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Golf
Guides |
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Oahu Golf Home to Hawaii's best beaches, restaurants and shopping, Oahu has over a third of the state's 93 courses. But because many of these are daily-fee or municipal layouts that receive heavy play, Oahu's fairways are sometimes as crowded as its freeways. Other courses such as military or private layouts (including the Waialae Country Club, home of the Sony Open) are off-limits to most visitors. Nevertheless, golfers should not despair. During the late 1980s and early '90s, a golf course construction boom added a dozen new Oahu layouts, several of which are worth writing home about. Nine of these can be found on former sugar cane lands west of Pearl Harbor, including the Ko Olina Golf Club, former site of the LPGA Hawaiian Ladies Open.
Perhaps Oahu's finest test of golf is the new Arnold Palmer-designed Links at Kuilima, located next to the big-wave surfing beaches on Oahu's famed north shore. This challenging and well-conditioned course wends its way through marshland and a beautiful ironwood forest, with water coming into play on 14 holes. At the base of the Koolau Mountains, on the windward side of the Pali tunnel is the massive and stunning Koolau Golf Club. From the tips this course measures 7,300 yards. Its USGA slope rating of 162, the highest in the country, warrants the advice to play the forward tees and enjoy the awesome mountain scenery. And, oh yes, bring plenty of golf balls. Equally stunning and slightly less diabolical is the nearby Launa Hills Country Club which, despite the name, is open to the public. Designed by Perry Dye, Luana Hills measures only 6,500 yards but is characterized by forced carries off the tee, narrow landing areas, undulating fairways, and small crowned greens. The back nine here plays through a spectacular tropical rain forest that locals refer to as Jurassic Park.
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