Makalei Golf Club

This is a great course to see the other side of playing golf on the Big Island!! Playing up on the mountain side...(i.e., the volcano side) with its diversity of animals and plant life was beautiful. A must for those wanting to experience a different side of the Big Island

Love this course. It is lovely, well maintained and easy to play once you get used the fact the ball always rolls to the ocean! The bonus is the beautiful peacocks on almost every hole. Good value for money but quite slow as it is busier with the Kona Club closed. Bring a light jacket as can be cooler at higher elevations. You may also see some rain.

Fun challenging course. Uphill. Downhill.
Beautiful. Tons of birds

There were five groups waiting when we arrived at the second tee box, which is apparently normal. It did stretch out a bit after that but we waited a lot. It was over 5 hours for the round. However, it is a very nice track will serious elevation challenges. I'd play it again.

This course has some interesting and challenging holes. There is a great deal of elevation change and a number of the holes have tight fairways. The golfing experience is not bad but there is one problem and that is the condition of the fairways on a number of the holes. For some reason they seem to have difficulty in growing grass on these holes while on others the grass is not bad. It is definitely a low key operation so don't expect a great clubhouse. Staff is ok but nothing great. I probably won't play here again unless I hear that the course conditions have improved.

The course was very challenging, but also very playable for golfers who haven't played for the last six months. My golf partner and I were fortunate to be paired with another twosome which included a player who was very familiar with the course. It was very helpful to have inside information on positioning shots. The presence of all the wild peacocks and other wildlife made for a fun distraction. I would recommend this course to anyone looking for a good challenge and a great value.

You can get the longest drive of your life if you hit the downslope correctly on some of the holes. Every hole is either uphill or downhill. A fun course to play but can be quite challenging if you're not hitting it straight.

Wild peacocks on almost every hole will come up and beg for food.

Course starts at 1500 ft. and climbs to 3000. Front 9 climbs and back comes back down with lots of roll and great views of the ocean and the shoreline. Greens were mostly fast and irregular. This is the closest course to South Kailua-Kona.
Great experience.

Had first tee time of the day so we were done in 3.5 hours. Fairways were still dormant so a little spotty. Overall a very nice course but pretty tight. So if you tend to spray the ball around you might want to consider an alternate course.

supposed to be a gentleman's game. some people can be so rude to strangers. a beautiful golf course full of angry duffers.

Extremely hilly, great layout. Not in the greatest shape. But a very fun track.

Always play during stay on island. Nice change of pace course, with all kinds of different shots. Wildlife and views are unique.

Very hilly and challenging. Beautiful layout. The course needs to have water jugs on some of the holes, so be sure to take what ever you need from the clubhouse, the snack cart doesn't get to you very often, maybe twice in 18 holes. I would play this course again.

We play this course everytime we come to Hawaii. We love the course and feel it is challangeing and fun.

Played this course years ago, but on this trip it was in bad shape. Grass was sparse in many places. Tee boxes in bad shape.

This is an exciting course to play. Keep your ball in the fairway and you'll do fine. The surrounding wild forest and beautiful views make it a very exciting course to play. Quite hilly, which you can use to your advantage when making shots. I loved this course.

Had a great day at this course, it was a bit slow but it was a holiday so it was to be expected. The course marshall did a good job of moving people along .
Layout was tough and greens especially difficult .
All in all I had a great time and well worth the money.

Very challenging. Yardage doesn't begin to describe the degree of difficulty. If you normally soot in the high 80s, don' t even think about playing anything except the whites. Replays are 25, so if you find the whites too easy (not likely) you can move back. Good views, lots of opportunity to try the rough. Bring enough balls, particularly if you are a long hitter. Balls tend to roll to unfriendly places.

The club house is pretty unassuming but once on the course it is very nice. Hawaii mountain golf with a lot of elevation changes and the 15th hole, a down hill par 3 with water left of the green is spectacular. Views from many of the holes and the birds are everywhere. We will play this one again before we leave the island.

Well maintained with great greens. Love the variety of birds and animals. Challenging with some friendly holes. Scenery
Was spectacular. Play it every time we visit kona!!