Waikoloa Beach Resort - Kings'/Lakes Course

While the lava rock contrast on the out of bounds vs. the front side out adjacent back side return fairway grass was sort of cool visually the course layout and challenges were less. In my home town of Phoenix we've easily 30 better public and resort (let alone private) courses. Weiskopf's trademark drivable par 4's are perhaps the most interesting holes in #5 (lava boulders in fairway bunker hiding the green) and #13 (lake left to green edge and center fairway bunker). A couple of additional lava outcroppings on #17 and #18 add interest to the finish but the other black rock areas are really not in play for better players (from tips 77, 4 hdcp). Greens were not too interesting or swoopy and hairy-slow late afternoon. As everything in Hawaii is twice the cost of identical on the mainland the price here is reasonable but hardly worthy of top ten ranking in warm weather tourist golf states like CA, AZ or FLA. Don't travel to the Big Island just for this course, you'll be disappointed compared to the superior Mauna Lani North and South neighbors with amazing paspalum grass.

Playing the KIng's Course was exciting and enjoyable. I played the resort tees and found the layout was challenging due to the fairway bunkers and the long par 4's. I was in two greenside bunkers and had no problems with the sand. Playing the short par 4's made the round enjoyable. A birdie on # 5 made the round more fun, but even better I birdied the par 3 15th, and made par on the par 4 17th, and the par 5 18th. The greens rolled great, and I would play again in a minute.

Not much better than a local muni. Pretty awful pace of play and no sign of a marshal anywhwere. Course is in mediocre condition, not very imaginative layout, and not terribly challenging.

Will not play again unless the green fees are under $100.

We have played this course many times and it had conditioning issues in the past.
This time the King's Course was in great shape with smooth greens, great tee boxes, and green fairways.
The weather was magnificent with partly cloudy skies
and mild temperatures but almost no wind.
The starter did a great job and she had a good sense of humor.
We started on time and finished in less than four hours.
The course was crowded but the pace of play was excellent.
Some of the long par fours that play into the wind can be tough.
This course is a Tom Weiskopf design and I really appreciated his classic use of the difficult short par four
to lull you into complacency.
This course seems to be getting better and we will look forward to playing here again.

This course lacks character and doesn't make up for it with any special views of the coastline or beauty of the island. Maintenance is below average. If I were to rate its maintenance based on the condition of its bunkers, I would call it abysmal. The bunkers reflect a complete lack of pride in the course. The practice facility has a reasonable facsimile of what the bunkers SHOULD be. The course bunkers however are hard packed dirt. The owners should be embarrassed with their condition. They might as well let them grow in. After the first encounter, we declared them "ground under repair" and did not play from them. Mowed grass was clumped all over the first three fairways. The starter was unfriendly and seemed annoyed to be there. I guess dealing with tourists day after day takes its toll. Overall it was just too expensive for the level of conditions. Go play Makalei for a way better value.

I have played this course several times over the years. It is always well maintained. The course can be very challenging. You have to play your shots well. If you get a little wild you will be punished. It is a beautiful course. I will be playing it again in May.

Been to Hawaii twice. On my 2nd trip I was going to play Hawaii. It's always worth the money to play some place like Hawaii. Great experience. My son and I were teamed up with one other gentleman but he was pretty cool as he just wanted to come out and play non competitively. Playing later in the afternoon opened up more space and then of course less heat. Was a much fun. But always a challenge when you have never played the course. The scenery is beautiful but of course it's Hawaii.

Waikaloa Kings rates as my least favorite Tom Weiskopf design, but that's not really a knock on the course. There's just so many too-good Weiskopf designs to compete against. This one is just solid. It's conditioning can be a little rough in spots, although the day I played the greens rolled well enough and there were no major issues. As usual, Weiskopf built a couple of cool short par 4s. The par 4 fifth hole is a keeper with large lava rocks and a waste bunker protecting an elevated green that slopes away on all sides. While water is a major feature of the layout, the Kings never comes close to the ocean. That's a major deterrent when all its competition along the Kona Coast does. On the bright side, there's no premium ocean charge factored into the green fee. What you pay for is what you get: A perfectly enjoyable (but not spectacular) day playing golf.