Golfadelphia

6,701 yards, 134 slope from the Regular tees

2008. A young married couple is feeling good about themselves having just moved into their first house a few weeks ago. Even though the otherworldly great looking husband is from California, he has never ventured to Hawaii so he takes his wife to Maui that summer to meet up with some of his family and explore. He doesn’t bring his golf clubs when he travels except when he meets up with his Dad. Yes, any vacation with his Dad, he knew he was to bring the golf clubs. He didn’t know what golf courses he would play or when, but he knew he would golf. Hawaii had to have some picturesque golf courses, that he was sure of, but didn’t know much about those golf courses. It turned out he would play two golf courses while he was there. Royal Ka’anapali he would play three times, there was some time share preview element that others delighted in using so the majority of the rounds were there. The husband was fine enough golfing here but the housing about the course seemed confining and blocked views of the landscape and island he was interested in seeing. Then there was some discussion of playing Kapalua, which was higher up on the island and supposed to have spectacular views. And the PGA Tour played the course, so it had to be good. So the husband was able to eke out an additional morning round while his saint of a wife slept in and relaxed on the beach. From the clubhouse before the round, he looked out to the fairways and greens all at various heavenly heights with the vibrant ocean beyond. In many respects, the game changed for him at that very moment, as he began to see it more vividly and perhaps a bit more existentially. This may or may not have anything to do with the fact that he started drinking coffee regularly on this trip, who can say.

So it was with Kapalua. A golf course I played sixteen years ago and have not returned to since but think about often and see on television annually. At the time, the course likely did more than anything else in showing me the remarkable places in the world this game can take you and ensured I endeavored with much more intent in finding them during my travels. The course likewise introduced me tenfold to ball movement in response to the terrain, as I needed to figure out where the ball would roll and focus my aim accordingly. It may have also been the highest number that my green fee and score matched up more or less (120) as I saw plenty of shots crudely careen off course to the sides and forever lost in the hills and over the cliff tops. Regardless, it was a significant round for me and with much needed help, am finally able to write about the course.

Golfadelphia correspondent Rob Nydick was able to photograph Kapalua recently so all of the photographs are his. For the first time, my round from sixteen years ago will link up with these recent photos for impressions and perceptions of the course from a time long ago. A time when I knew much less about the game or course design, or had very many strong opinions about it. It was a time most all of us go through, where we see something in the game that makes us want to pursue and learn about it more. I was being drawn in, ever so slowly even as the rounds never subsided. These were the years where I started exploring the public golf scene in Philadelphia and Southern California when visiting family. Then would come the pivotal time when I had to venture out on my own as the last of my golfing friends moved from the area. Then my first membership at Phoenixville and so the journey would continue where it is present day and so it will continue, all of it becoming points on some kind of map that rises, descends, swiggles and some times even loops. Indeed, this round was early on yet did well to further ensnare me in the wonderful trappings of the game.

Kapalua was designed by Coore and Crenshaw and opened in 1991. On the island of Maui and a pineapple farm in a prior life, the course is set on lush vibrant hills that rise and fall between deep gorges and ravines. The scale of the course is immense and wide open, with seemingly endless views of the ocean and sky. The fairways are grand corridors that follow the hills and demand carries over some of the valleys to relatively large greens. C & C provided plenty of options within which to play it even with the sudden elevation changes and windy conditions. With lots of space to work with but hills that send the balls screaming towards the low points and wind that can speed from the ocean up the mountainside like a freight train, the golfer needs those options to best chart their way. In 2018, the course underwent renovation work overseen by Coore and Crenshaw, which included installing new forward tees, TifEagle Bermuda grass on the greens, re-grassing the fairways with Celebration Bermuda and bunker updates. Further restoration work was completed in 2019.

Playing the course was my introduction to how scale fitting the landscape lended itself to the surroundings, enabling the golfer to feel a more intimate interaction with the land. The roll of the ball was more prevalent here than any other course to date for me, which culminated in finally adjusting my shots the right way at the thrilling Eighteenth finish. As has been a consistent in playing Coore and Crenshaw designed courses, the round was a more transcendent feeling that really, felt like most of why I enjoyed being out there in the first place. My intuition all those years ago proved correct and looking back, I feel fortunate to have played it when I did so early on.  

The First is a 433 yard par 4 (from the Regular tees). Slaughterhouse Beach and the ocean beyond is just off to the right as we start our sojourn moving closer to it. The downhill fairway tilts right to left leading to a ravine that either needs to be carried or skirted around. The fairway bends to the left around it with a final climb to the green. There is room off to the left to avoid the ravine and all is encompasses but there’s a lot of temptation to get as close to it as possible as the most direct line to the green.

The Second is a 199 yard par 3. The golfer’s attention is directed towards the four bunkers that are lined up diagonally and the green is to the left of them. It’s an interesting bunker placement, as most straight shots will end up on the green but the golfer will be tempted to steer his ball away from them anyways. Like the hole prior, there is a good amount of room on the left to work with.

The Third is a 363 yard par 4. We now start back up the hill and a few large bunkers are off to the right from the tee. The fairway widens after them while the green is well bunkered on all sides with a general movement of right to left. The golfer has a good amount of fairway to work with but from wherever he is, the approach must be spot on to avoid the surrounding bunkers.

The Fourth is a 310 yard par 4. We continue the climb further up in the hills with one of the narrow holes on the course. Bunkers are on either side and that right to left movement starts to cry for more attention. The fairway feeds into the green so those more comfortable keeping their shots below the wind may do so here.

The Fifth is a 484 yard par 5. Like the First, the fairway curls around a ravine on the right. Here, the fairway is the high point as it plateaus after the tee shot, then makes its turn to the green downhill at the last moment. The second shot is pivotal as some may try to go for the green since it’s downhill and could be within reach but instead, moving up the fairway sets up a shorter downhill shot with a clear view to the green. Temptation is used well here. With the grand scale of the views, fairway width and elevation changes, the golfer constantly faces decisions that bring hillsides and ravines more into play than they need to be but most of us simply can’t help ourselves and want to watch the ball soar as high and far in the ethereal background as possible.

The Sixth is a 375 yard par 4. While the early part of my round all those years ago consisted of hitting out of a lot of bunkers, trying to keep the ball in play and trying to keep pace, I have a distinct memory of this hole. The concept of ball movement finally hit home for me as I was able to get a hold of one of my drives and watched my ball take off out of sight down the hill. There was a ball close to the green and I just assumed it was someone else from the group and I had gone out of bounds but alas, it was me. I managed a chip on the green and two-putted for par. I remember thinking to myself that now that I know how the fairway moves, I would aim more to the left next time to use the terrain even better in maneuvering the ball closer to the green. It’s a splendid hole to reach such epiphanies.

The Seventh is a 491 yard par 4. Why yes, this par 4 is longer than the par 5 Fifth. It’s also dramatically downhill so stated yardage means little. The fairway moves down and to the right, then starts narrowing closer to the green. One thing to note is the scarcity of fairway bunkers on the downhill holes, allowing the golfer maximum opportunity to utilize the terrain movement. There are bunkers closer to the green here while the fairway flows right into it. Just don’t go long, as it’s possible the ball won’t stop rolling until it reaches the ocean.

The Eighth is a 186 yard par 3. The tee shot is above the green with a ravine between. The front center bunker is most definitely one of mercy, stopping balls from moving back into the abyss. Bunkers cover the high points where most would hedge their shots to ensure a successful carry, which further emphasizes a more precise tee shot here. The green moves right to left as well. There’s a lot to take in but I always like taking on the center of the green and have it move left upon landing, which should leave a more manageable uphill putt. That’s what I would do now. Back then, it was not one but two shots failing to clear the bush. Woe is me. Do not fret. A few hours after this round, I was snorkeling at some of the best beaches in the world, swimming with the turtles.

The Ninth is a 492 yard par 5. We’re back at the low point of the course and swing around the Third tee to start the climb back to the clubhouse. The fairway is broken into two by a large deep swale but most times the tee shot will remain on the first half. Regardless, a well hit tee shot is needed here or else the second will likely be wasted on getting back in position. The second fairway is above the first and moves up and to the right. Bunkers line both sides up to the green and there’s a center line bunker before the green. The front nine does not go gently into the night. It will make you earn every stroke as you try to close things out. But turn around and look at the view to put things in perspective. A nice challenging longer hole.

The front nine uses the lower southern part of the hills and its figure-eight routing ensures variety by using the magnificent hills so that the golfer was changing directions frequently, which in turn changes how the wind affects the shots. I would rank them 9, 1, 7, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.

The back nine starts with the 308 yard par 4 Tenth. Like the front nine, we end up moving through the hills in a big figure-right that starts with climbing up the hill away from the clubhouse. The fairway dog legs left and narrows as one gets closer to the green, everything moving towards the left, where a prominent bunker seems to lure the shots. It’s a shorter par 4 so temptation once again comes into play here in deciding whether to go for the green off the tee or lay up. Control rules the day here.

The Eleventh is a 161 yard par 3. Moving back towards the ocean, the green is downhill from the tee and hillside before it pulls from left to right. There are bunkers about the green yet the front is open for the most part. Long is no good at all unless the golfer feels like taking a longer gaze at the view.

The Twelfth is a 366 yard par 4. The hole runs parallel to the ocean with bunkers along the sides of the rather wide fairway. Coore and Crenshaw certainly allowed the beautiful surroundings to thrive while ensuring the design worked with it instead of imposing itself on it. The golfer is on the vibrant hillside with the ocean almost overwhelmingly in size before him even as he is almost a quarter of a mile above. The green sits on a terrace of the hillside leading down to the water with a large center line bunker imploring the golfer to decide on a path to the green that avoids it. Either the high left or low right.

The Thirteenth is a 347 yard par 4. The routing used this lower part of the hillside but now needs to get out of it. Instead of lining the holes back and forth sideways to maximize the views, C&C circled the perimeter before moving straight up the interior here, which ultimately continues climbing to the higher reaches of the hills. This ensured the utmost variety of terrain. Here, there is a right to left movement as the golfer climbs back up the hill with bunkers staggered up the fairway in strategic progression. The first bunker is on the left and comes into play off the tee while the second is further up on the right, perpendicular to the line of play and intruding towards the center. Then there is the one greenside on the left. The golfer can use the right side and even the short grass high right as a backboard and have the approaches come back down off of it.

The Fourteenth is a 271 yard par 4. A real short par 4 where yes, temptation does its thing once again. Many more of us can reach the green off the tee but it’s fairly small compared to the others and bunkers abound. Some will take the gamble and hit their second shot wherever it ends up off the tee. The fairway narrows with bunkering on both sides as well. There’s always hitting something much shorter to the wide part of the fairway for a nice clear approach, just waiting for the wise among us.

The Fifteenth is a 500 yard par 5. A subtle double dog leg that starts an initial bend to the right before the fairway ends, picking up again after a carry and eventually listing up and to the left to the green. There are a couple bunkers on the left before the green but that is it. At one of the highest points of the course, the green hills showcase themselves as they rise and fall. The green itself is a natural extension of those hills, with a pin placed among all of it as unobtrusively as possible. I remember this hole and walking up to the green. As the breeze came through and had the surrounding fauna dancing, the sense of place was remarkable. It was a side of Hawaii I had not yet seen, away from the beaches and hotels and the like. It was intuitively memorable.

The Sixteenth is a 354 yard par 4. The bunker line at the Second harkens to us as we look upon this hole from the tee. Here, they are lined up at the left center and create a duel fairway concept, the left side a bit tougher to reach but rewarding with a better angle into the green. The two fairways converge after the line of bunkers into a large fairway with a center line bunker further up closer to the green. The green has bunkers near it, interspersed with short grass and on a hillside. Lots of interest about the green and where the ball will end up.

The Seventeenth is a 462 yard par 4. We now start the descent back down to the clubhouse with the ocean in full splendor. The fairway widens as it moves away from the tee, until it ends at a ravine and picks back up on the other side where it moves to the left towards the green. As the golfer moves down the hill, the quickness of the terrain asserts itself strongly. The other side of the fairway does the same, as it all moves towards the green. While it seems like a long par 4, this movement does well to shorten the distance of the shots considerably.

The Eighteenth is a 599 yard par 5. The early 1990’s was very much still within the era of the signature hole where there was an expectation of the crescendo at the final hole. We have that here and it is indeed effective. The scenery on full display and the hillside substantial pulling downhill and right to left, the golfer is inspired to launch their ball into the heights of the beauty around him and watch it glide down to the fairway where it bounces with delight closer and closer to the hole. The golfer then needs to decide whether to skirt the ravine and bunkers on the left or carry all of that for a go at the green. The fairway keeps flowing around the ravine and into the green itself, so the shots need to keep landing short of their intended final destination for the roll out. The carnage of the scorecard immediately eviscerated as I walked off the hole. The transcendent feelings of place and natural landscape were profound and the realization of what this game could be was striking. Little did I know back then.

The back nine moves about the northern side of the property. One may not realize it because of the sensory overload but there is only one par 3 on the back, as the land was more suited for drawn out longer holes with its rolling hillsides and terraces. The par 5’s are noteworthy as are the par 4’s with their variety of character. I would rank them 18, 15, 13, 12, 17, 16, 10, 14, 11.

Generally, Kapalua Plantation is a very solid design that does many things well as was its charge from the onset. While a resort course, it still challenges and engages the golfer with sophistication instead of dumbing down the experience for the good of the guest. With that said, the course is imminently playable and takes advantage of the natural beauty without selling out and sacrificing the design integrity for the sake of it. The figure-eight routings on each nine varies both the terrain and wind, keeping the golfer on his toes and always in a state of strategizing. The course is also a PGA Tour venue, so needs to challenge that elite level of skill along with everything else, which it does well not by trying to bludgeon the field with difficulty but by ensuring the style of play and shots are interesting. The course excels in all of these respects.

As an earlier Coore and Crenshaw design, the maturity and complexity displayed here no doubt assured their projection upward with future projects. Restraint plays a big part of this, as catering to the views would have been easier in many respects. Instead, they were interested in wringing out the most engaging golf they could. Within the strategic character of the course is temptation, which is used quite effectively here. The grand views and setting are more than enough to lull the golfer into shots he would not otherwise contemplate. It’s a matter of thought and calculation but it’s also a matter of restraint in play. Restraint in design, restraint in play. The variety is likewise notable, which is prevalent in all aspects of the holes, from how the golfer encounters hazards, the wind and terrain movement. The golfer ends up seeing a lot in more ways than one. Kapalua was an influential design at the time it came out, emphasizing structure of play and natural surrounds incorporated into it as opposed to a structure of play on its own, imposed on the land and the views used as a way to justify it all. Its appeal helped shift design trends into a new era ever so slowly, where substance began to prevail over looks. It is one of the larger, grand scale courses of Coore and Crenshaw. Sheep Ranch may contend but its smaller length and compactness differentiates a good deal. The scale fits the sense of place here, which C&C are genius at capturing. Like most of the others in their portfolio that came after this, that sense of place felt through the round is one of the true delights of the game.

Clubhouse/Pro Shop: The clubhouse is situated in the middle of the course, with holes below and above it and enjoys views of the ocean. The pro shop is well equipped and logo is real sneaky great.

Practice Area: The driving range is a cart drive but putting and short game area are near the clubhouse.