If any course proves that you CAN have too much of a good thing, it is The Challenge at Manele. The course is situated above the Hawaii Bay on the island of Lanai. From every hole, you have spectacular vistas of the Pacific Ocean where whales breach waters, porpoises gather and play, and every scenery is right out of the pages of the National Geographic.
And I don’t know what it is about Lanai, but I have never seen air so clear. Everything is just hyper vivid. Air is bluer than ever, grass are greener than ever, the reds and yellow of wild flowers practically singes your cornea with its intensity.
The view is so good, in fact, it detracts from the course, and you may have a hard time remembering the holes from the view.
And that would be too bad, because the course is a fun thrill ride.
Unlike the most Nicklaus resort course that I have played, which feature relatively flat fairways with raised greens with punishing bunkers that must be attacked from the air, The Challenge at Manele feature some very severe elevation changes. And rather than fighting against those elevation changes, the course embraces it by providing very good risk/reward scenarios and greens with open approaches that can be attacked from the ground. I have never seen so many blind tee shots on a Nicklaus course.
Having played The Plantation Course at Kapalua just a couple of days earlier, the courses share more than just passing resemblance, which is not something you would normally say about Nicklaus courses.
The Challenge at Manele is definitely one of the best courses in Hawaii and you should not miss it!
(For more higher resolution photos, please go here:
http://cid-731f55b6ea9ebe78.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Challenge%20at%20Manele)
Designer: Jack Nicklaus
Nicklaus: 7039/73.7/135
Gold: 6684/72.1/130
Blue: 6310/70.4/126
White: 5874/68.3/123
Red: 5024/64.6/115
Hole 1: Par 4, 373/362/312/298/228
Hole 2: Par 4, 442/424/395/380/305
Hole 3: Par 3, 171/158/137/118/109
Hole 4: Par 5 506/499/489/474/426
Hole 5: Par 4 462/452/433/412/318
My favorite hole. The tee shot is blind up-hill. If you are playing for the first time, you are not sure where to hit. What you don’t realize is that even though it is 400+ yards, it is almost driveable.
On the other side of the fairway rise is a steep downhill. To reach here, you need to hit your drive about 250-260 from the (gold) tee. You also need to keep it on the left side as the right side is guarded with native vegetation hazard. But if you thread it, your ball bounces 60 to 80 yards and you would have an easy chip to an open green. A great risk/reward hole.
Hole 6: Par 5 544/531/509/476/426
Hole 7: Par 3 172/152/143/133/121
Hole 8: Par 3 210/194/185/166/153
Hole 9: Par 5 556/544/525/497/434
Hole 10: Par 4 400/374/358/332/254
A completely blind tee shot. Aim left!
Hole 11: Par 5 589/559/531/510/431
A very nice view of a green that begs for a bump and run shot.
Hole 12: Par 3 202/185/153/103/65
The signature hole. It is jaw-droppingly gorgeous in person. The cliff is very sheer and very tall. And the black rocks make it even more intimidating.
Hole 13: Par 4 345/314/302/279/260
A fun short par 4. The green is driveable if you are willing to hit over the sand and the rocks in the left. I wouldn’t advise it though…
If your gamble paid off, it will get a nice kick off the downhill and roll towards the green. If you drive too close to the green while laying up, your approach hot will be severely downhill. It might be best to use the slope on the right and hit a punch shot.
Hole 14: Par 3 195/182/154/131/102
Hole 15: Par 5 538/518/496/479/419
Hole 16: Par 4 458/431/420/371/343
You better not leave the approach short or this is what you end up with.
Hole 17: Par 4 444/392/373/347/320
A fantastic hole with a truly intimidating tee shot.
If your tee shot is safely across the chasm, you have a very inviting green.
Hole 18: Par 4 432/413/395/341/310
A kind of ho-hum finish to an exciting round…
