Course Review: Waialae Country Club

With its great natural, oceanic beauty and its luxurious facilities, it is not surprising that the Waialae Country Club has become the regular tour stop for this week’s US PGA Tour event, the Sony Open.

Situated in Honolulu in Hawaii, the initial championship course of this now exclusive club was first established in 1927 as part of a huge promotional project designed to increase tourism in the area.

The project included the establishment of a Royal Hawaiian Hotel and a luxury passenger liner called Malolo.

Waialea CC became an independent, members-only Country Club in the 1950s after the Great Depression and the Second World War had brought about many major changes to the original project.

The course itself was designed and built in 1927 by Seth Raynor, a world famous golf course architect of his time with the assistance of one, Charles Banks, and incorporated many features from some of the games most famous courses.

These included:

• The par-three 13th, which is based on a hole from the Biarritz coastal course in France.
• The 8th hole, which resembles the famous Redan hole on the North Berwick Course in Scotland.
• The 16th hole, which is similar to the 6th hole of the National Course at Southampton, Long Island.
• And the 10th Hole, which includes features from the demanding 17th Road Hole at St. Andrews in Scotland.

In 1992 Desmond Muirhead brought the Waialea lay-out up to the modern standards demanded of a championship course of the 21st Century and today it has matured into a lushly landscaped, and player-friendly course featuring wide, forgiving fairways lined with stands of coconut, monkey pod and kiawe trees and 83 strategically place bunkers that can be in play for any golfer.

The course plays to a par 70 for the Sony Open and measures 7,020 yards from the Championship tees, 6,456 yards from the Member tees and 5,962 from the Forward tees.

It includes both left and right doglegs and, thanks to its well-planned layout, can challenge the professional and low handicap player while not penalizing the high handicappers.

The course, of which the signature hole is the par 3 eighth, which is bordered along its full 186 yards by the Pacific Ocean, is cooled by mostly gentle but sometimes strong trade winds that can truly be said to sort out the men from the boys and features 18 pristine, manicured Bermuda grass fairways and greens.

On its official website the club says its golf course is “open exclusively to its members and their guests” who can also “avail themselves to of the convenient 250-yard practice range, chipping and putting greens full service snack bar and locker room and shower facilities.”

Professional instruction is available for members and guests and rental club sets are also available at a nominal fee from the club’s well-stocked pro shop.

OTHER FACILITIES

Other facilities offered by the club include:

A new health and fitness centre, a 50-metre, competition swimming pool, a new tennis complex that includes a social and recreational area for pre and post-match activities, and a convenient tennis lounge that features a 55” HDTV flat wide-screen television set.

WINING AND DINING

Waialae CC’s extensive dining and banquet facilities are able to accommodate a wide variety of functions ranging from small intimate meals for close friends, to meetings and seminars for business groups to formal dining events for hundreds of guests – all from rooms offering spectacular panoramic ocean views.

The club’s brand-new 'Oceans' outdoor, casual dining facility also offers local entertainment.

DRESS ATTIRE

Attire in the clubhouse for lunch is casual, but no tee shirts, tank tops, caps and jeans with holes are allowed in the dining room. 

Footwear is required. In the evening, long slacks must be worn by male members and their guests.

MEMBERSHIP:

For information on membership and the costs involved you should contact the club.

TO CONTACT THE CLUB:

PHONES

(Main Exchange): (808) 734-2151; Fax (808) 734-4791
Pro-Shop: (808) 732-1457 – e-mail: wccproshop@waialea.com.

For any feedback or ideas you are welcome to email: neville@golfweather.com.