George Fazio designed the first layout at Turtle Bay Resort in 1971. The Palmer course followed twenty years later, designed by Arnie and Ed Seay, and It has hosted events on both the LPGA and Champions Tour.
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George Fazio designed the first layout at Turtle Bay Resort in 1971. The Palmer course followed twenty years later, designed by Arnie and Ed Seay, and It has hosted events on both the LPGA and Champions Tour.
Turtle Bay (Palmer)
Built on the site of the old Kakuku Army Air Field in the north of Oahu island, the Turtle Bay Resort has operated since the early 1970s, occupying a large 850-acre property with five miles of ocean frontage.
The first 18-hole course to open here was a George Fazio design which subsequently hosted LPGA events and the first edition of the now defunct Seniors Skins Game in 1988, won by Chi-Chi Rodrígues.
The Palmer course appeared twenty years later, designed by Arnie and Ed Seay, and it too hosted a former Champions Tour event, the Turtle Bay Championship, between 2001 and 2008.
The par-72 layout measures 6,225 from the resort tees and it skirts the 100-acre Punaho’olapa marsh, wetlands and bird sanctuary, with water coming into play on nearly every hole during the round.
“Kala,” the signature 17th, is the only hole to actually reach the coastline, doglegging slightly right past a cluster of bunkers to a slightly elevated two-tiered green with a spectacular Pacific Ocean backdrop.