The South Course (Arthur Jack Snyder, 1976) shares similar seaside-into-the-hills terrain, but is rated a couple of strokes easier, mostly because putts are less treacherous.
Website: www.kaanapali-golf.com
North Course: 18 holes. 6,136 yds. Par 71. Slope 126.
South Course: 18 holes. 6,067 yds. Par 71. Slope 122.
Facilities: Driving range, putting green, rental clubs, golf carts, lessons, restaurant, bar
Kapalua Golf Courses. Perhaps Hawai'i's best known golf resort and the crown jewel of golf on Maui, Kapalua hosts the PGA Tour's first event each January: the Mercedes Championships at the Plantation Course at Kapalua. Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore (1991) tried to incorporate traditional shot values in a very nontraditional site, taking into account slope, gravity, and the prevailing trade winds. The par-5 18th, for instance, plays 663 yards from the back tees (600 yards from the resort tees). The hole drops 170 feet in elevation, narrowing as it goes to a partially guarded green, and plays downwind and down-grain. Despite the longer-than-usual distance, the slope is great enough and the wind at your back usually brisk enough to reach the green with two well-struck shots -- a truly unbelievable finish to a course that will challenge, frustrate, and reward the patient golfer.
The Bay Course (Arnold Palmer and Francis Duane, 1975) is the most traditional of Kapalua's triad, with gentle rolling fairways and generous greens. The most memorable hole is the par-3 fifth, with a tee shot that must carry a turquoise finger of Onelua Bay. The Village Course at Kapalua (Palmer and Ed Seay, 1980) winds high into the West Maui Mountains through historic stands of Cook pines and eucalyptus, then out through pineapple fields and tall native grasses.
he sixth hole is particularly dramatic: the tee is 100 feet above the fairway, with a dense stand of pines to the left and a lake to the right. The Kapalua Golf Academy (1000 Office Rd. 808/669-6500) offers 23 acres of practice turf and 11 teeing areas, a special golf fitness gym, and an instructional bay with video analysis. Each of the three courses has a separate clubhouse.
Kapalua Golf Academy: 808/669-6500
Kapalua Bay Course: 808-669-8044, 1-877-KAPALUA
Website: www.kapalua.com