kimo808]

Played Mililani yesterday....garbage as usual. Many friends kept telling me about new management and "visible improvements". WHERE??
The only difference I noticed were: new cart paths and Front & Back sides have been switched, that's it! The abundant dirt patches, iffy greens, and rock hard fairways are still there...won't be going back.

The restaurant, however, is ONO as usual!