My wife and I traded our timeshare to visit Kauai last week. We stayed in Princeville, on the north side of the island. I brought along my golf clubs, hoping to sneak out a few times while my wife enjoyed shopping or sitting by the pool. I was able to get 4 rounds of golf in!


The Prince Course, Princeville Kauai

The first course I played was 5 minutes from our condo - The Prince Course at Princeville. I played with a threesome from Auburn, CA consisting of 3 friends and their wives. The wives each drove a cart, the husbands rode along and played golf. We had 4 carts between us! The group was very friendly and fun and made me feel very welcome joining their group. Two of us started off nicely with birdies on the first hole. I had opportunites for several more birdies on the front, but had difficulty dealing with the slow and grainy bermuda greens and turned a couple opportunities into bogies. Still, I had a good round going into the back nine with just 1 mishap on 8 - a double bogie tallied from the frontside bunker. I figured out then that you had to pick the ball out of these sandless traps.

The back nine is where the challenge began. Somehow, I found a way to par the horseshoe shaped par 5 10th after nearly going OB to the far right off the tee, then barely getting back to the fairway. A landed a long approach from there by hitting across the canyon, found inside the horseshoe shaped fairway. On the short par 3 11th I hit a solid PW into the right to left headwind that carried the ball just enough left to loose it forever in the jungle below. I dropped near the green and chipped up close to save bogie.

The course then presents you with a long drop from the tee on 12 to a narrow jungle and tree-lined sliver of a fairway below. I hit a solid 5-wood, leaving me with an easy 9i in. A par here kept me 5-over.

The trouble began on 13 where the fairway is cut in half about 200 yards out by a ditch lined with dense shrubs. I hooked my hybrid and found the ball directly behind some rocks, forcing me to pitch out to the fairway, still leaving me 185 yards out. From here I pushed a 5i right of the green and never found the ball. When it was all over, I'd quadrupled the hole. I followed this with 2 bogies and a double bogie over the next 4 holes to ballon my round to 13-over. A respectable par on the #1 handicap 18th kept me from scoring over 85.

The next day, eager to master that back nine, I invited my wife to ride along with me after showing up early and finding the parking lot empty. Apparently, The Prince Course is empty on weekends since tourists just assume it'll be too busy to play and locals play elsewhere. For most of the round, my wife walked from each tee to green while I played the hole with the cart. She'd show up at the green about the time I'd hole a putt and I'd then give her a ride to the next teebox. She got some exercise and enjoyed the views. I got to play a much better round.


The Prince Course, Princeville Kauai

I made the turn at just 1-over, a score which would have even been a few strokes lower if I had figured out those greens. I made a mess of 10 again, but chipped in from behind the green to get another par! I made the exact same mistake on 11, taking too little club and letting a slight draw get carried left of the green by the headwind. This time I failed to get up and down and added a double bogie. However, I managed another par on 12 and improved on 13. This time on 13, I hit 5i to the end of the 1st half of the fairway, then hit 6i to the green. I caught a little bit of shrubbery trying to carry the ditch and came up just short and bogied. I parred the remaining holes to finish just 4-over! And I only lost 1 ball, on the 11th!

I had the opportunity to play The Prince Course one more time a few days later and played well. This time, although I finally parred 13 with a 5i followed by another 5i, I blew up on 12. I skied a 5w off the tee, then laid up to 100 yards instead of trying to hit this small green surrounded by jungle from over 200 yards out. Somehow, I then shanked my wedge from there and lost the ball right of the green. I stumbled in with an 81, going 8-over on the back! I got to enjoy this round with 3 other singles, 1 who I learned lives just 30 minutes south of me and plays the same home course.

On the afternoon of our last day, just prior to taking the red-eye home, I played my final round at Poipu Bay Golf Club. My wife did a little sight-seeing and shopping, then enjoyed the pools at the Hyatt while I played with 2 other singles. On my first trip to Kauai 2 years ago, my son and I played this course. I was hoping to play much better this time around, but poor play in the wind on the back nine only allowed for incremental improvement over that initial round. I did manage to finish the front just 3-over, but I 3-putted so many times on both nines, that I decided to just let go of the score and enjoy the setting. The finishing holes with the ocean bordering the left side of 15 to 17 are breathtaking, and challenging! The long drop to the par 3 17th green is quite fun. From 185 yards, I first tried hitting a 7i, but went a little right and long. Just for fun, I hit another ball from the tee with my 8i and put the ball just 10 feet right of the pin, carrying the frontside bunker! I nearly birdied 18 to finish off a fun week in Kauai.

As much as I enjoyed the golf, the highlight of the trip was a helicopter tour of the island. The views of the waterfalls and Napali coastline were beyond spectacular. Of course, we enjoyed the beaches, dining, and hiking as well.

Next trip, I'm planning to play the Kiele Course at Kauai Lagoons, whose back nine was closed for renovation; Puakea, which I'm told provides superb scenery and a just a great stretch of holes from the 11th to 17th; and Kiahuna Plantation, a RTJII course that was recently revitalized into a quite interesting course. Looking forward to that next visit!

Labels: Courses, Golf Destinations, Golf Vacation, Poipu Bay, Prince Course, Princeville, Rounds