Rycky's Golf Blog: Hapuna Golf Club, that other round in Hawaii.

While I had the chance to play Mauna Kea three times, the fourth round was at the resort's sister course, Hapuna Golf Club. While not quite a scenic, this track did have its own character and it also had some impressive views of both the ocean and the mountains. I played here during the afternoon of the second day, just as the winds started to ramp up.

My tee time wasn't until around 1 but the first tee was wide open and they let me go out as soon as I was ready. The first hole seemed simple enough, a short, uphill par-4. I didn't start well though, pulling my 3-wood tee shot into the fairway trap, leading to a bogey. We're just getting started though and so far my elbow seemed to be holding up despite cooling down a bit between rounds.

I parred the 2nd and then came to the first picture-worthy hole on the course, the par-5 third :

From the third tee.

A look at the third green from the fairway.

I hit a solid enough drive but not quite good enough to consider a run at going for the green. Two decent iron shots and two putts later gave me another par. Mark down another par on the fourth and we have a strong start to the round. This brings us to our first par-3 of the course, the fifth :

I half-chunked a wedge but got enough of it to at least clear the trap, leaving me with a fairly simple chip to get up and down for par, which I did. The greens here seemed a little softer, maybe a tad slower and definitely not as severe with the mounding. These tended to have gentle sloping overall instead, making things a little easier to judge. That brings us to the sixth hole:

The view from the tee on the par-4 sixth.

The sixth green.

I wasn't exactly sure where to hit my drive on this hole and ended up in the right rough. Fortunately I wasn't too far off of the correct line and had a good lie with a decent angle to the green, which I hit and managed to make another par, my fifth straight. After another par on the par-3 seventh, I hit a great drive on the par-5 eighth, leaving myself only about 185 into the green. With the wind slightly helping I figured a 4-iron to an slightly uphill green would do the job... if I hadn't pull-hooked it. The ball carried the bunker on the left, took a huge bounce and ended up well over the green and into some scrub grass. Trust me, it wasn't pretty. I literally hacked it out but failed to even get halfway to the green. However, I hit a pretty damn good pitch to about 4 feet from the hole and made that for another par. Things were going my way so far.

That brings us to the ninth hole, shown here :

A long par-4 at 413 yards and into the wind, I really wasn't feeling too comfortable on the tee. However I think the tee might have been up slightly today. I hit a very solid drive but I only had about 145 yards left into a middle pin. I did hit it pretty solid though.... anyway, my approach leaked right but held the green, which is a good thing as the water wasn't far off from the edge. Two putts later and I have my eighth straight par to close the front side in 37. Yay me!

I made the turn and saw the tenth hole, a par-4 that looks like this :

Behold the confusing tee shot of the tenth hole.

The hole measures only about 340 yards but those trees looked so close to me on the tee. I didn't know if I should go right of them, over them, between them, somewhere else? I decided that driver was likely too much club as I feared I'd go through the fairway, so I hooked a three wood under that tree on the left instead. I was lucky enough to have a shot at the green and hit a knockdown wedge off the back of the green. Again I managed to save par with a nice chip and putt though so no harm done! On to the eleventh!

The par-5 eleventh, complete with goats (can you see them?)

This adorable par-5 played back into a stiffening breeze, though it wasn't too strong as of yet. The hole was a solid three-shot hole as I needed driver/5-wood/gap wedge to traverse it. My wedge wasn't a great shot but I did hit the green and get down from there for par once more. Below is the eleventh green, followed by a view of the 12th hole :

The 11th green.

The par-4 12th hole.

The wind has let up just a bit at about this point so I hit 3-wood off the tee on this one and still almost hit it through the fairway as I couldn't tell that there was a drop off just a bit past that fairway bunker you see there. I had a good, level lie though and hit a wedge to about 4 feet from the hole. The issue was I managed to hit it above the hole and found one of the few places that the green had a more severe slope than some of the other hole locations had. I took my time with this one and even though I think I still hit it slightly too firm the ball held the line and I scored myself a birdie, bringing me to even par! To say I was excited about it would be a bit underwhelming. Here is a better look at the 12th green, by the way :

The 13th green, home of birdies.

We still have six more holes to play in this round and we start them with the short downhill 13th :

Looking down at the 13th green from the tee.

The wind was starting to pick up again and it was coming more from the right rather than behind me, making club selection a but iffy. I decided on pitching wedge, which ended up being the right choice. I ended up about 25 feet to the right of the hole as I pushed it a bit and the wind didn't seem to bring it back as much as I thought it would. I almost holed the putt for birdie though, just missing it a bit to the right.

The 14th hole was a par-5 that did play a bit downwind. I hit my drive too far right however but that actually shortened the hole as it doglegged in that direction. The green was quite a bit uphill but I had a decent lie and only about 200 to the hole so I gave a run at it. I never got the ball high enough and it ended up short by about 40 yards, it just kinda went *plunk* when it hit into the upslope. I pitched on and hit a poor putt for the birdie but nothing that endangered my par.

The 15th hole turned back into the wind, which started to get much stronger as we worked into the afternoon. I managed to hit a strong drive on this 398-yard par-4 and came away with another par after hitting the green with a good iron shot. For some reason I don't have a good picture in my mind of what this hole was like, I just know that had two solid shots and made par. However, I do remember the last three holes since the wind made them fairly brutal, starting with the par-3 16th :

The downhill par-3 16th hole.

The wind was at least two-clubs now and it didn't help that the hole was downhill. I hit 6-iron here, which was probably at least a half-club short. I pulled it just slightly also, ending up in that trap to the left. I had a decent lie but I had a fairly longish bunker shot to the hole. I left it about 20 feet short and failed to make that, making my first bogey since the opening hole. Things weren't getting easier out here either :

The view from the tee of the 387 yard par-4 17th hole.

The wind was still kicking pretty well on this one also but the drive I hit here was the worst one of the day. I hit a low duck hook that barely cleared that brownish junk. From there I hit a good 3-wood toward the green and still ended up about 10 yards short. I hit a decent pitch from there but I missed the putt for another bogey, leaving me at 2-over with just one hole left to play.

The cart ride to the 18th hole was a bit of a trek but once we got there I found myself facing a 400-yard dogleg left that does not give you a view of the green from the tee. The wind was coming in strongly from the left and into my face, not a great combination. I hit a decent drive but the wind pushed it further right and held it up a bit, leaving this for my second shot :

A look at the 18th green from the fairway, 180 yards away.

At this point I'm wondering if the wind is strong enough to warrant a 3-wood but decided that a solid 5-wood should do the job. I almost pulled it off, but I think I caught it a little off the toe, causing it to go a little low and draw a little too much. I ended up just short of the green, off the front right side. Fortunately the ball held there and didn't roll further down away from the surface of the green. I hit what I thought was a good chip but the ball didn't check up like most of the other greens had and it rolled by about 8 feet or so. I missed that coming back, ending the round with three straight bogeys. That's OK, you won't hear me complaining about shooting 75, I don't care where it is.

While it may not have mattered I really do wish the wind would have held off for about another hour or so as I was going pretty well there. The drive on the 17th might have been influenced by the wind, I think I tried too hard to hit it low to keep it down and ended up getting too quick on it. Still, I hit ten greens, just missed a few others and really was never in any serious trouble the entire round. To shoot such a solid round in such a nice locale will ease any regrets I might have had... at least that's what I'm telling myself.

I'll close out with a few random pictures from the trip to Hawaii. Some are from the courses, others are from the trip I took to the actual Mauna Kea. You should be able to tell the difference. Enjoy!