Royal Hawaiian Golf Club

Recent ratings made us skeptical of the conditions but we found them to be better than expected. The front 9 is extremely challenging but is one of the coolest layouts you’ll ever experience. The back 9 offers some cool views as well but is much more manageable for a novice/beginner.

Like all the reviews state, you’ll need plenty of balls. The staff were tremendous. Greens were fast but not impossible. We were paired with a solo who was playing rentals. The rental sets are Qi10 irons /driver/hybrid. The front 9 is cart path only so it does make for a slightly longer than normal round but we finished in 4:20.

TLDR: if you have the opportunity, this course is definitely worth it.

Beautiful scenery. First time playing the course, little disappointed on the front 9, cart path only, tight course with a lot of blind spots making it difficult to find your ball in the higher grass.

Back 9 much better, open cart path made it easier to play.

Definitely worth playing once…..

We would not play again until the greens are fixed (speed was too slow and pitch marks were awful) The fairways need to be in better shape, unfortunately we were disappointed with course conditions.

THE most unusual course I have ever played. I felt like I was a participant in a board game within a jungle, with a crazy challenge in store for me around the next approaching tee box. Definitely not a walking course as tee boxes are far apart from each other. Go for the adventure and immerse yourself with the exotic surrounds

This course was amazing. Photo’s on every Hole. The only thing I can say. Bathroom on the course did not have water. No driving range. No cart girl.

Absolutely stunning, we were waiting on a velociraptor to come out of the jungle and eat us! The course was out of this world and the staff was great! Expect to take a little longer to play a round because you simply don’t want to rush this!

One of the coolest experiences of my golfing life. You just don’t see the scenery like this anywhere in the world. Everyone goes to play the more coastal courses. This course is inland and located in a rainforest. It was special for sure!

An overall great course for the money. The staff is always very friendly. Just make sure to bring a lot of golf balls.

I did not come to this golf course expecting to break par. What I was looking for was a new experience to add to my golf journey, and it exceeded expectations. From the second I passed through the gates all the way up to my departure, the staff was extremely helpful and pleasant. I was told prior that the course was more for "views than conditions", but other than the greens that were healing and a few brown spots on fairways, the conditions were as good as you can expect from a golf course in this location. I lost a dozen golf balls on the front 9, and happily went back and bought more. The fairways are tight, the rough is rough, but stop and look around every once in a while. Based on some recent reviews, I notice that there are too many people playing this game for the wrong reason.

This is a very, very special place. Mahalo to the entire staff and community for allowing me the privilege to add this to the very top of my golf list

This course is tough. Jurassic Park yes. Scenic yes. Problem was no notice that it was cart path only. Arrive and find out it was cart path only. Don’t do it if it is cart path only.

What an incredible experience with some of the best views you could ask for and a tough layout. Disregard the negative reviews, they’re most likely from golfers who shoot a 8 on a par 5 and mark down a birdie.

It’s hard to beat the views here at Royal Hawaiian. The greens were punched 5 weeks ago and still probably need another 3-5 to be decent. They’re super bumpy and slow. The attendant said they probably roll at a 7 on the stump meter but that’s probably generous.

If you’re looking for a lush, immaculate golf course you should look elsewhere in Hawaii. If you can overlook the conditions(thin fairways, crabgrass everywhere) then you’ll have a good time.

Played this course 6 times. The greens are awful. Pretty embarrassing for a course that was once a nice course.. The previous 5x I played this course it was good. Pretty sad to see this great course go down hill.

... and that's about all I can say about this course. Second time playing here after a not so good experience the first time. I thought I'd give it another try because it is a beautiful course. For the second time, I was not able to play all 18 holes, by my own choice. Pace of play is extremely slow and when I came upon 2 groups waiting on the 12th tee, for the group of 8, (yes 8 locals), to finish, I skipped 12 and 13. There are no marshals or rangers, so the slow play goes unaddressed. The greens had been punched recently and were unplayable. Hole #1 was closed, replaced by "3b, a par 3. All that said, I do recommend playing here once just to see the beauty, but be ready for an extremely long round of golf! Also, the staff doesn't seem to care whether you're here or not. I've tried twice, taken my pictures, but I won't be back.

Worth every penny for the experience. Staff was awesome and offered great advice for first timers.