Matt F.
Yelp
This track is right up there in my top two fun courses with TPC Scottsdale (Stadium). It was just honestly pure fun. Not terribly difficult, I managed to shoot 76 from the champions tour tournament tees. There is lava rock everywhere, and the fairways are widddeeeee. Greens are very accessible, and greens rolled about a 10 and were true as it gets. Highlights include the par 3 on the front 9 with the man made lake, the par 3 on the back 9 with the bunker in the middle of the green, and the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes with awesome ocean views.
It was super quiet on the course the day I played. We were staying at the four seasons, and in order to play this track you have to either be staying at the resort or be a member. I booked a 2pm tee time to take advantage of the twilight rate, and showed up a bit early to hit balls and warm up. They let my wife ride along for free, and I played in two and a half hours, never having to wait on a single shot. We saw the cart guy on the third hole, and he told us he was going in for the day as it was so quiet. My wife actually was tanning in her bikini top in the cart most of the day as there was no one around, something I had never seen on a golf course before. We stocked up on free sodas and waters, and paid for a few beers and some snacks. He raved about not missing the free cookie jar at the halfway hut between 9 and 10, but when we got there there was only one single, sad cookie left in the jar. It was so hot that day that it was basically melted. This was the only letdown of the day. My wife snapped a ton of pictures and videos of me during the round.
Pro shop is pretty nice, stocked with a ton of club branded gear and apparel. GPS carts are a nice touch, and you can even rent one of those surfboard hover board single rider type golf cart things. They seemed cool, but we had two people, and it was an extra $50 to rent one versus the regular cart being included in the greens fee. At the end of the round, the bag boys gave us nice, cold scented towels, which we needed after sweating it out in the lava rocks all day. The following day, I actually went in a bathing suit and a t shirt and just used the practice facility. It's a $40 fee, but there's free sodas, gatorades, and waters at the range. The range is all pro v1s, and the separate chipping area and giant putting green are available as well. I hit well over 100 balls and spent some time at the short game areas too, well worth the $40. Also, they have branded tees, ball markers, divot tools, etc at the range for the taking. This is a world class golf facility, I can see why they host a champions tour event.
After the round, we wanted to check out the hualalai grill for a beer upstairs from the pro shop, but we were in the awkward time between lunch and dinner when they weren't open. That was kind of a bummer, they should just be open from like 11 am on thru dinner. We should've driven our cart down to residents beach house for a drink, which I later found out is really the 19th hole as we saw many golf carts parked there, but we didn't know that at the time.