Mauna Kea: A Pictorial !!! (18th hole posted)

[Kyle Henderson]

1st tee


1st approach


1st green viewed from right/rear

[Sean Leary]

Is the driving range gone right of 1 fairway?

[Kyle Henderson]

Is the driving range gone right of 1 fairway?

No. You can see it in the 1st picture...

[Kyle Henderson]

2nd tee


2nd fairway


2nd green

[Kyle Henderson]

The all-carry 3rd hole offers a myriad of teeing options, stretching all the way to 270+ yards.

3a3


3d2


3f


3h


3m3


3n


3p

3q

[Joel_Stewart]

Good photos.  The water looks very calm when you played.

The 3rd is obviosly one of the great par 3's in the world.  I just don't understand the thinking of why Rees would build a new tee 270 yards away?  

The basic problem is Rees took his "Open Doctor" mentality into this course when he remodeled it and forgot about the 99.9% of the golfers are resort players who would like to have fun.  If you look at the 2nd green which is a good little hole, now there is no place to miss the shot and if you miss it, it's almost a certain penality.

How was the conditioning of the course?

[Kyle Henderson]

Good photos.  The water looks very calm when you played.

The 3rd is obviosly one of the great par 3's in the world.  I just don't understand the thinking of why Rees would build a new tee 270 yards away?  

The basic problem is Rees took his "Open Doctor" mentality into this course when he remodeled it and forgot about the 99.9% of the golfers are resort players who would like to have fun.  If you look at the 2nd green which is a good little hole, now there is no place to miss the shot and if you miss it, it's almost a certain penality.

How was the conditioning of the course?

Spot on assessment in terms of difficulty, Joel. I was stiking the ball nicely, but the couple I was paired with struggled to find the elevated greens and the greenside bunkering is VERY penal. Scotch hocky ahoy! I wasn't expecting such sharp teeth on a resort course. Perhaps they ordered Dr. Jones to  chase Golf Digest points?

The 270 tee is a VERY sturdy test for amateur play, but the green is large enough to hold a moonball driver in the calm conditions I experienced.

The conditioning was very good. I've never played smoother bermuda greens.

[Joel_Stewart]

This will be interesting over the next few years to see if the hotel is sold, if the new owners will try and fix the Mauna Kea golf course and what Rees has done there.

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Japanese hotel and railway group Seibu Holdings Inc. is considering selling its hotel and golf resort business in Hawaii as part of its restructuring efforts, a person familiar with the matter said Friday, adding that the property portfolio could be valued at more than Y50 billion.

The company, which is about 30% owned by U.S. private equity fund Cerberus Group and is preparing to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, has hired a broker to sell the business, the person said. The process is still at an early stage, the person added.

Seibu owns and runs golf courses and three hotels in Hawaii--the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki, the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. But its business in the region has remained in the red due in part to a sharp drop in tourists.

The company has been selling off its properties as part of restructuring efforts over the past several years. In 2007, it sold the 310-room Maui Prince Hotel Makena Resort to Honua LLC, a firm owned by Morgan Stanley Real Estate.

[Kyle Henderson]

4th tee, with your back to the sea.


4th fairway with the entrance road on the right.


Looking back over the green's rear bunker.

[Joel_Stewart]

4th fairway with the entrance road on the right.

This is where I started to lose interest.

It looks different then when I played it, before the renovation. The bunkers on the left look very difficult and only penalize poor players.  It's also uphill and the 2nd shot you can't see the green.

[Kyle Henderson]

Joel,
Was the previous bunker configuration different? The current setup requires a 285-290 yard carry over the left traps from the tips -- that was a big hit when the course first opened.

[Carl Nichols]

Does the hat come with a Mauna Kea logo?   

In all seriousness, thanks for this photo tour.  Played Mauna Kea and Mauna Lani years ago and had basically forgotten them.

[Bart Bradley]

I don't understand the beef with this hole.  Hit driver and challenge the bunkers or hit 3 wood and leave a longer approach.  The fairway runs right into the bunkering...something we here on gca claim to value.   Mauna Kea is not ruined by the recent work.  It is a very nice course with lots of architectural interest and fun shots.

Bart

[Kyle Henderson]

I don't understand the beef with this hole.  Hit driver and challenge the bunkers or hit 3 wood and leave a longer approach.  The fairway runs right into the bunkering...something we here on gca claim to value.   Mauna Kea is not ruined by the recent work.  It is a very nice course with lots of architectural interest and fun shots.

Bart

If I am interpreting Joel's observations correctly, he takes issue with the course for being too difficult with respect to its intened purpose (providing a fun round for "typical" resort golfers). The renovation certainly made scoring much tougher, judging from the sources available to me, but some golfers are bound to like the amped up challenge factor.

Regarding your take on #4, I think most golfers will hit driver with the wind blowing against them. The conservative play is more about aiming at the irght-side bunkers than clubbing down.

[Ben Stephens]

Kyle,


With your 'trademark' Trilby Hat you gotta enter the William Hunt Tirlby Tour!! you will fit in very well with the other 'Trilbites'

www.williamhunttrilbytour.com


Nic pics keep them coming in - what camera are you currently using?


Cheers
Ben

[Kyle Henderson]

Kyle,

With your 'trademark' Trilby Hat you gotta enter the William Hunt Tirlby Tour!! you will fit in very well with the other 'Trilbites'

www.williamhunttrilbytour.com


Nic pics keep them coming in - what camera are you currently using?


Cheers
Ben

I wear those hats for my skin and the free bowl of soup.  The tour firghtens me. For the world's sake, I hope there as few other like me.

It's a Canon T2i. Thank you for the encouragment!

[Kyle Henderson]

5th tee


5th landing zone.


5th:second shot from high/right.


5th: Long approach


5th: left of layup zone.


5th green viewed from left-to-right.


5th green viewed from right-to-left.

[Kyle Henderson]

6th back tees

6th front tees

6th approach

6th... Spion Kop?

6th Spion Kop close-up

[Richard Choi]

I enjoyed Mauna Kea. I think it is a step above from a typical resort courses in Hawaii. I think it is a notch below Kapalua and Manele and probably in the same group with Wailea Gold.

The main beef I have with the course is that the land form around the course is absolutely FANTASTIC! It is as interesting as any site I have ever seen (including Sand Hills). I just feel like you could have come up with something far more interesting with what you were given.

[Kyle Henderson]

I enjoyed Mauna Kea. I think it is a step above from a typical resort courses in Hawaii. I think it is a notch below Kapalua and Manele and probably in the same group with Wailea Gold.

The main beef I have with the course is that the land form around the course is absolutely FANTASTIC! It is as interesting as any site I have ever seen (including Sand Hills). I just feel like you could have come up with something far more interesting with what you were given.

That's probably a fair assessment. I wonder how much the routing was restricted by the hotel, roads, and housing plans. It definitely appeared to be an ideal property in many respects, and while the course is quite enjoyable (especially in comparison with its neighbors) I agree it could almost certainly be even better.

[Kyle Henderson]

7th tee


7th green from right-to-left, as seen from the 8th tee.

[Kyle Henderson]

8th tee, with 13,500+ ft tall (from sea level) volcano in view.


8th fairway bunkers inside the dogleg.


8th fairway bunkers outside the dogleg.


8th green open for running approach, if not for Bermuda grass.


There are many reasons not to over-club in approaching the 8th green.


A backward gander at #8.

[Kyle Henderson]

9th tee.


9th fairway getting striped.


9th green back drop getting scalped.

[Josh Tarble]

Kyle, your pictures are fantastic.  Very skillfully composed. Looking forward to the rest.

Also, the course looks great.  In comparison to your tour of Kapalua, this course looks like it could be more fun to play.  Just judging by the pictures.

[Mark McKeever]

So is number 3 basically the Cypress Point hole 16 of Hawaii?

Mark