Mauna Lani Resort - North Course

Overall I can see why people would give this place a good review. This is just my one experience but I walked away unsatisfied. First for the positives... Rental set was great, had different shaft options in woods which is always a plus. Driving range was beautiful and free to hit balls. The course itself was a fun layout with some very memorable holes.

The North course had just punched it greens, which normally doesn't bother me. However, when I asked the lady behind the counter after the round she told me that the South course was in great shape and should of let her know punched greens would be an issue. In what world would I rather play punched greens? I asked for a discount on the round, comp the rentals or my wife's riding fee, and was laughed at. I understand course maintenance has to happen but when there is another course that is available it seems like the right thing to do is put people on knowing its a better experience.

One other annoyance was the pace of play. The starter let me know that the other 2 in our group wanted to play by themselves so I'd be going off on my own. Normally I would be thrilled, but when I got to 1 tee there was 3 other twosomes that were going off. Every tee box was at least a 5 minute wait.

Like I said, I can see why people would really enjoy this spot, but for that kind of money I was surprised how poorly run it was. Not saying don't go, but I would ask which course to play and set expectations for a 5+ hour round of golf.

Great challenging course with perfect greens and fairways. Golf was perfect. Can’t believe we paid huge rack rates and no beverage cart!!!!!! Would have been nice if they told us beforehand. Even one of the waters they gave us in our cooler had been opened. The second marshal we saw waved and drove by-we had to hail him to get water. Troon should be ashamed.

Actually too windy to play, winds not my ball off of the tee numerous times, not to mention almost blowing me over a few times.

Would play with winds like that again.

Bill

I have played the course before and the vistas and the layout are fantastic. Greens were a bit slow but given it is Hawaii and the wind was up they did have them rolling slower.

Several holes had a lot of damage on the fairways - some in key landing areas. Some areas were not GUR which seemed odd as the ball was unplayable and no stance possible.

What surprises me is for $300 the little service you get. For example - no one met me to take clubs from car, no confirmation of time, no set-up on cart (I did it), no one at range, etc. The Pro Shop person seemed to be almost angry when checking in. I felt bad I was about to golf there. This is a Troon Club! Overall very poor service other than the nice attendant at end who cleaned my clubs. Need to be better - will not return with that service.

Beautiful Course! I am not a huge fan of target golf, but the course was so pretty and in such nice condition, that it's hard to complain. Personally, I just find it much more difficult the 1st time you play it. However, if you were going play it a couple of times it would be a blast!!!

After playing Mauna Lani - South 25 years ago, it was time to try the North course. The staff was very friendly and allowed us to tee off a half hour early since there was little traffic. The course was in excellent condition, rough not very difficult and greens in good shape if not a bit slower than I expected. Typical upscale resort conditions. There was moderate difficulty which increased the last few holes as the winds picked up considerably. Only one hole finished beautifully by the ocean with the rest winding through condos or lava fields. The price was higher than necessary (it is Hawaii after all) . This was a one and done event. No need to play again.

After playing the South Course on Monday, we came back to play the North course two days later. Wouldn't have even thought we were at the same place. After 20 minutes at the bag drop, we finally gave up and carried our bags downstairs to the cart. No one down there seemed to be interested in helping us either. Overall the course was in good, but not great shape. Lots of burned out areas in the fairway, but the greens were nice. A few picturesque holes, including #17, but nothing to make it worth the price or playing it again. I think we were spoiled by the service we had earlier. If you can only play one of the two, we'd suggest the South course.

There’s a lot of reconstruction of the cart paths and tunnels going on right now

Great layout, nice variety of challenges, perfect greens, what’s not to like about North!