Website: Poipu Bay Official
The View: Our Round in Pictures
Bragging Rights
100 Greatest Courses in North America, 2013, Golf Digest
Reader’s Choice Awards, 2013, Hawai’i Magazine
Top 125 Golf Resorts, 2012, Conde Nast Traveler
America’s Best Golf Resorts, 2012, Golf Week
Home of an ancient Hawaiian village, Poipu Bay, a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design, is built on 210 acres of oceanside beauty. At 7,123 yards and a 134 slope, it’s a playable course for beginner to
As you proceed from the clubhouse to the first tee, the practice area will intercept you and plan to spend some time enjoying these facilities. An aptly spacious driving range allows you to loosen up, and a sizeable green will allow you to tune up your short game for the round. The first tee opens up the round with trees lining either side of the fairway and a bit of an elevated green—a normal par 4 to start…as long as you hit your drive straight. The second hole is a bit of a different story with a blind tee shot leading into a meandering dog leg right. It isn’t a terribly long par 5, but landing in the fairway is important because the green is surrounded by six bunkers to the right, with complete vegetation behind it. The sixth hole may be the most enjoyable hole for us on the front nine—a 570 yard par 5 which dances back and forth up to the small green with two large bunkers on either side. The seventh is the most picturesque as a mid-length par 3 requiring a shot directly over a sizeable pond without any landing area between it and the green. Throughout the front nine, you’ll be teased with a peek of the ocean as it weaves out and back from the sea to the lowlands; however, you don’t really get exposed to the water until you reach the back nine.
Notable across the back nine is the elevation change amongst many holes. The tenth starts out as such with a tee shot hitting to a plateau landing area for your approach shot. The eleventh continues with more elevation change, but is less noticeable as a par 3. The fourteenth is straight uphill and requires more than the 537 yards it is listed at. Fifteen and sixteen are the two holes perched eight stories above the waves on black volcanic rock. Finally after catching glimpses of the ocean and hearing waves crashing along the shore, you’ve reached the vast blue body of water surrounding your entire view to the left. The first of which is 424 yards and requires a very tight tee shot to land in the narrow and unforgiving fairway. The second, the par 4 sixteenth hole, demands 501 yards (read again—par 4), is a dog leg left into the ocean, and probably has less width to land your tee shot (absent the rock, a bunker, or behind a tree, that is). All of these holes running along the ocean are heavily impacted by the tradewinds. In truth, all the holes at Poipu Bay will be impacted, but those running along the ocean more so than any other. Fortunately for us, it was a clear day without much wind and the actual yardage was the primary adversary. The last two holes wrap up with a very tight par 3 requiring the exact 225 yards from the tee (and wind) and a blind tee shot uphill for 550 yards with the green nestled between a pond and a bunker. 
You could categorize Poipu Bay as having a little bit of everything to it—wind, water features, bunkers a plenty, trees to contend with, elevation changes, undulation in the fairways, and even cats mewing about. Bring your distance golf balls with you, because you’ll need them on most holes, and you’ll constantly be second-guessing your club selection if the wind kicks up. The greens might give you a little break as we thought they did just that—little break—but rolled true and held your shots. Expect beautiful scenery, but make sure you make it through the second nine, because Poipu Bay really steps up its game in its second half. From the lowland countryside to the blue ocean crashing beneath the cliffs, it will be easy to become distracted from the game, which is when the elements will bite you. A hiking trail runs alongside fifteen and sixteen, and more than several groups were weaving through the red dirt path lining the cliff and bordering the fairway. We were somewhat tempted to return via the path to take more pictures. The mountains to the north are draped in emerald and dappled with farmland at their base.
Interestingly enough, the Grand Hyatt Kauai, home to Poipu Bay doesn’t even make a cameo on the course. We did get a welcome surprise from a group of course residents as we slid in our cart after the seventeenth tee shot. I felt eyes on me and turned to see a set of cat eyes surrounded by greenery staring my way. Upon closer look, there were two sets of eyes, and then two other cats went scampering out of the green as I approached. Bill, our starter, pulled up in his cart, unwrapping a piece of tinfoil. More cats emerged. He threw down a hot dog, and all came forth. According to Bill, he “used to have eight cats.”
Enjoy the citrus-scented cold towels—a welcome surprise for that post-round musk—and the well-stocked clubhouse. The people are wonderful—true Hawaiian style—providing helpful guidance and assistance along your way. A great stop in Hawaii to balance playability with challenge and beauty with rustic charm.
Scorecard
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