Puakea Golf Course

I Started Playing Puakea Golf Course Back In 2002 When It Was A 10 Hole Golf Course And Then Not Sure What Year (04 – 05) I Came Back And They Had Finished All 18 Holes WOW It Was A Little Different Lay Out Then What I Played In The Past But They Really Did Get It Right I Have Played Puakea Over 20 Times And I Never Been Disappointed With The Course The Associates That Work The Course And The 19 Hole Bar And Grill Are Very Nice They Make Feel Very Welcome Its Not A Resort Course But They Do A lot Like A Resort They Come Out Get Your Golf Bags To Your Cart And When You Leave To Do Not Go By The Reviews Your Golfing In Hawaii Go Check It Out For Your Self It Will Test You Thank You See Ya In (May-​2017)

Beautiful course and very friendly golfers. We didn’t feel rushed at all. Pro shop woman was really rude for some reason. What did we do?

Pearl is Awesome! My wife and I were bummed because our tours were getting canceled due to rain. We showed up hoping that we could switch our tee time that we had a few days later and were a little nervous that they wouldn’t be able to do it. Pearl stepped up and switched our tee time and was amazingly pleasant. Customer service was great and the course was beautiful. Had some really cool elevated shots and the course was in great shape. A must play. Did I mention Pearl was awesome? Thank you Puakea.

Went to this place on Wednesday afternoon 9÷2÷15. They advertise discounted rates after 3pm… Not that I am looking for a bargain but I like to take my wife as a rider later in the day when the courses are not crowded. I have played pretty much every other course on the island over the years. Well I walk in the pro shop at 3:10pm and ask the girl working if I can get on as a single with a rider. Instant attitude. She says «well the carts need to be back by 6 pm and you won’t even get 9 holes in». I asked if she thought it would take me 3 hours to finish 9 holes and she responded «well you won’t be able to finish 18». I told her I was aware of that. So she just looks at me and stares me down without saying a word. A very angry look –almost as if to say «get out of my sight you stupid howlee». So I just turned and walked out. I went to Wailua Municipal where I was greeted with aloha. I made the general manager at Puakea aware of my experience and he promptly sent a sincere apology. I will give them another try on my next visit to Kauai

Such a disappointment. I thought «hey maybe we can take our dad out golfing for Father’s Day since we are vacationing in Hawaii.»
Review of the course:
Ugh. Maybe ³⁄₉ holes in the front has a pretty view. The rest were pathetic. Grass around the course had huge brown areas, greens were so slow it could pass as fairway grass, and golf carts are old and dinky. Pro shop was in a run down portable.
Service:
LOL, So this had to be the WORST «resort» golf club service I’ve ever experienced. The moment my sisters and I walked in, the lady in the pro shop (her name is Pearl) looked us up and down and muttered something under her breath. Then she turns to us with attitude and goes «this is a RESORT, you have to wear a collared shirt. EVERY golf course has this rule»
Ok pause. I called an hour PRIOR to getting there to check on the weather (we just docked from the cruise) and also to check their dress code policy. She specified how we can’t wear cut offs or bikinis (if this is the standard, I don’t know how they can expect to be so snobby). So we went in khaki shorts and loose fitted under armor shirts. I don’t want to sound privileged but my sisters and I have been golfing for most of our lives (20−25years) and my dad has been golfing for over 30 years. We have played at the local courses to actual resort golf courses like Pelican Hills, Trump National Golf Club, and Pebble Beach. We dress appropriate to the level of care you show in your course. Lo siento if my non-​collared shirt offended you, your course doesn’t even have a legit driving range. Ok unpause.
The pro shop woman (Pearl) obviously was annoyed at us from her condescending demeanor. One of her friends popped her head in and Pearl’s attitude changed to a friendly «oh hey!» So I can’t even give her the benefit of the doubt by thinking she is just having a bad day. She clearly did not like our presence. But we ignored her attitude and made our way to the starter…
OMG what a disaster. He was, if possible, even MORE rude than Pearl! He was patronizing throughout the entire process. Then he started talking golf etiquette as though we were beginners. We don’t have anything to prove to them so we bit our tongue and proceeded. But for all the emphasis they were putting on «resort» you’d think they would have a real starter podium instead of a make shift wooden shack.
Luckily for us, golf is always fun when we get a chance to play together. So we were still able to enjoy each other’s company and a short 9 hole round. But oh my goodness. I’d NEVER play on this ghetto fab course again as long as Pearl and that starter is there.
Side note: I made a tee time through the phone. There is inconsistency on club rentals between the after hour call center and pro shop. And Pearl was totally unapologetic for OUR inconveniences.
The only star goes to the wonderful gardeners and cart maintenance crew. You guys were awesome, thank you!

Nice golf course good views of kipu Kai mountain, close to town and beach, reasonably priced & fun course.

This is a poor man’s Kauai golf course, but you are spending a lot of money other places right? It is kind of a standard course like you would find on the mainland, not a lot of spectacular views. If you want the «Hawaii» golf experience this isn’t it. I WOULD golf here, because its not a bad course for the money– you can pay three times this much for a round of golf elsewhere on the island. I was able to walk here from the Marriott which is another plus. Maybe the biggest plus is that if you want to golf with your kids this is the course — no reason to spend the big bucks for a 12 year old to pick up his ball 36 times…

Yikes. A big disappointment — nothing what I was expecting given the reviews. I’ll try to be even-​handed here…
The Bad:
Only 4 of the 18 greens resembled anything else on the island. The others are suffering substantially from disease and plenty of bare spots (most were 70% of the green’s surface). If the money is available, I’d advocate pulling them for a rebuild.
Irrigation patterns were mixed. Hard turf next to bog pits. Several repairs were under way the day we were playing.
Service at front counter and café was quite slow.
The Good:
Greeter Dude was great. Friendly and did a nice job of explaining the course and routing. Carts in great shape.
It’s actually a nice layout. Plenty of challenge and features if you can get past the turf/​green conditions. Setting is nice, too.
All in all, I had to go with the 2 Stars simply for the conditions. If they were in better (heck, even average) shape, this would be a good bang-​for-​buck course deserving of 4 Stars. Hoping they can get through this rough patch.

For the price it wasn’t worth it, the greens were shaggy and the bunkers haven’t seen a rake in a week.

This place is amazing! Great value, great views, great golf, if you are looking to golf on Kauai, definitely hit up this place. The fairways and bunkers are in great shape, the greens are slow but the service and starter are awesome. I played 18 in 3.5 hours because there was hardly anyone on the course on Thursday morning and I suspect during the week it is the same. Really can’t say enough good things about this course!

Nice course. friendly folks.
the greens were decent but can be better.
the course had 1 group on it when we played. and we got through 18 holes in 3 hours. that’s just awesome.
decent prices for Kauai, $ 59 including cart special.
decent views and the holes are for the most part fair. there was one hole that was almost unfair but that could just be b/​c i’m not very good :)

Played here while I was on vacation last month and it’s definitely worth it. The front and back 9s make you feel like you’re playing two different courses. The course was in great conditions and for Hawaii golf it was fairly inexpensive. I played at Prince (amazing golf) and got to play about 6 holes at Poipu before mother nature decided that’s all the golf I could get on vacation and sent down some thunders and rain. Both of these courses were 5x more expensive than Puakea and while worth it, I would not play again.
Overall, if you are looking for great but affordable golf, give Puakea a try.

Played for the first time this past vacation (¹⁰⁄₁₅). An excellant course and the service and people were great. Have been going to Kauai for the past 6 years and always overlooked playing this course, but from now on, it will be one of the courses I play. The price was also very reasonable and the greens and views were great…

Easy to walk on without a tee time.
Great rates!
Great course condition every time I have played.
I will play here every time I come to Kauai.

Rating: ⁴⁄₅
Date (s) Played: 5÷29÷2011, 5÷28÷2011, 1 other time before this.
Facilities: ⁴⁄₅
Driving Range: ⁵⁄₅
Practice Putting Greens & Sand Bunker: ⁵⁄₅
Course: ⁴⁄₅
Price: ³⁄₅
Parking: ³⁄₅
This course is under the management of Billy Casper Golf.
Here’s more info on Billy Casper Golf:
If any of you golfers have played at the following courses, and enjoyed it… it’s because it’s managed by BCG (Billy Casper Golf). Here are the only other three (3) courses managed by them:
1. Maui — Ka’anapali Golf Courses
2. Kauai — Kukuiolono Park & Golf Course
My review for this course:

3. Oahu — Bay View Golf Course
Facilities:
A small Pro Shop, great food at their restaurant.
Driving Range:
All grass.
Practice Putting Greens & Sand Bunker:
They have 1 of each, which are very large & well kept.
Course:
A nice friendly course.
Price:
Reasonable rates for both visitors and Kama‘aina’s.
Parking:
Nothing to worry about.

The Grille @ Puakea… Fast service friendly atmosphere reasonably priced… HIGHLY RECOMMEND

OK, so the front nine winds around a Costco and Home Depot.
Once you get past that, you’ll find Puakea is a fun coruse with a decent frnot nine and a very interesting back nine. Never a crowd, juniors play free or at a substantially discounted rate, and the standard adult rate is very reasonable.
I’d rank this and Kiahuna as the two best everyday courses on Kauai. The Prince Course is unique, and expensive, making it a one time must play. Kauai Lagoons has some great holes but also some very ordinary holes. Poipu Bay is way overpriced.
See a hole-​by-​hole tour of Puakea here:

i enjoy playing this course quite a bit. ESPECIALLY after playing the prince course. not the greatest condition. not the most difficult layout but a fun course where you can score well if you keep it in play. driving range is good. starters and cart dudes are all very friendly and helpful.

Good place to come and test out the driving range. I’ve never really had a round of golf here but I come here many times to «shag some balls» (I’ve always wanted a forum for me to use that phrase, and now I’ve found one. Thanks Unilocal!)

My brother-​in-​law and I had heard about this course from the concierge at where we were staying and wanted to give this course a try.
First off, the course it situated near the Costco, so we weren’t sure what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised at this gem of a course. The price was reasonable at around $ 100 for a round of golf including a cart. The course was designed by Robin Nelson, one of the most prolific golf architects on the islands, and opened in 2003. The course features a very nice practice area repeat with natural grass driving range, chipping area and bunker practice area. The first day we played there the weather was ideal, in the high 70’s and with a light breeze. The course starts off relatively flat until you cross under the road and head to the mountainous side. From there you are treated to some great vistas of mountain ranges and slight views of the ocean in the distance. The course was in great condition and the greens ran true. It was a very enjoyable day, especially ending it with a hot dog and a soda for $ 1.50 from Costco.
Our second day was completely different. There was a gale coming through the island and boy was it windy. We were reconsidering our decision to play, as we noticed very few cars in the parking lot and hearing one of the grounds keepers on the radio telling the gal at the clubhouse that one of the flagpoles had broken from the wind. We decided to go ahead with our round and hit some practice balls to warm up. At the practice range the wind was coming from the left and all my shots took off straight but immediately took a right trajectory as they left. I could tell it was going to be a tough day. The wind continued to blow anywhere from 25−40mph and made playing a joke, but it was fun to try different shots to fight the wind and use it to our advantage. Though we didn’t score well that day, it was still very enjoyable to pretty much have the course to ourselves. We found a couple of holes that we played a couple of times that were sheltered from the wind and very enjoyable.
This is definitely a course I would like to play again when returning to Kauai. It offers all the elements I enjoy in a golf course, along with a first rate practice area. Overall, the people at the clubhouse and the grounds keepers we encountered were friendly and warm.