The Royal Hawaiian Golf Club in Windward Oahu is a stunningly lovely and maddeningly difficult eighteen holes sculpted into the rainforest. It was opened in 1993, with the venerable architects Perry and Pete Dye offering the design. A current redesign was masterminded by Aussie golf legend Greg Norman. For golfers it’s a singular, savage magnificence. And beast.
You’ll probably move hikers of Mount Olomana on the winding street to the clubhouse. The hikers on the descent are straightforward to determine: winded, muddy, and smiling. You would possibly resemble them after a spherical within the woods. The course is settled between the triple peaks of Olomana and the towering, purple Koolau Mountains to the west.
It’s a troublesome course. Whereas it’s definitely potential to the make it by means of all 18 holes with out dropping a ball as some have absolutely completed, we’ve by no means met a golfer who has. However that’s not the purpose. It’ll “pad your handicap” in case you are a golfer who retains observe. It should additionally startle you into taking within the elegant sights and sounds of the forest. It’s distinctive on the planet of golf programs in its uncooked nature.
The trail from the primary to second tee meanders for minutes by means of the timber. With no cart, it could take fifteen minutes to stroll the paved path. Cart leases are included with inexperienced charges (as a result of clearly).
The entrance 9 is solely within the forest. Out of bounds is just about in every single place aside from the fairways and the roughs. We’d advise in opposition to taking part in with spendy identify model or customized golf balls. They vanish rapidly into the timber at Royal Hawaiian.
The again 9 is barely extra open. However the jungle is at all times in play. When the wind whips down the backslope of Mount Olomana you aren’t simply battling the course, you’re battling the weather. These commerce winds usually carry passing sheets of rain, so put a rain jacket in your bag.
There are drastic elevation modifications all through the course, starting with the uphill par-Four first gap. There are forced-carries, withering par-5s, and island greens. Blind fairways bend up, down, and round. Many of the course is hidden, seen solely in case you are taking part in it otherwise you occur to be in an plane above it. It’s Jurassic.
Royal Hawaiian Golf Course isn’t the form of course to play in case you are seeking to work in your golf sport. Until, in fact, persistence and humility are the components of your sport you need to work on. You’ll get loads of alternatives to exhibit them over eighteen holes. You’ll additionally know the fun of triumph if you land on the inexperienced beneath a forest cover and an excellent refrain of birdsong.
With an early tee time, you’ll be capable of seize a nice breakfast at The Olena restaurant or get pleasure from properly deserved lunch and refreshments after a spherical of golf that can really feel like an journey. If membership leases are unavailable (examine with the clubhouse when making a tee time), Hawaii Aloha Journey can join you with Oahu’s greatest golf outfitters.
Your smartphone’s digital camera could also be a very powerful merchandise in your golf bag at Royal Hawaiian Golf Membership. You would possibly want photographic proof for your self that you just performed such a dreamlike eighteen holes within the teeming jungle.
Posted by: Jamie Winpenny
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