BIG IS BEAUTIFUL: HAWAII'S KOHALA COAST
Words and Photography: brendan james

It wasn’t until 1981 that the first course opened on site. The North course is regarded as the tougher of the two layouts. Built on a bed of lava older than the South course’s 16th-century Kaniku flow, it had time to develop more vegetation, and some of the fairways were cut right through forests of palms and kiawe.
There are far more trees here than to be found on the South
course and the designers made sure to place a premium on
accuracy and strategy by leaving some Kiawe trees in the middle
of several fairways. For example, the dogleg right par-4 13th
features a lava bluff along the left edge of the fairway as well as
a large tree just right of centre about 220 metres from the tee.
Good strategy from the tee here is to play short and leave a long
approach to a deep putting surface.

Get your camera out! The 17th hole of Mauna Lani's North course presents a great Kodak moment.

The most memorable hole on the course doesn’t feature any
trees at all but there is plenty of lava framing the par-3. The 120-
metre 17th is played slightly downhill to a green set deep in an
amphitheatre created by 15- to 20-metre high walls of lava. Just
short of the putting surface is a bunker with a massive lava boulder climbing fi ve metres out of its centre. Although a short iron will safely fi nd the heart of the green, bogeys are more common here than birdies.

Mauna Lani’s South course was the host of the Senior Skins
Game for nine years after it opened for play in 1991. The likes
of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Hale Irwin, Tom
Watson, Raymond Floyd and Chi Chi Rodriguez have walked its
fairways several times. Each tee marker of the layout has a plaque commemorating any feats or skins won on that particular hole.

One of the best Senior Skins matches was played on the South
course in 2000 between Nicklaus, Palmer, Watson and Gary Player.

Shot out during the first 14 holes, Player found his game on the 15th tee and birdied each of the closing holes, only to be matched by then-Senior Tour rookie Watson. Player utlimately went on to birdie the first extra hole to grab the $220,000 jackpot and the title.

To stand on the 15th tee today, you can marvel at how good the
golf must have been to have birdies from Player and Watson on
what is a very testing par-3. From the back markers, found on a five by 10-metre pedestal of lava, a tee shot of 179 metres is required to find the centre of the massive two-tiered putting surface, which is about 40 metres deep from front to back. The shot from here must carry the surf crashing onto the shore as well as avoiding the four enormous sand traps surrounding the green. Then, of course, there is the wind to consider. During my round, the wind was howling at about 70km/h into my face and from the right, pushing any tee shot towards the water, short and left of the green. I busted a driver for my tee shot and was glad to fi nd a greenside bunker … short of the green!

Of note, for both of the Mauna Lani courses, is the quality of
the playing surfaces. While all the courses on the Kohala Coast
have exceptionally well-presented fairways and greens,
I felt Mauna Lani was altogether another level higher. Both layouts feature Seashore Paspalum grass greens, which are not found in Australia. This type of grass provides an excellent putting surface and, for mine, is slightly superior to Bermuda Tifdwarf because of the lack of grain. This grass is vivid in colour, is salt-tolerant (making it ideal for seaside courses), is pest-resistant and thrives in warmer climates.

I also recommend you stay at the adjoining hotel, the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows. The 342-room hotel never feels crowded as it is set among acres of beautiful grounds featuring plenty of paths that lead from a sandy white beach to ancient lava petroglyphs, to fish ponds that outdate the resort by centuries. In fact, these ponds, which are full of colourful humuhumunukunukuapua’a (Hawaii’s state fish), flow right into the hotel lobby.

* Brendan James travelled to Hawaii’s Big Island courtesy of the Big Island Visitors Bureau and Kohala Coast Resort Association.

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