Kauai Lagoons Golf Courses (tel. 800/634-6400): Choose between two excellent Jack Nicklaus-designed courses: the Mokihana Course (formerly known as the Lagoons Course), for the recreational golfer, or the Kauai Kiele Championship Course, for the low handicapper. The 6,942-yard, par-72 Mokihana is a links-style course with a bunker that's a little less severe than Kiele's; emphasis is on the short game. The Kiele is a mixture of tournament-quality challenge and high-traffic playability. It winds up with one of Hawaii's most difficult holes, a 431-yard, par-4 played straightaway to an island green.
Puakea Golf Course (tel. 866/773-5554): This former Grove Farm sugar plantation just opened up 18 holes in 2003 to rave reviews. The course was in the middle of construction when Hurricane Iniki slammed into it in 1992, rearranging the greens from golf-course designer Robin Nelson's original plan. The first nine (actually the first 10) holes finally opened in 1997 to many kudos; Sports Illustrated named Puakea one of the 10 best nine-hole golf courses in the U.S. The final eight holes were finished last year and now give golfers something to think about.
Poipu Bay Golf Course (tel. 808/742-8711): This 6,959-yard, par-72 course with a links-style layout is the home of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., this challenging course features undulating greens and water hazards on eight of the holes. The par-4 16th hole has the coastline weaving along the entire left side. You can take the safe route to the right and maybe make par (but more likely bogey), or you can try to take it tight against the ocean and possibly make it in two.
Kiahuna Golf Club (tel. 808/742-9595): This par-70, 6,353-yard Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed course plays around four large archaeological sites, ranging from an ancient Hawaiian temple to the remains of a Portuguese home and crypt built in the early 1800s. This Scottish-style course has rolling terrain, undulating greens, 70 sand bunkers, and near-constant winds. At any given time, about half the players on the course are Kauai residents, the other half visitors.
Princeville Golf Club (tel. 808/826-2727): Here you'll find 45 of the best tropical holes of golf in the world, all the work of Robert Trent Jones Jr. They range along green bluffs below sharp mountain peaks and offer stunning views in every direction. One of the top three courses in Hawaii, the 18-hole Prince provides a round of golf few ever forget; it winds along 390 acres of scenic tableland bisected by tropical jungles, waterfalls, streams, and ravines.
