Ko’olau
Played Ko’olau (Pronounced ko-ah-LAH-ooh) all the way back in 2003 and don’t have any photos which is a shame since they closed the course recently and took down the site. The above photo is from the Travelling Golfer and if he keeps it up on the site, he has some good photos. The above is as good of a representation that I can remember.
First the course. It is tough. In fact they used to market themselves as the toughest course in the nation. The back tees played to a 162 slope! In some write-up somewhere, someone said bring as many balls as your handicap. Yeah a ball a hole, I see that. This is so tough that they quote its toughness as one of the reasons they couldn’t make it. No local liked playing it on a daily or even weekly basis. Too tough. The 18th from what I remember was the toughest of the tough. You had to hit out over the jungle off your drive and boomerang back over the jungle on your approach. All together it was 430+ yards from the resort tees. From my memory this was the toughest hole in golf.
However, from a wow factor perspective, you can’t really beat it. While there are no ocean views, the mountains and jungle are eye candy on every hole. Oh, and if you lose a ball in the schmeggies, just know that snakes are not indigenous to Hawaii. Of course you can’t lose any balls there now, it’s closed.
We’re going way back a lot of years and Miller Lites but I faintly remember it was not in the greatest of shape and I guess it is on the wayward side of the mountain so it gets a shit ton of rain. So beyond the jungle and almost 6,400 yards from the resort tees you also get zero roll.
Ko’olau is on Oahu, which if you’re going to Hawaii from the east coast and all your itinerary has on it is Oahu, don’t go. Yes the above is beautiful and I guess there are walking trails and whatnot that have similar sites, but Wakiki is suck-kiki and Honolulu is a traffic-snarled mess of a city. The other course I played on the island was Ko’Olina which was nice but certainly not worth the 11-hour plus flight (and another 11 on the way home). Go to Maui (I’ve never been to the Big Island so maybe try there too). Or, just hit the Caribbean or Costa Rica, save the money and get almost a full day more on the ground and not in an airport.
This was one of the first courses I added when I started the golf scrapbook and you can find a write up and a few good pix (likely borrowed) here. So they just closed the course in 2020. It was owned by a church that didn’t even need to make a profit on it and even they couldn’t survive Honolulu Mayor Caldwell’s almost year-long shut down. As I said above, locals didn’t play it and when your survival depends on tourists (like a lot of the island businesses) you are doomed when the governor and mayor decide to shut you down for a year. Hopefully someone steps up to re-open it but if God is your partner and you can’t make it, I’m not sure anyone can. I guess God and golf just don’t go together.
Golf Scrapbook 