Daniel B.
Yelp
Our round at Kapalua is one of my all-time favorite golfing memories. It's up there with bucket-list courses like the Old Course at St. Andrews and Pebble Beach. In several ways, I enjoyed our round at Kapalua more than I did our round at Pebble. The ocean and island views were just incredible. This is such a beautiful place. Truly paradise.
My dad and I played the Plantation Course before the 2019 renovation, on a Monday in early August. We rode and were paired up with another father-son duo, from Southern California. We didn't have caddies, but that was okay. The father in the other group had played this course before and gave us some tips. I parred the first hole out the gate.
We played from the "Resort" (white) tees where the course measures 6,019 yards with a 71.5/132 rating/slope, par 73. It was challenging and the wind didn't help. Currently, this is the only par-73 course on the PGA Tour. The Plantation Course has hosted the Tournament of Champions since 1999. The course opened in 1991 and was co-designed by Ben Crenshaw, who also took part in the 2019 refresh. From the "Championship" (black) tees, the course comes in at a whopping 7,411 yards with a 77.2/144 rating/slope. I ended up shooting a 102 (+29) which I was okay with given my skill level, the difficulty of the course, and it was my first time playing it.
Kapalua is situated on the northwest coast of Maui. Most of the Plantation Course holes have views of the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i. In general, the course is gently hilly and undulating with plenty of elevation changes. You have to hit a lot of uphill and downhill shots. The layout feels "wide open" in that fairways are wide and accepting.
You can really smash some tee shots out here, particularly on the final two holes. The 17th is a downhill par-4 that makes almost a 90-degree turn to the left on the approach. The 18th is a long, downward-sloping, dogleg-left par-5. My favorite hole was No. 11, a downhill par-3 with an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean and Moloka'i. The uphill holes can be a grind. Club up. If it's your first time playing this course, consider playing one set of tees forward than you normally do. Save your ego for another track.
From tee to green, the course was in outstanding shape. It was in better condition than the Gold Course at Wailea which we had just played the day prior. Wailea was in great shape too; Kapalua was even better. The greens are big and the day we played, they rolled fast and true. Kapalua's greens were noticeably faster than Wailea's.
There are two courses at Kapalua, this one and the Bay Course. The clubhouse is spacious and beautiful. Inside, they have the Tournament of Champions trophy on display as well as other tournament-related exhibits. The golf carts are outfitted with GPS for both courses.
Wear plenty of sunscreen and remember to reapply. I'm good about sun protection and even I got burned on this course (very rare occurrence). The UV rays are stronger and more intense in Hawaii due to its proximity to the equator.
"Kapa lua" in Hawaiian means "two borders." A looser translation is "arms embracing the sea."
I'd love to come back and play this course again some day.