Royal Hawaiian Golf Club

Best course I've played thus far, I'm a California resident

The most scenic and beautiful course we have played. Many elevated tee shots that shared outstanding views. The natural rough bordering the fairways are heavy- so bring an extra half dozen balls. The entire staff and especially the starter Ernie were amazing. Don’t miss an opportunity to play this course. Even though snack bar was closed- drinks and sandwiches were available in the pro shop.

What a golf course, overall a great experience in HI!

I had a tee time booked through GolfNow for Friday 4/28/23 @1:36pm. When I got to the course nobody was there and the course was closed due to rain so I didn't get to play that day. I have tried to contact golfnow for a refund due to closure policy but have not been able to connect with anyone. I did get to play on 5/4/23 though and the course was hard and narrow fairways. The bunkers in front of the greens were high lipped and hard to get out of once you get into it. The greens were well maintained. In my opinion there was too much rough around the fairways as well as the beginning of where the fairways start. Overall a great course and you better have your irons dialed in as well as your slice or hook under control.lost about 2 dozen balls. Wonderful experience.

Very hard but beautiful course. Feels like I’m a Mario kart racer when I’m in the cart going around the jungle lol. Amazing course but expect to shoot +90 lol

Muddy conditions, helps with target golf if you can hit the target . The surroundings are the highlight, compliments a vacation to Hawaii. Off course amenities closed. Pace of play slowed back nine.

More amazing that words! This is THE track to play on Oahu! OG Pete Dye design and then redesigned by Greg Normand (I think) it has everything! Stunning views, tricky hole design, just fun and beautiful! Bring balls! One foot off the fairway is lost!

Beautiful course that eat your balls. Lush and well kept up despite the jungle like nature.. greens are slow and practice facilities need help.. incredible views! And nice people. Worth the trip

This is a course that you have to check off your list if you are ever in Hawaii.

Pros: Beautiful views and gives you those quintessential Hawaii / Jurassic park vibes.

Cons: The course is in a jungle so the natural terrain will swallow up any ball that you hit that’s not perfectly on a fairway. Balls in the rough will be lost as well. Pace of play is incredibly slow (5-6 hours). It can also get very pricey $$.

Monitor GolfNow closely for the best prices.

Course was in nice shape and the layout was very cool. There is no practice range open, but there is a nice putting and chipping area. You cannot beat the mountain views.

Only if you want to enjoy the scenary, play Royal Hawaiian. The course condition is the worst you can find in Oahu. Especially the greens are almost like first cut rough. The gentleman in the club house is friendly only to Japanese ladies, and unbelievably rude to all the others. Simply, don't go there!

Incredible, one of a kind setting made up for the conditions. Greens were very recently punched and heavily sanded, front nine worse than the back. Spotty/inconsistent fairways from one hole to the next. Hole 14 (par 5) was closed so played “3-B”, a medium length par 3 to make 18 holes. Had no warning about the greens aeration until the starter told me, right after I paid full price. Starter was very helpful explaining the property layout and got me out early as a single as I had one of the first few tee times.

This course is in the worst shape of any course I’ve played on the island. The greens were recently punched and there was no mention of it in the booking, the phone call that I made prior to booking, or when I showed up that morning. My first indication was when I walked up to the first green. Bunkers are hard and have grass growing in them. If you hit 3 feet off the fairway, you might as well say sayonara to that ball as the rough is so thick and tall that you won’t find it, even if you watched it roll in. By far, the worst golf experience I’ve had in the state of Hawaii. When I was leaving (after 6.5 holes played), even one of the staff said the course is not worth the money right now!

Royal Hawaiian Golf Club

Like the starter on this particular day (March 23 2023), some say “Jurassic Park” to describe RHGC, I’m in the camp for another movie: “The Good The Bad and The Ugly” and I’ll explain why.

As a first round on Oahu (and in Hawaii for that matter) I was excited to make a go of Royal Hawaiian Golf Club.

Curious omen #1: a nearly deserted course at approximately 11am

Curious omen #2: the warning from the starter in relation to the fact that they had aerated and…”do you want to get your money back and go somewhere else?”

I didn’t heed his sage advice and the fact that they also had hole #13 closed (maintenance I’m assuming), replaced by their (spare) hole 3B which merely gave me 18 holes rather than not.

I almost forgot (to mention) the complete lack of any means to warm up other than a poor excuse for a putting green, it did play like most of the greens as I describe later.

Once getting over the initial shock of the unbelievable scenery of the property (believe me it’s unreal), I couldn’t help but to notice the deplorable condition of the course itself. What they consider turf is different than what I’m obviously used to but in some areas, tee boxes and fairways in particular there isn’t much of anything that you could call “turf”. Noteworthy on this day (playing from the blues), there were 2 tee boxes where the markers were placed where there wasn’t any discernible/usable turf at all (6 and 9 if I’m not mistaken). On 6 my only reasonable solution was to play from the white tee box leaving a curious wedge-wedge play to a par 4 that deserved to be played properly (from the unplayable blue tee).

Oh, did I mention it was “cart-path only” on this day? Understandable given how wet the course was, the front 9 in particular. Never in my life have I experienced so many mud balls, probably due to the sparse nature of their fairway turf. As a vacation round I decided to improve my lies and negate the mud balls to stem the frustration, my sanity needed something.

Despite zero knowledge of the course and no help due to being out there alone, I soldiered on as best I could trying to stay focused and positive, the scenery provided some welcome distraction at times. The back 9 went somewhat better, having adjusted to all that I’d faced and a slightly less saturated part of the course. Having said that there were still some greens on the back (like the front) that had been sanded as is to be expected following the aeration, but the sanding was incredibly heavy and inconsistent throughout. There was no chance to get a feel for any putts on this day. Where some of that sand was needed is in the bunkers, most that I noticed were uncared for and overgrown with weeds.

I’m not sure of the excuse for #13 to be shut down, it almost appeared to be in better shape than most of the others (as I sped through on my way to #14).

Don’t get me wrong, in addition to the location/scenery of being in the middle of a jungle, the course design is fantastic from what I could tell and is a fair to strong challenge, I just wish they gave the course the care that it deserves.

Less curious omen #3: the kid working the cart return area wasn’t shy about his feelings, “I can play here for free and (I) don’t, haven’t in over a month”, that says enough.

Royal in name only I’m afraid, I’d so hoped for better.