Hapuna Beach on the Big Island.

As I mentioned, I journeyed to the Big Island of Hawaii over the Memorial Day weekend to play a little golf. The two courses I lined up were Mauna Kea Golf Club and Hapuna Golf Club, the former being one of the more recognized in the world. As I found out, it ain't easy either.

I got to play Mauna Kea three times and while I wasn't completely awful I never could get a grasp of the big, undulating greens there. The fairways were generous enough for the most part, however getting the ball on the correct part of the greens proved to be quite a challenge. The green complexes are what make this course as tough as it is.

Since I played it three times I figured I'd just give you some of the high(low)lights from the the holes that I took some pictures on... assuming I can remember what I'm looking at and what I did on those holes. The best way to find out is to get started!

The green of the opening hole, a dogleg-right par 4. I managed to par this the first day, took bogey the other two. The green plays uphill a decent bit.

The view from the second green, a short, downhill par-4 that plays toward the Pacific Ocean (umm, its that gob of dark blue in the photo in case you missed it). The green is to the left, behind the tress there. The first day I hit driver and discovered that was a mistake, the fairway isn't long enough for it and I took a double bogey. The other two days I made par since I was smart enough to hit 3-wood off the tee.

 The famous par-3 third hole. I made par the first day, just missing the green to the right and nearly chipped in for birdie. The second and third days had the tee set up more to the right. I chunked both tee shots on those days, the first of which ended up in the scrub on the cliffside. I went to the drop area, which was a blind, uphill shot from about 110 yards. I hit my wedge about two feet from the hole and made bogey. Made bogey on Monday also.

 A look back from the 5th green, a par-5. I made birdie on the first day, making a 12 foot putt just moments before I took this photo. I didn't play the hole quite as well the next couple of days, though I think I managed at least one par.

 The sixth hole, a short par-4 that also played best with a 3-wood from the tee. The green is quite elevated and has some strong slope from back to front and left to right. I hit the green all three days though I did three-putt the green twice.

 The look from the tee on the par-5 eighth. I went par-bogey-par on this hole, though on the third shot on the first day I think I tweaked my elbow, which started a downward spiral for the round that day. I had gone for the green in two and hit a smothered-hook into the left rough, leaving me with an awkward downhill pitch from the rough. That grass grabbed my club on the way through and my arm didn't appreciate it.

 The downhill par-4 ninth. Again, a 3-wood off the tee here is the smart play. I made par on the first day but a couple of poor tee shots on the next two days led to bogeys.

 This is the tough-as-nails downhill par-3 11th hole. If not for the 3rd hole I'm sure this bastard would get more press. Playing over 200 yards from the resort tees is bad enough, add an afternoon wind that blows off the ocean and up that hill to the tee and it plays more like 225 or something. On the first day I hit 3-wood (!) and my ball landed on the right fringe, just past that trap on the right of the green. It bounced right, careened down the hill toward those trees, never to be seen again. For all I know that thing ended up in the Pacific. I parred this thing on the next two days, playing in the morning made a difference as I only needed 5-wood instead.

 The par-4 14th hole. This was one of the toughest holes on the course as it was a fairly sharp dogleg left that played about 400 yards into a prevailing left-to-right wind. I hit 4-iron onto the green the first day and made par. I took double on the other two days. I never did hit a good drive on this hole. My ball seemed to be unduly attracted to that tree on the right for some reason.

 This is the 15th hole, the most benign of the par-3s. For a simple hole I never played it all that well, taking bogey on all three days. The green has one of the most severe slopes on the course in the back right, I swear I had to aim 20 feet away from the hole that day.

 The view of the green for the 16th hole. Another longer par-4, the wind made quite a difference on the approach here. I only hit one decent drive on this hole, making par on the second day. I made double on the others. I was never very comfortable on the tee here for some reason.

And here is the finishing hole, another downhill par-4 that plays somewhat parallel to the ninth. The wind came off the ocean from the left, which helped as the hole did dogleg a bit to the right. I made par on the first two days but tallied a bogey on the final day. I did hit three nice drives here so I had a good look at the green every time. This green had one of the strangest breaks I've ever played, I swear that damn thing rolled uphill like Spook Hill or something.

I never had a great round but I was consistent, shooting 83-84-84. I had a good chance to break 80 on the first day. I shot 38 on the front nine, but that elbow gave me some trouble on the back after that one shot on the 8th. If I could have played this thing for a fourth day I might have had a shot at a good round since I felt like I knew the course so much better by then. Oh well, maybe we'll come back.

Well, this took longer than I had hoped so I'll post about Hapuna on another day. As you can likely see, this course is visually appealing and was tough but fair throughout. My only regret is that I wasn't able to have that one really nice round here but overall I can't complain too much. Perhaps I had better luck on the other course...