Waikoloa Beach Resorts (Hawaii Island)

For how much we paid and for the ratings, I was very disappointed. The practice range was mostly sand, what grass remained was in loose shreds. The targets on the range were mostly out of reach for me (17 handicap). No practice putting green. Pace of play was terrible. We registered as a twosome and requested to be paired up, but 3 Asian twosomes left in front of us - refusing to be paired. There was no GPS on the carts and the flags were not equipped with the reflectors to read with a rangefinder, so it was almost impossible in the wind to get accurate yardage to the pin. Seriously disappointed! Won’t go back.

I played the King’s Course at Waikoloa Beach Resort today. It’s an excellent links-style course, with fast fairways, so a low draw just runs and runs. Lots of wind today, which made it even more interesting.

While the lava rock contrast on the out of bounds vs. the front side out adjacent back side return fairway grass was sort of cool visually the course layout and challenges were less. In my home town of Phoenix we've easily 30 better public and resort (let alone private) courses. Weiskopf's trademark drivable par 4's are perhaps the most interesting holes in #5 (lava boulders in fairway bunker hiding the green) and #13 (lake left to green edge and center fairway bunker). A couple of additional lava outcroppings on #17 and #18 add interest to the finish but the other black rock areas are really not in play for better players (from tips 77, 4 hdcp). Greens were not too interesting or swoopy and hairy-slow late afternoon. As everything in Hawaii is twice the cost of identical on the mainland the price here is reasonable but hardly worthy of top ten ranking in warm weather tourist golf states like CA, AZ or FLA. Don't travel to the Big Island just for this course, you'll be disappointed compared to the superior Mauna Lani North and South neighbors with amazing paspalum grass.

I believe this should not be considered a Beach coarse, there is the feature hole (7) that gets close the the water. but that is the only hole, the rest are around condo's hotel rooms and lava rock which is nice. i believe this course should be renamed as the Waikoloa lava course with a tickle. the greens were average, the fairways were OK nothing special I believe that if course was around the $70-$80 range with a cart that would be fair.

I am a rookie golfer and haven’t played for quite some time, but this was a nice relaxing course with super friendly staff.

Fun course without all of the elevation changes or out of bounds. Plenty of traps to get in your way and slippery green with sneaky breaks. The resort tees were a good choice for a 14 who hasn’t swung a club since Oct. very fair course for the wives.

I enjoyed my round at Waikoloa Beach and would play again but not before Mauna Kea and Mauna Lani South. Both are in top condition and offer spectacular scenery. This course was in good shape and the greens ran true but a tad slow. We got around in just under 4 hours so pace of play was excellent. The only hole on the ocean, number 7, is a great par 5 and for us a good place to see some whales too! Otherwise, none of the holes are on the beach.

Checking in was a hassle as the first person to help me was no help and tried to charge me and my group to play there saying "this is just a confirmation not a voucher". I insisted she get some more knowledgeable help and the next person figured it out quickly and we were on our way. I played 6 courses in Hawaii on this trip and these guys were the only ones to give us some hassle.

The Good:

- Course was in nice shape. Greens are fair, if a little slow, and the course was overall in very nice shape.

- Despite a seemingly high price tag, this course is actually one of the cheaper options on the big island

- Pace of play was excellent

The Bad:

- Staff acted like booking through golf now was criminal and they made sure to let us know, "it's much easier" if we just call them directly. The check in process took nearly 20 mins as well as they figured out how much to charge us

- Calling this the ocean course is pretty misleading. There is one hole on the ocean, and one other hole where you can see it. The rest of the course is surrounded by a resort

While this was the only course I played while on the island, I did get to see the course at Mauna Kea, and it looked incredible if you can afford the price tag. If you are looking for a cheaper option where you can actually see the ocean, the Kona Country Club is where you should play.

I see a lot of poor ratings here from before 2017, but in January 2018 I found everything about the Par-70 Beach Course to be just perfect for a pleasant day of golf. Yes, the greens may be on the slow side, but they were still slightly the quickest of the 3 different courses I played in 7 days on two islands. I found all 3 Hawaii green speeds to really be pretty similar. Pay attention to the grain!

The staff was nice and friendly in the Pro Shop, the starters (I practiced the day before) helpful and very accommodating and the putting green was the same speed as the course (a blessing- it's not like that everywhere!) and there was a nice chipping/bunker practice area next to a large grass driving range to give you everything you need to prepare.

The course conditions were excellent, with wide open and clean fairways, very playable rough, fluffy white sand bunkers and a little water added to a few holes just to change up the beautiful palm tree & black lava settings that prevail throughout. I played on a pretty calm day for Hawaii and the breeze was just enough to be welcome, although it can still gust and fool you. Playing the resort tees (my driver distance is only about 220 these days) I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day, actually shooting my handicap without being particularly sharp.

I'd definitely recommend it to anyone staying at the resort- it's simply great at $100, and if you're not staying there it's still a fine choice at $150, which is the typical visitor rate for most nice courses in Hawaii. I wish I would have played the Waikoloa King's Course, too- next time!

Playing the KIng's Course was exciting and enjoyable. I played the resort tees and found the layout was challenging due to the fairway bunkers and the long par 4's. I was in two greenside bunkers and had no problems with the sand. Playing the short par 4's made the round enjoyable. A birdie on # 5 made the round more fun, but even better I birdied the par 3 15th, and made par on the par 4 17th, and the par 5 18th. The greens rolled great, and I would play again in a minute.

Not much better than a local muni. Pretty awful pace of play and no sign of a marshal anywhwere. Course is in mediocre condition, not very imaginative layout, and not terribly challenging.

Will not play again unless the green fees are under $100.

Course had some interesting holes, but lacked a true Hawaiian feel. Uninteresting landscapes and many condos dominated the round. Green had been freashly sanded without notice and there were many dry spots around the green. Have never played a course with crushed coral in the bunkers, it wasn't difficult to to hit out of, but it made for tough putting. It was like watching a pinball machine.

All the staff were friendly, and the course was in excellent condition.

Thank you for the great experience

Course layout is excellent and well miexed with challage ones for most golfers. Good condition of greens but bunkers are not properly maintained as thoses are not sandy bunkers. My sand wedge was damaged. Overall rate is very good when you

have good skills to avoid bunkers in playing.

Off shore course with light winds and fair pin placement. Super course, very reasonably priced. A must play. Loved it had a blast. Dan W

Was very surprised that this course has not been well cared for. Sad to see it in such poor shape. Too bad the neighborhood isn't more appreciative of the jewel it has here.

We have played this course many times and it had conditioning issues in the past.

This time the King's Course was in great shape with smooth greens, great tee boxes, and green fairways.

The weather was magnificent with partly cloudy skies

and mild temperatures but almost no wind.

The starter did a great job and she had a good sense of humor.

We started on time and finished in less than four hours.

The course was crowded but the pace of play was excellent.

Some of the long par fours that play into the wind can be tough.

This course is a Tom Weiskopf design and I really appreciated his classic use of the difficult short par four

to lull you into complacency.

This course seems to be getting better and we will look forward to playing here again.

Course was very dried out...fairways sparse, and we had to move the ball around to find some grass, the bunkers are ground lava rock. The layout was pretty fun, and with a lot of TLC it could be a nice course. It seems that there are a lot of young local types that play here with a limited knowledge of golf etiquette. The really great courses on the Big Island are private, tied to the Four Seasons or $175 to play, so your choices are rather limited.