The Club at Kukui'ula

Opened for play in 2010, the Kukui'ula course is a Tom Weiskopf design, where sand-capped Paspalum fairways are laid out within a 216-acre upmarket real estate development on the south coast of Kauai, the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago,

The course occupies a property that was once in use as a sugar cane plantation and golfers enjoy panoramic Pacific views from most of the holes, even though the Ocean never actually comes into play.

Water hazards threaten occasionally during the round and there’s dazzling white bunker sand – imported from Cambodia, of all places – to defend par on many of the holes, especially the par threes.

There’s also a wide selection of arboreal species – including Macadamia Nut, Royal Palm and Chinese Banyan – to add both visual delight and strategic challenge around the course.

Fairways are generally wide and generous but, for those who do stray too far off line, the thick, wiry Bahia grass around the fairway fringes is very penal – it might not look too severe at first glance but you’ll be lucky to find a ball in it let alone play out of it.

Highlight holes include a very strong trio on the front nine at the 5th, 6th and 7th, which rise, fall then rise again across the gentle coastal landscape. On the inward half, short par fours at holes 11 and 14 catch the eye, as does the 504-yard closing hole, played to a pond-protected home green.