During my first year playing golf in 2005, I took my family on a vacation to Kauai. Being a family vacation, I didn't bring my golf clubs, but thought I'd rent some and try to get one round in with my son, who was 19 at the time. This would be my first golf round I'd ever played away from home and my son's first ever round of golf on an 18 hole course, so I wanted to pick a good one.


Kauai's Poipu Bay Golf Course by golfslo at flickr.com

Since we were staying on the south side of the island, I decided to play Poipu Bay Golf Course - one of the best 18 courses in the U.S. according to Golf Magazine and home of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf!

This obviously turned out to be a great pick! I was a little unprepared for the strong headwinds the course is known for, but managed just fine. My first experience renting clubs went well too. The course provided a nice set of Ping i3 irons and woods.

I introduced my son to the twosome we joined from Los Angeles. I let them know right away that he'd only played twice before on a 9-hole course, but was a good hockey player.

My son then stepped up and drove his 3-wood right down the middle of the fairway within a couple yards of my drive. He then hit the green with a 7-iron and 2-putted for his first par. As expected, he didn't keep that up the entire round, and had a few blow-up holes, but he surprised all of us by finishing with a very respectable 101. I was impressed with how well he played in his first round with strangers and on a full-length course, and at Poipu Bay no less. He even recorded his first birdie!

I shot a 41 on the front nine, with 4 pars and 1 double bogie. I found the greens slow, but putted well overall. I had a more difficult time shooting pars on the back due to strong headwinds. I ended with a par on 18 for a 45 on the back nine and 86 for the round. I was pretty happy with the round, especially for my first visit to this course and using rental clubs.

I forget what the round cost, but I think I paid about $150 each for my son and I to play with a cart and rental clubs! The expense wasn't much of a factor since I felt so fortunate just to have the opportunity to play this beautiful course along the Pacific Ocean, and with my son.

Labels: Golf Destinations, Golf Vacation, Hawaii, Kauai, Poipu Bay