Situated on the rocky side of an dormant volcano, high above the Pacific and the Four Seasons Resort is the Jack Nicklaus designed Manele (#26 on Current Rankings). Playing this course began the final five stretch and we had high expectations of experiencing five memorable designs. Manele did not disappoint! From the first tee shot high on the cliffs of Hulopoe Bay with the Pacific surging below, you know immediately that this is a very special golf course. I need to be careful when expressing my opinion of this course because many golf aficionados might call it blasphemy if I tell you that in my opinion and the opinion of my wife, when comparing Manele from the first hole to the last, it is better than Pebble Beach.
The setting is spectacular as almost every hole has wonderful views of the Pacific’s blue waters and the cliffs along this rugged coast. The golf holes that Nicklaus designed have a great deal of variety, give you room off the tee on most holes, but still make you think about your shot placement. The condition of the course was excellent even though they had recently installed a new irrigation system and are also doing some cart path work on many of the holes. The staff was outstanding and extremely helpful and friendly. They provided plenty of ice and free bottled water as well as complimentary strawberry lemonade at the turn. There were many signature holes but numbers 12 and 17 in particular were most memorable. If I had to get picky and try to point out a negative, hole 18 was probably the only bland hole on the course compared to all the others. But when you need to get back to the clubhouse, sometime you have no choice with the land remaining.
Manele is quite pricey at $325 for guests of the Four Seasons and $425 for non-guests but when compared to other courses in this price range, I would have to say that it is worth the cost to play this gem. Located on the small island of Lanai, you need to take a 45 minute ferry ride from Lahaina on Maui, but if you are a golfer and are visiting Maui, you must make the trip to play Manele. I feel it deserves to be ranked much higher than its current #26 but I think that the difficulty of getting to this course probably has hurt its ability to be ranked higher due to the number of panelist that get to play and rate this very special course. Manele has zoomed onto my list of the Most Enjoyable Courses that I have played. I only wish it was closer to Ohio so I could play it more, but maybe this review will get other golfers to consider the effort to get to Lanai.
After another 45 minute ferry ride back to Maui and then a 45 minute plane ride to the Big Island of Hawaii, we played another Jack Nicklaus design, Hualalai (#83 on Current Ranking) the next day. This Nicklaus design was probably the most player friendly course of his that I have played. It is a beautiful course outlined by walls and mounds of multi-colored lava rock which contrasts sharply against the green turf and blue Pacific water. Hualalai is a resort course and part of the Four Seasons property and there is also a great deal of real estate along the holes. Despite the homes that line several holes, they set far enough from the fairways to not come into play.
The huge mounds of lava that line most of the fairways give the holes very nice definition and look somewhat intimidating, but really do not come into play unless you hit a very wayward shot. The only exception to this is the lava wall which splits the fairway on hole number seven. The fairways are very wide, the bunkers are strategically placed but do not block the players entrance to the greens and the greens themselves are not nearly as undulating and challenging as most Nicklaus designs. In short, Hualalai is a great resort course that provides plenty of nice variety, some outstanding views and is very playable. Hole #17 is the only one directly on the ocean and is a real beauty. Perhaps you have seen it on television when the Champions Tour plays its Mitsubishi Classic here each January.
The condition of the course is very good and the staff, especially the beverage cart guy Sid, were pleasant and helpful. It was the first time that I have played a course where any item on the beverage cart was complimentary, as were the cookies at the turn. This is a nice touch and something more high end courses should copy instead of trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of its players that have just laid down $250 to $400 dollars for green fees. The bunkers were extremely well groomed but I found all of those that I played from had very little sand in the bottom of the bunkers. I think that more sand would be better but I must say that they were consistent. In my opinion, it is a great course and perfect for its purpose as a resort course, but falls a little short of a current Top 100 design.
Mauna Kea (#29 on Current Ranking) was one tough test of golf. With a slope of 138, very elevated and undulating greens, very deep and plentiful bunkers, along with a humid 91 degree day, made this Big Island Hawaii course more of an endurance test than an enjoyable round of golf. Rees Jones renovated his father’s 1964 design in 2008. He supposedly softened it a bit, but if so, it must have been a real brute. The opening of this course featured a Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf television show that included Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
Another thing that makes this course play so difficult are the number of uneven lies you encounter during the round. A downhill or sidehill lie in the thick Bermuda rough offers an extreme challenge. Mauna Kea tumbles across seaside cliffs and provides many beautiful views of the Kohola Coast. A nice touch was the frozen blended drinks that the beverage cart offered. The famous 3rd hole, the epic par 3, requires a dramatic carry across a rocky shoreline and crashing waves below. I played it at 165 yards but if you are really daring, you can tackle it from the back tee which is 265 yards. Nicklaus supposedly wanted to play from the tips since he thought that Player might not be able to carry the rocky shoreline. Another great par 3 is the 15th on the incoming nine.
Mauna Kea is not your typical resort type of golf course. It is a magnificent design but can wear you down with its relentless hole after hole difficulty. It is Top 100 worthy but I would not have it as high as its current #29 and its difficulty means that it does not make my Top 50 Most Enjoyable Courses. It is worth the play and I would tackle it again, but it is one of a group of courses that once or twice a year would suffice.
Course 193 meant we were back in California and the outstanding courses and views of Hawaii were behind us. Cordevalle (#42 on Current Ranking) in San Martin, CA did not disappoint. This 1999 Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design is a joy to play even though it presents many challenges to the golfer. It wanders up and down the foothills of the Santa Rosa Mountains in the middle of wine country. The setting is serene, the facilities fit perfectly with the surroundings and the staff treats their guests with smiles and respect.
You have to stay at this boutique resort to play the course but they will put together a nice golf package for you that is reasonable in price. As a guest, you are required to take a forecaddie and Quinn, our assigned caddie, did a wonderful job of professionally giving us guidance and was an excellent reader of the greens. The condition of the course was extremely good and well maintained, not pristine, but certainly better than most courses. The greens were large and many had ridges that separated the them into two or three smaller areas which made it extremely important to hit the correct landing area.
I really like Cordevalle and would enjoy playing it on a regular basis. It deserves its Top 100 rating and I will be adding it to my own personal Top 50 Most Enjoyable Courses. It is well thought of in USGA circles as well as it was chosen to host the 2016 U. S. Women’s Open. If you are looking for a well maintained, boutique resort that offers a top of the line golf course, and if you like visiting wineries, Cordevalle is a place you must visit. They have a large membership but when you are a guest, you are treated as a member for the day.
Pasatiempo (#18 on the Current Ranking) was the site of the final round of golf that we needed to complete our 194 course adventure. Augusta National is certainly not available for us to play, so finishing up on this Dr. Alister MacKenzie public jewel was an appropriate choice since it was during the playing of Pasatiempo that Bobby Jones decided to ask MacKenzie to help him build Augusta National. Built in 1928, it has withstood the test of time and continues to be one of the outstanding public courses in the United States. The location of Pasatiempo surprised me as I thought that some holes were located on the ocean, but it lies a mile or two inland and is located in a residential neighborhood. Many of the homes sit precariously close to the course and I am sure they see a few errant shots come their way.
The course has that classic look and feel of those built in the early 1900’s. You can see that very little dirt was moved, the tees are located close to the previous greens and the course naturally flows over and through the elevation changes. It was in very good condition and played longer than its shown yardage as most of the greens are elevated. Unfortunately, it played a little too long for Marilyn at 5,628 yards. Tom Doak was recently brought in to restore this course to its original MacKenzie luster and did a fabulous job on the greens and bunkers They recently remodeled the teeing areas but failed to add any forward tees for the women that would reduce the yardage closer to a more enjoyable 5,000 yards.
The staff was very nice and welcoming, especially the head professional, Ken Woods. After receiving an email from our son Jason, he made a point of looking us up on the 10th tee and congratulated us on our accomplishment of playing every course ever listed on the Golf Digest’s Top 100 Public Course Rankings. He was even nice enough to allow us to pick out a complimentary memento from the pro shop. His gesture was not necessary but showed a nice touch of class. There are a lot of great people in the golf business. The greens were large, undulating, fast and a challenge to read. In other words, it was a lot of fun once you reached the putting surface. If you found your ball on the wrong portion of the green, a two putt would allow you walk away happy. Hole 15 had a long narrow but playable ravine down the left side of the fairway which is a design feature that I have never seen.
The green on 16th hole was the most severe that I have ever encountered – and I have played several Mike Strantz courses that had severe and unusual greens. The front third was a steep false front that could not be used for a hole location, the middle third was flat but narrow and the back third was up a steep rise that made a putt from there down to the middle level practically impossible. There was a good chance that a putt from the top would roll beyond the flat portion, down the false front, off the green and into a rugged ravine some 30 feet below the green. There are not many other holes where you can not only putt a ball off the green but also incur a penalty stroke and need a wedge back to the green. I really like this hole from tee to green, even including the cavernous bunker to the right of the green, from which I was able to save a bogey, but despite what many say about this green, I feel it is too severe. I just read a story in The Golfer’s Journal that featured this hole and it had many good things to say about Hole 16. I know that the green is very difficult and unique, and I know that it is a MacKenzie design, but despite the great design of the hole, I just cannot help but feel that the hole would be even better if this three level green had just a little more forgiveness.
Another unusual feature at Pasatiempo is that its finishing hole is a par three. This is not an issue with me as it is a beautiful hole with a forced carry over a deep ravine and a fitting end to a thoroughly enjoyable round. What made this day and this final round of our golf odyssey even more special was how we finished. I made a par but Marilyn not only carried the hazard with her tee shot, she ended up about 8 feet from the hole. Feeling somewhat nervous, she coaxed and curled the putt into the hole for a climatic and joyous birdie. We played 3,492 holes on 194 courses in 39 states and the last stroke was a birdie. Pasatiempo is a true gem and it was a privilege to finish our quest on this Dr. Alister MacKenzie masterpiece.
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- Final swing on course 194
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- 3,492 Holes complete!
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