Topps Travels 2012 - April - Royal Hawaiian

[Jason Topp]

This is the fourth in a series.  Prior editions of 2012 Topp’s travels:

January – May River
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,50993.msg1162920.html#msg1162920

February – Casa de Campo
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,51226.msg1169379.html#msg1169379

March – Stanford http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,51548.msg1179219.html#msg1179219

                April means spring break for the Topp household.  We have travelled somewhere warm every spring break since our children entered school.  Historically, these trips have been about spending uncluttered time together and we have learned to scale back our sightseeing in favor of enjoying each other.
 
   Now, however, our children are teenagers.  Spending time with the family is a punishment that fits somewhere between the Bataan death march and a mild but tolerable disease.  As a result, my son McKinley hatched a plan to lobby for Oahu as our destination.  He had several friends that would be visiting there already and Hawaii carries the considerable advantage in his eyes of still being within mobile phone range.  

   With the threat of a foreign destination hanging over his head, he showed his political skills by first directing his lobbying efforts in my direction.  He noticed that the hotel where one of his friends was staying was surrounded by a golf course.  I investigated and discovered the hotel, the Kahala, was the course that is roughly encircled by the ocean and the 10th and 18th holes used in the Sony Open Wailea Country Club.  He soon had me scheming with him to lobby our way towards consensus that Oahu should be our destination.  McKinley rode that momentum towards success.

   Having successfully hatched his plan, McKinley then schemed to exploit it for all it was worth and destroyed the traditional purpose of these trips.  He checked in from time to time and occasionally ate a meal with us but for the most part he managed to disappear for the entire week.  For some reason he preferred the beaches of Waikiki during prime sunbathing hours over the more sedate location of the Kahala.  We got quite a surprise on one day of the trip when we went snorkeling and managed to run into McKinley with a girl we had not met and her family.
 
   From my standpoint, McKinley’s scheme provided a significant advantage of allowing me ample free time to investigate the golf options on Oahu.  Oahu is much less a golf resort destination than the other Islands.  The courses there are a much more traditional mix of private (Waialae, Mid Pacific), traditional type public courses (about 15 of them) with one major resort course sprinkled in (Turtle Bay).  

     The most unique golf courses on Oahu, however, are its two jungle courses.  The best known course is Koolau, which looks to be impossibly difficult featuring repeated long forced carries.  http://www.koolaugolfclub.com/.  I chose instead to play Royal Hawaiian, (formerly known as Luana Hills) which is a Perry Dye design in a magical location:



http://www.royalhawaiiangolfclub.com/contact

Royal Hawaiian appears to be a struggling enterprise.  Its tee sheet was relatively empty, the entrance gate leads to a long drive to the golf course but there is little evidence of any development in the area and a name change can never be a good sign.  Nonetheless, the aerial photographs showed promise and I enlisted my wife Claire to ride along in the cart and serve as photographer for the day.

Claire’s photography yielded some unexpected pictures.  She claims she became fascinated with the glove in my back pocket yielding these gems:





The course is also an interesting experience.  If I were to list features that I dislike in a golf course, Royal Hawaiian might tick more boxes on that list than any I have played:
  
The slopes are a bit harsh:



The fairways are often significantly tilted islands surrounded by jungles.  This view of the 18th looking back provides some sense:



The 13th is a 401 yard par 5(!) from the back tees.  The tee shot is a forced layup of 180-190 yards to a down-slope that feeds into a hazard.  The second is a full three wood from a severely downhill lie that must get over the brush in the hazard .  The tee shot view is obscured for some reason by a gigantic forward tee:



My duck hook off a hidden maintenance cart turned out to be the ideal play.

The third is a blatant signature hole that sits next to the entrance drive:
 


A tree in the middle of the fairway is not an automatic disaster, but this view looking back on the 457 yard 17th will irritate many:



This chunked iron shot surprised me by rolling down the hill over the green and straight into the jungle:



And finally, if any course is truly cannot be walked, this one fits the description.  Here is a video of a small portion of the drive from the 9th green to the tenth tee:


   
Despite all of these drawbacks, I highly recommend a visit to Royal Hawaiian.  This must be one of the most memorable locations for a golf course in the world.  It is not often one gets to visit the middle of the jungle on a pacific island.  It is even rarer that one gets to play golf in such a spot.  

                Preconceived notions of “what should be” blinds one to rewarding experiences.  I am glad I visited Royal Hawaiian and would gladly visit again:

[Jason Topp]

              My quick reaction to the other courses I played on Oahu.
             
              I played Wailea and attempted to discern any remnant of Raynor.  I also played at Olomana Links which was recommended by no one, but attracted me because it seemed to offer a more local flavor.  I added the Turtle Bay Fazio course as a last minute addition that worked because I teed off early and could return in time for the flight home. 

   Each of these courses has its charms.  Waialae occupies a terrific location and it is enjoyable to play at the spot I had watched on television on so many cold January nights.  As a GCA fan the course cries out for a restoration but the course would be an enjoyable place for everyday play as is.  http://www.waialaecc.com/

               Olomana is not much of a design, most of the front nine consists of flat fairways surrounded by drainage ditches that come into play often in the wind.  Nonetheless my impressions from pre-trip research proved accurate.  It is a facility that provides an enjoyable round and a truly local flavor.  The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful.  It had a descending rate that it offered to tourists for repeat play.  It simultaneously was hosting some sort of junior tournament, a thriving range business, a full practice green and a course crammed with players on the day I visited.  It has a unique local feature of the sound of chickens that are stored near the front nine – yielding a screeching background noise to the round I found to be perversely pleasant.  The greens have significant slope and were surprisingly fast on my visit.  My playing companions were local and while not the most skilled golfers, competed with each other ferociously for low stakes and putted everything out.  The cups seemed to be made of tin and made a satisfying rattling sound when a ball was holed.  If such a course interests you, I highly recommend you visit, but get an early tee time unless you can allow yourself to relax during a 5-1/2 hour round.   http://olomanagolflinks.com/

           The Fazio course at Turtle Bay was a surprise in two respects.  First, its rate was actually the lowest I paid on the trip.  Second, it is a prime example demonstrating that width alone does not make for an interesting golf course.  Nonetheless, playing in 2-1/2 hours on a relatively well conditioned course was an enjoyable experience and I would suggest that those visiting Oahu but not staying at the resort consider spending a day there.  http://www.turtlebayresort.com/

[rjsimper]

Jason - thanks for sharing, I did not realize that they changed the name back to Royal Hawaiian (which is what it was originally intended to be)

I loved the course for precisely the reasons you say - magical location. Is it good GCA? Hell no. Who the F cares, though. I played once and liked it so much that we played it twice more on the same trip.

I think it's been talked about before, but my likely incorrect in parts but nonetheless generally accurate story of the history is that it was intended to be the 36 hole Royal Hawaiian CC, but the asian economy tank killed it. They had built 10 holes of the upper course (1-10) and 10 holes of the lower course (Pond - 18) - thus, at least when I played way back in like 1998, the greens were different on either side of the course (separated by your long drive)

It was the first "Oh my god this is unreal" golf course I had ever played (was in high school at the time) and I probably lost 5-6 balls a round.

I can still remember the entire golf course. And this is long before the days where I photographed or rated or even made an attempt to remember courses. This was back in the day when I used to seek out courses that were described as "target golf".

Even still, holes like 3, 8, 11, and 16 in particular are still very very cool.

[Tom_Doak]

Jason:

A correction:  Royal Hawaiian GC was designed by Perry Dye, not his brother P.B.  Some of my friends with the Dyes [and maybe even one or two of my associates, I'm not positive] worked on the course and I've heard plenty of stories about the jungle.

It was built for Japanese clients when things were still booming in Japan [c. 1990].  I don't know if they still own the course or not, but the business plan of selling expensive memberships to Japanese golfers probably hasn't panned out as they thought it would, hence the "struggling enterprise".

I found your conclusion interesting, considering the several awful details of the course you pointed out and the subsequent pictures -- a few of which looked beautiful, but others of which looked pretty unplayable.  Could you elaborate a bit more on what you DID like, or was it entirely the setting?

[Alex Miller]

I'm a little surprised too. I haven't played Royal Hawaiian (I knew it as Luana Hills as well) but played Ko'Olau a few times since they were a bit friendlier to junior golfers.

Despite the reputation, I thought Ko'Olau was difficult, but also playable. Looking at the pictures, I get the impression that RH is a lot narrower than Ko'Olau. Do you think that's the case?

[Jason Topp]

...
  Could you elaborate a bit more on what you DID like, or was it entirely the setting?

Tom:

Thanks for the correction regarding Perry Dye.  I made the appropriate edit.  

As to your question, I would say my enjoyment primarily related to the setting.  However, there is something to be said for playing a course where the normal formulas do not apply.  For example, almost always, a resort course will feature a catch bunker or something to keep balls out of the jungle behind a downhill green - not here.  I do not expect to have to hit a hook punch shot under a tree canopy and over a jungle from the left side of the fairway like I needed to do on 17.  Looking at the scorecard and seeing a 401 yard par five tells me something strange is going on and it was interesting to try and see what one should do.  

Beyond these novelties there were some good holes on the course. The opener (in the picture where I am hitting the tee shot) was a 444 yard downhill par four with a signficantly undulating green that was a nice easy 5, hard 4 type of hole.  The 5th was an interesting par five from a blind tee shot over a hill to a green with an interesting centerline bunker about 50 yards short of the green.  The 14th was a good downhill par 5 in a boomerang shape that provided a real opportunity to get home in two and the 16th (pictured with a bit of the cart path and sign) was a good 200 yard downhill par three that used a stream nicely.



  

[Jason Topp]

Despite the reputation, I thought Ko'Olau was difficult, but also playable. Looking at the pictures, I get the impression that RH is a lot narrower than Ko'Olau. Do you think that's the case?

Alex:

I did not play Ko'Olau but I did hit some balls at the practice range.  I suspect RH is much narrower because I had several sources recommend Ko'Olau but almost no recommendations for RH.  I think RH is playable but it involves a lot of layups off the tee and the specific distances depend on elevation changes and the firmness of the fairways.  It is pretty much impossible to calculate those factors the first time around.   

[Dan Kelly]

Line of the month: "My duck hook off a hidden maintenance cart turned out to be the ideal play."

Oh, and by the way: Compliments to the photographer!

[Jeff Evagues]

Having played both numerous times I always considered Royal Hawaiian a shorter version of Koolau. Most visitors don't get to Olamoana, its mostly locals. If you drive to Turtle Bay you might as well play the Palmer course.

[Jason Topp]

Having played both numerous times I always considered Royal Hawaiian a shorter version of Koolau. Most visitors don't get to Olamoana, its mostly locals. If you drive to Turtle Bay you might as well play the Palmer course.

Jeff:

The local angle was definitely part of the reason I wanted to go to Olomana. 

I chose the Fazio course at Turtle Bay because I needed to play fast and it had the first slot available.  I also did not see much about the Palmer course to make me think it was worth extra effort to play.  How do you like it?

[John Mayhugh]

Compliments to Claire for braving the jungle to document your round.  That's one wild looking course.

[Jeff Evagues]

Understood on both counts. The Fazio course is the "resort" course - much easier. The Palmer is the tournament course, including Champions tour and LPGA in the past. I don't have yardages at the ready but its definitely longer and more challenging.

Having played both numerous times I always considered Royal Hawaiian a shorter version of Koolau. Most visitors don't get to Olamoana, its mostly locals. If you drive to Turtle Bay you might as well play the Palmer course.

Jeff:

The local angle was definitely part of the reason I wanted to go to Olomana. 

I chose the Fazio course at Turtle Bay because I needed to play fast and it had the first slot available.  I also did not see much about the Palmer course to make me think it was worth extra effort to play.  How do you like it?

[Jason Topp]

Compliments to Claire for braving the jungle to document your round.  That's one wild looking course.

Claire avoids the golf course like the plague but she greatly enjoyed mocking my game.  Her eye with the camera is so much better than mine.  We took a photo safari a few years ago and comparing our respective pictures afterwards showed me that it was no contest.