Kuki'o

Another high-end golf development from Michael Meldman’s Discovery Land Company, Kuki’o was Tom Fazio’s first foray into Hawaiian golf course design in 2003 when he laid out an 18-hole championship track and a short 10-hole circuit extending to 2,261 yards.

Even though the residential Kuki’o Golf Club occupies a rugged coastal site, none of the fairways are actually set close to the Pacific, so it takes a number of elevation changes during the round to afford views of Kakapa Bay and Kukio Bay.

It’s a long course at 7,419 yards from the back tees, though almost a quarter of that yardage is taken up by the four par fives on the card, each of which averages more than 475 yards in length.

On the back nine, the sharp colour contrast of black lava rock against white bunker sand surrounding the greens at the 164-yard 11th and 225-yard 17th elevates both these par threes into the category of most memorable holes on the course.