Ka'anapali Kai

A once excellent course has been long neglected.

Turn over in staff and extremely poor customer service had a negative affect on my experience.

The Kai at Kaanapali has so many issues, I'll just jump to the glaring:

- Fairway has brown spots on almost every hole.

- there is no first cut rough; the rough that remains is no longer cut daily; A good drive that rolls out just a few feet in the rough can easily get lost ( causing unnecessary lost balls and delay of play).

-There is tall grass weeds growing on tee boxes AND greens/fringes.

- Several greens had large craters/dead patches and/or ant hills that have nearly destroyed the putting surfaces.

- Bunkers are in terrible condition… Weeds growing out of many of them… Felt from the bottom coming up, due to hardly any sand left in most of them.

- Price is extremely high for the condition of this course: $80 for super twilight!

If you're going to spend over $130 for a round of golf… Might as will head up to the bay course and get your moneys worth and excellent service to boot.

Also worth noting, I have been a long time loyal customer to Kaanapali golf courses, but this last visit I was treated rudely by a staff member and I will not return.

There's a few great employees-- notably the boys downstairs--that remain here provide awesome service, unfortunately the "bad apples" spoiled my experience.

Rumor is the Kai is about to shut down and Kaanapali will be converted to a 27 hole course. A rebirth will be excellent opportunity for this once great facility.

Hard to be objective when playing behind a five some. Group should have moved up two tee boxes. Never saw a Marshall. Nice track. Tough to wait on every tee box.

We found the courses to be fun and challenging. We played the Kai in the morning and the Royal in the afternoon. The rough was a bit long on the day we played, so be very cognizant of where the ball lands if you stray off the fairway. The fairways were in excellent conditions, mowed to a uniform height and are well maintained. The greens rolled true, but appeared to have been dyed to uniform color. The provided GPS on the carts was beneficial. The GPS provided an overview of each hole. The morning staff was above excellent. The Pro Shop and outside service personnel greeted and treated us like we were members. My bias is showing regarding the warm up range, the balls are limited flight and a person is mandated to hit off mats. A note of caution, the cart fleet is old. Once your cart indicates a sign of low battery charge, call for a replacement.

Had a great time and enjoyed the panoramic views which are so unlike our home playing grounds . One frustration for my husband was losing Three balls on beautiful looking drives that could not be found when we got to the presumed landing site. We didn't want to hold up play so he just dropped a ball. I don't think a mongoose stole the ball,but it was frustrating!

I would not have booked a tee time if I would have known greens were just airified and heavily sanded. We just played automatic 2 putts. Once flagged was pulled, you could not even see the hole if you had a long putt.

Overall, a good experience. Some good ocean views but the greens had recently been sanded so that was about the only negative I can say.

Good overall, greens difficult to read. Cart gps really helped.
Sand traps were hard with minimum sand.

Overall very good course.

I played as a single, which was great. I also went for the twilight rate. The course itself is pretty tame with the exception of some elevated greens and one long par 3 (200+). There are also 3 or 4 holes that overlook the ocean in the distance. I am a 13 Handicap and had no problem getting to the greens in regulation hitting from the Sand tees. The tee boxes and fairways were well maintained and the greens were just aerated, so I can't really rate them. All in all, I would recommend this course if you are looking for a fun round that isn't going to punish the average player too much for errant shots (I only lost 1 ball). Also kids play free (thru August) with a paid adult.

This course is very nice with some great views. It's in pretty good condition and their is some water on a few of the finishing holes.

There are two courses at Kaanapali - the Kai Course (South) and the Royal Course (north). The Royal Course is by far the better course - but this review is for the Kai Course. The conditions of this course were only average (no better than courses costing $50 to $75 less per round). Definitely not worth the $140+ price. Greens were a bit long and slow. Sand traps were inconsistent - some with 3-4" of fluffy sand, some with 1/4" of fluffy sand and rock-hard wet compacted sand underneath. Fairways and tee boxes had grass that was much longer than I expected - almost like playing from the rough. Cart paths were uneven and in need of repair. There are no real bathrooms on this course - only portable toilets. All of this together produces a course that is extremely overpriced! This is a $75 course that charges much more because of the Kaanapali name - and the fact that there are "only" 4 courses on the north side of the island of Maui. An average course at a high price.

Course is hard but forgiving very fun a must play beautiful

Greens in great shape. Fairways good, bunkers need to be refreshed. Pricey round but convenient to Kaanapali hotel so squeezed in a quick round with my wife. BUT, rental clubs for wife were old and tattered, grips ripping off on a couple of the clubs.

Everything was great except the bunkers had very little sand (no base)

We were told by locals to play the Royal Coursr, but this companion course was slightly less expensive and easier to get on. It was OK. We weren't happy about the fivesome in front of us and no marshalls (rangers, player assistants, etc.). Good views of that big ocean on most holes, but for the money I'd play one of the Wailea Courses.

Very easy to get on, pace was good...I wont address cost, condition, etc... as I am on vacation, on an Island that is expensive anyway. I played it as a practice round before I went to the Plantation Course. Wife drove the cart, I walked a lot of it.Cart girl was always available. Rental Nike's better than I thought... almost holed out a Par 3 from 199 with a 4 iron.....

Nice location, near number of resorts. Staff very friendly, got me off early. Course was very full, lot of couples and vacationers, some not avid golfers, so pace of play was horribly slow, no marshall to monitor play. Greens very nice, fairways were fair. For the price of green fees, there are much better courses to play.

Slow players in front of us and no marshals to speed pace of play. Overpriced course

Played the Kai course on 1/30/15 on twilight. Pace was good (no marshal). THE SAND TRAPS HAD NO SAND! I was in 8 traps (and there are a lot of greenside traps) and only 1 had some sand. One had a board in it. This course charges over $200 rack rate and can't put sand in the traps??? And it's near the beach??? Pitiful. Greens were good. As others said: driving range (which you must walk to - 75 yards away - ) hits off mats and is NOT complimentary. Bring your own beverage glass as they have no cups for water (or ice for that matter). Cart service has both, but not when your round starts. Unless they fix the traps, I would NOT play there again. Price was WAY too high for that.

Driving range off of mats, not included in price, has person handing out balls, and not offered when paying for tee time. We were two some, so pace appeared slow, no ranger on course

OK because I played twighlight, got a good rate and got 18 holes in. Obviously fantastic at some time in the past but it seems to be in poor shape due to neglect. I would have been disappointed if i paid full rare. The people at the course are super friendly and helpful.