Anytime you come to play a course like this which is almost never you can either accept your score whatever it is and enjoy the beauty and uniqueness of such a hard course or you can try to play for a... Continue »

Anytime you come to play a course like this which is almost never you can either accept your score whatever it is and enjoy the beauty and uniqueness of such a hard course or you can try to play for a good score. But be forewarned: playing Koolau will humble you!! There are jungles on both sides of most fairways. There are numerous forced carries over ravines rich in grass, trees and plant life. Greens not hit in regulation will almost always leave tough up and downs. You can even just miss hitting a green only to find that you can't find your ball in the nasty rough. Due to the fact that this course sits right below a steep and gorgeous mountain side this place gets lots of rain. The soft conditions make it hard for your ball to roll into trouble but you almost never get "teed up" lies in the fairway. Anything slightly fat and your ball might end up in the jungle. At a 153 slope and a rating of 78.2 from the tips this course is ranked as the toughest in the world. I would recommend these tees only if you have a handicap of plus 1 or better. I can't forget the bunkers. While they looked ok from a distance most have hard pan underneath a thin layer of sand. The hardness of the bunkers and the softness of the rough near the greens created rather unfair golf in my opinion. However, I approached the round just to have fun and not worry about score. Especially, since I had rental clubs. And I really enjoyed playing here despite the conditions. Every golfer that can break 100 on an average course should at least come out and try a diabolical course like Koolau.