Hawaii - Maui - The Plantation Course at Kapalua

It has been a dream of mine to visit Hawaii for many years.  What a pleasure to get to do so while also playing one of the best golf courses in the world.  The Plantation Course at Kapalua is a beautiful course that winds around the coastline of Maui, up and down the side of the mountain.

The first day at The Plantation Course the wind was howling.  Downhill, downwind shots traveled forever.  I was regularly hitting tee shots between 380 and 400 yards on these holes (my average drive is somewhere in the 270 range).  There is something uplifting about watching a ball fly that far.  The uphill, into-the-wind shots were just about the opposite.  I would smash a driver with all my might and maybe get 210 yards out of it.

The Ben Crenshaw design is gorgeous and well laid-out.  For example, the downhill, downwind iconic 18^th hole at The Plantation Course is 663 yards from the tips.  However, because the prevailing wind is downwind on that hole and the fairway is like a ski slope, it plays significantly less than that yardage.  I hit Driver, 4-iron over the green there the first time around.  In contrast, the holes heading back up the mountain and into the prevailing wind are usually in the range of 380-400 yards in length from the championship tees.  These holes tend to play the longest of all of the holes with a stiff breeze as you have to knock down a long iron to get the ball to fly back to the hole.

The wind is probably the biggest defense the course has.  The second biggest factor in pushing scores high on the 77.2 rated course is the greens.  Many times during the course of our three rounds at The Plantation Course I found myself befuddled by my misreading of a green.  I would clearly see an uphill putt when it actually was a significantly downhill putt.   When a putt rolls twenty feet past the hole on a ten foot putt, you have to tip your hat to the designers on creating such a visually deceptive putting surface.  I figured out by the third round that you couldn’t rely on your eyes to read these greens.  By the end, I was walking my line on every putt, letting my feet read the slope of the green.

I was impressed by the welcome and service we received from the staff at The Plantation Course.  Our starter, Dennis, warmly greeted us and gave us the lay of the land.  The outside staff was there at every turn with assistance and a cool, wet towel after the round.  Generally speaking, the experience exceeded my expectations at every turn.

As I said previously, the price tag for a trip to Hawaii is very high, no matter what your itinerary.  This probably comes as no surprise to anyone.  The surprise for me was the overall customer service experience of the trip.  With this high price tag, I would generally expect a rather high level of service at every turn.  Instead, however, the customer service was disappointing on the island (with the exception of our treatment at The Plantation Course).  If great value and great service for the price are priorities for you in your travels, I would not recommend Hawaii as your destination of choice.

That being said, it is hard to put a price tag on the experience of watching the sunset on the Pacific or seeing a double rainbow, as we did on our afternoon round on the first day at the Plantation Course.  It is a magical and breath-taking place and I feel grateful for having had the chance to visit there.

Mahalo and Aloha

(Thank you (Gratitude) and Hello/Goodbye)