wind conditions, forecast?

cow2215 · September 29, 2011

kohala coast

hi HIers,
headed to the kohala coast next week for two weeks. hoping to play a round or two (with the family, non golfers all of them!) and therefore would like to try and pick my spots. fwiw, thinking of trying twilight at mauna kea, maybe hapuna as well. is it worth it to suck it up and pay full freight for an AM round (ie for less wind)?
i have read about trade winds - are they consistently breezier in the afternoons? is there a good resource for checking wind conditions? are wind forecasts (ie NOAA's website) any good?
thanks in advance!

Tom S. · September 30, 2011

We spend about a month a year on the islands and when we first started going, I would think the same - play twilight and save a few bucks. When my visor wouldn't stay on and my cart parter couldn't hear me talk due to the howling trade winds, it was time to play as early as I could.

You could get lucky and the winds may not be strong the day your play but if you're gonna play one of the most beautiful courses in the world (Mauna Kea), might as well play in the best conditions.

Just my two cents.

cow2215 · October 8, 2011

Well, as it turned out today was an odd one, cloud cover starting at about 2pm, winds were almost nonexistent all afternoon.

But over the last week I have noticed that wind conditions vary quite a bit from day to day. FWIW there are a few websites that track wind conditions (for windsurfers and the like), not sure how accurate the forecast is yet.

October must really be the time of year to come to the islands - the course was so empty that I played 14 holes in about 2.5 hrs before running into a twosome. teed off at noon.

[quote name='Tom S.' timestamp='1317390524' post='3607401']
We spend about a month a year on the islands and when we first started going, I would think the same - play twilight and save a few bucks. When my visor wouldn't stay on and my cart parter couldn't hear me talk due to the howling trade winds, it was time to play as early as I could.

You could get lucky and the winds may not be strong the day your play but if you're gonna play one of the most beautiful courses in the world (Mauna Kea), might as well play in the best conditions.

Just my two cents.
[/quote]