Wailea Emerald, Maui

[MaxEntropy]

We just got back from a family vacation to Maui. The return trip was not without its drama due to all the cancelled flights over the weekend, but we all made it home in one piece, albeit severely sleep-deprived. *See the end for brief description of the trip home for those that are interested.

My lovely wife was good with me having a golf day. I really wanted to play Kapalua Plantation, but had trouble justifying $395 for the round + $79 for club rentals when the afternoon rate at Wailea was $180 + $79 for clubs. As I seem to have gotten a bit cheaper in my old age, the decision was easy....

This was my 4th trip to Maui and my 5th round of golf on the island. I had played the Emerald course one other time, but it was ~22 years ago and there was alcohol involved, so my recollection of the course was not great - I just knew I really enjoyed it. I would characterize the course as a very good resort-style course. The fairways are pretty generous, but there are a few holes where you have a decision to make depending on how you are driving the ball as things neck down in the landing areas or trouble comes into play. Of course, there are spectacular views all over the course.

View from first tee. ~100 feet downhill and typically downwind. A good drive can get you pretty close to the green. I did not have a good drive. Playable, but not good.

4th hole - here I choose 3W off the tee as a D needed to be very precise (for me) to stay between the lava rocks and trees in the center of the screen and the trees on the left (not in view). Still had a double bogey thanks to a pulled second shot and a 3-putt.

6th hole - first fairway I hit with driver, still walked away with a bogey.

14th hole - solid drive, but pushed into the fairway bunker in the middle of the screen, fat second shot, walk off with another bogey.

17th hole - zoomed in quite a bit. Relatively short hole and water on right and bunkers on left come into play for 3W or D. I chose 3H, my partner 5W. Goal is to get it over the nearest bunker and leave yourself ~100-110 yards. This is a shared green with #10 with a huge ridge separating the pins. I had a par.

18th hole - relatively flat until the first bunker then goes downhill and to the right. I managed to hit it well enough to catch the downhill making it a reachable par 5. I had ~210 to the green and hit a solid shot, but ended up in a greenside bunker. Average sand shot and two putts for par.

I ended up shooting a 92 (+20), but generally felt pretty good about it since I was using rental clubs and had 37 putts (I typically average 30-31 putts per round).

Rentals: All the rentals were Titleist T-series. I had intended to get T300's, but the last set of them with stiff shafts went out on course just before I got there, so I took T200's. I have wondered in the past whether I could "handle" something closer to a players' iron and the answer is yes. I loved them. In general, I hit them solid, although when I returned them, I told the guy the 8i must be broken because I could not hit it (weird pull hooks with it). At first, he thought I was serious. D, 3W, 3H were TSi3. I have no real opinion on them - they were ok, but I have a strong suspicion the shafts were wrong for me, especially with the D. I was back to the 2-way miss that has plagued me for the last few years that was only resolved with the X-stiff shaft from my fitting last year.

Putting: I don't know how people play in Hawaii regularly. The grain MESSED. ME. UP. I ended up with two 3-putts, which isn't too bad, but also missed a lot of putts that were somewhat makeable (hence the 37 total putts). When the round started, the sun was out and I had no trouble at least seeing the grain, but some clouds rolled in and I could not see the grain at all and had nary a clue what was going to happen so I just had to be satisfied trying to keep it close with the first putt.

* Return trip: When we were shopping for plane tickets, it turned out it was ~$300 per person cheaper for us to fly out of Pittsburgh. With 4 people, we decided it was worth it to fly from there. Our flights had one stop in Dallas each way. When we landed in Dallas on the way home, our flight to Pittsburgh had been cancelled. The first flight they could guarantee all 4 of us could get on was Tuesday morning. Unacceptable. We knew the chances of all of us being on standby and getting on the same flight were slim, so we told them we were willing to split up and would take anything to Pittsburgh or Cleveland. It turns out the standby lists were shorter for Cleveland, so the 4 of us ended up on 3 different flights to Cleveland. That was great except our car and luggage were in Pittsburgh. My wife and I had to take an extra vacation day Monday so we could go get our luggage and car.

In the end, it was a fantastic trip and we had a great time. Our "baby" also turned 21 while we were there, so the alcohol bills piled up at a slightly higher rate. Below is the view from our room.

[2puttbogey]

That’s my favorite course on the island. I’m playing there on Friday. Great pictures and happy you enjoyed it.

[MaxEntropy]

42 minutes ago, 2puttbogey said:

That’s my favorite course on the island. I’m playing there on Friday. Great pictures and happy you enjoyed it.

Holy crap! I had no idea we had any members there. If I had known, I definitely would have tried to get together. Sorry! 

[2puttbogey]

8 hours ago, MaxEntropy said:

Holy crap! I had no idea we had any members there. If I had known, I definitely would have tried to get together. Sorry! 

No worries. Maybe next time p. I play dunes at maui lani primarily. I could have helped you with the reading of the grain in the greens though.

[Kenny B]

13 hours ago, MaxEntropy said:

We just got back from a family vacation to Maui. The return trip was not without its drama due to all the cancelled flights over the weekend, but we all made it home in one piece, albeit severely sleep-deprived. *See the end for brief description of the trip home for those that are interested.

My lovely wife was good with me having a golf day. I really wanted to play Kapalua Plantation, but had trouble justifying $395 for the round + $79 for club rentals when the afternoon rate at Wailea was $180 + $79 for clubs. As I seem to have gotten a bit cheaper in my old age, the decision was easy....

This was my 4th trip to Maui and my 5th round of golf on the island. I had played the Emerald course one other time, but it was ~22 years ago and there was alcohol involved, so my recollection of the course was not great - I just knew I really enjoyed it. I would characterize the course as a very good resort-style course. The fairways are pretty generous, but there are a few holes where you have a decision to make depending on how you are driving the ball as things neck down in the landing areas or trouble comes into play. Of course, there are spectacular views all over the course.

View from first tee. ~100 feet downhill and typically downwind. A good drive can get you pretty close to the green. I did not have a good drive. Playable, but not good.

4th hole - here I choose 3W off the tee as a D needed to be very precise (for me) to stay between the lava rocks and trees in the center of the screen and the trees on the left (not in view). Still had a double bogey thanks to a pulled second shot and a 3-putt.

6th hole - first fairway I hit with driver, still walked away with a bogey.

14th hole - solid drive, but pushed into the fairway bunker in the middle of the screen, fat second shot, walk off with another bogey.

17th hole - zoomed in quite a bit. Relatively short hole and water on right and bunkers on left come into play for 3W or D. I chose 3H, my partner 5W. Goal is to get it over the nearest bunker and leave yourself ~100-110 yards. This is a shared green with #10 with a huge ridge separating the pins. I had a par.

18th hole - relatively flat until the first bunker then goes downhill and to the right. I managed to hit it well enough to catch the downhill making it a reachable par 5. I had ~210 to the green and hit a solid shot, but ended up in a greenside bunker. Average sand shot and two putts for par.

I ended up shooting a 92 (+20), but generally felt pretty good about it since I was using rental clubs and had 37 putts (I typically average 30-31 putts per round).

Rentals: All the rentals were Titleist T-series. I had intended to get T300's, but the last set of them with stiff shafts went out on course just before I got there, so I took T200's. I have wondered in the past whether I could "handle" something closer to a players' iron and the answer is yes. I loved them. In general, I hit them solid, although when I returned them, I told the guy the 8i must be broken because I could not hit it (weird pull hooks with it). At first, he thought I was serious. D, 3W, 3H were TSi3. I have no real opinion on them - they were ok, but I have a strong suspicion the shafts were wrong for me, especially with the D. I was back to the 2-way miss that has plagued me for the last few years that was only resolved with the X-stiff shaft from my fitting last year.

Putting: I don't know how people play in Hawaii regularly. The grain MESSED. ME. UP. I ended up with two 3-putts, which isn't too bad, but also missed a lot of putts that were somewhat makeable (hence the 37 total putts). When the round started, the sun was out and I had no trouble at least seeing the grain, but some clouds rolled in and I could not see the grain at all and had nary a clue what was going to happen so I just had to be satisfied trying to keep it close with the first putt.

* Return trip: When we were shopping for plane tickets, it turned out it was ~$300 per person cheaper for us to fly out of Pittsburgh. With 4 people, we decided it was worth it to fly from there. Our flights had one stop in Dallas each way. When we landed in Dallas on the way home, our flight to Pittsburgh had been cancelled. The first flight they could guarantee all 4 of us could get on was Tuesday morning. Unacceptable. We knew the chances of all of us being on standby and getting on the same flight were slim, so we told them we were willing to split up and would take anything to Pittsburgh or Cleveland. It turns out the standby lists were shorter for Cleveland, so the 4 of us ended up on 3 different flights to Cleveland. That was great except our car and luggage were in Pittsburgh. My wife and I had to take an extra vacation day Monday so we could go get our luggage and car.

In the end, it was a fantastic trip and we had a great time. Our "baby" also turned 21 while we were there, so the alcohol bills piled up at a slightly higher rate. Below is the view from our room.

Nice vacation!!  Well, except for the travel. Glad you made it back OK.  Many years ago my wife and I took a 2 week trip to Maui in January.  We got to play the Kapalua Plantation Course right after the ToC; the stands were still up; loved it but beat us up.  We also play Makena just down the road from the Emerald course.  We go a package deal to play it 4 times for the price of 3.  Yes, the grain is extremely difficult to read and play.  Add in the effect of slope from volcanos, and 3-putts are inevitable.  However, I wish I could afford to stay there all winter!!  

[scornfulturban]

Such a beautiful place! I was there during my university practice and it was an amazing experience. I found a lot of information here https://paperap.com/free-papers/hawaii/ and mix it with my memories so I got great coursework in the end. Thank you for sharing it, I'm happy to remember this heaven on Earth!

Edited September 1, 2022 by scornfulturban

[MarkCPA]

I played there in June, 2019.  Outside of the 17th hole which just seemed really odd when compared to the other 17 holes, I enjoyed the round.    The views were incredible.    

[Bossfan]

10 hours ago, MarkCPA said:

I played there in June, 2019.  Outside of the 17th hole which just seemed really odd when compared to the other 17 holes, I enjoyed the round.    The views were incredible.    

That will get me looking at airfares for this winter.

[bens197]

Adding this one to the list when we visit Maui. 

[Ivakota]

Thanks for the post , I will play it during our winter vacation since it looks in great shape. I will play the Plantation course, expensive but it is a must especially when there are whales in the background. As a member of a Troon Course we get a little off. The course was redone a few years ago and it is in great shape.

[mywong23]

Maui is my favorite vacation island

over the years, enjoyed playing all the courses !!!

yes, you must account for the grain.  it may take precedence over reading slope....

downhill, against the grain....  really is tough to gauge speed.

but you are playing in paradise....   oh, and those 3 club winds....

=========================

club rental:  I suggest using Jimmy's.   they will deliver and pickup from whatever course you play !!!

at lower rates      contact in advance for custom club selection !!!

jimmy@jimmysmauigolfrentals.com

mike wong

[jolter1]

I played there a few years back and hopefully will get the chance next year to play it again. Really hard to concentrate with all those spectacular views.

[MaxEntropy]

7 hours ago, mywong23 said:

club rental:  I suggest using Jimmy's.   they will deliver and pickup from whatever course you play !!!

at lower rates      contact in advance for custom club selection !!!

jimmy@jimmysmauigolfrentals.com

Fantastic tip - where were you 9 months ago?   From their website, it looks like the rates are generally less than half of what the courses charge.

Our first trip was for a cousin's wedding so plenty of family was there at the same time. I took my clubs because I knew I was going to play more than once (ended up playing three times that trip), but it's such a pain to travel with clubs, maybe made worse by the fact that we had a 14 month old baby with us too. 

[Bossfan]

Maui Golf Shop is also a good choice for club rentals. They took great care of our group.