The staff was hit and miss, the marshall on the course was very polite considering we were legitimately 5 minutes slow for each 9 and the starter was very nice, but the pro shop and the rest of the staff didn’t impress me much. There was an aloofness - sort of a “you are lucky to play here” air about them that I remember from the Wailea staff on Maui.

The starter told me that playing the blue tees would put the fairway bunkers in play for me, and was he ever right. The sand was really soft, and though I was in about 10-12 bunkers I didn’t hit a decent bunker shot until hole 17. Definitely would have helped to hit a couple of bunker shots before heading out on the course.

The greens were a lot slower than I expected, and there was some standing water and mud in low spots. Overall though, the course was in pretty good shape.

Holes 14-18 of the back nine are just spectacular - even though I was hacking it up pretty badly, I still enjoyed the view and the beauty of these holes immensely.

I’d like to take another shot at this course - a couple of good drives would have made a world of difference.

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I was hitting the ball well off the tee on the front nine (shot 37 and left a few shots on the course), so I can’t speak too much to the trouble on the front nine. There was water in places, but it didn’t come into play too much. The par 3s on the front were both fun, with one being a significantly elevated tee shot and the other into the teeth of a 2 club wind. Putts had to be struck very firmly to get them to the hole, and some of the greens were a little inconsistent in their speed - they were playable though, good putts would go in.

I ran into a bit more trouble on the back, but recovery shots were definitely possible. You could generally get the ball near the green from a bad tee shot, and an up and down was a good possibility. I was around most of the par 5s in two, and some of the par 4s played just as long or longer than the par 5s due to the prevailing wind (number 9 is a good example - a good drive and a really good 4 iron to get on the green).

This ended up being a very fun course to play and the course staff was very friendly and helpful. I’d play this again, and try to go low.

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We arrived about 15 minutes before our 6:30am tee time, and the fellow in the pro shop chose to take 10 minutes to lecture us about showing up earlier and complain that he would be hard pressed to get us out by our tee time instead of going ahead and checking us in.

The fairways were tree lined and came into play if you strayed off the fairway very far, but recovery shots were generally possible. The greens were a little shaggy, but the speed was acceptable.

When we got to the front nine (we started on the back), we ran into a traffic jam. I guess they didn’t really account for the people who were making the turn from the back nine when they were sending people out on the front. Or perhaps we finished faster than expected - I’m not sure how courses manage that but this was the worst mess of this sort I’ve run across.

The course itself is mature and has some fun and challenging holes, but was lacking in upkeep and character. The staff was surly in the shop and the marshals did little to speed up the pace of play, which bogged down badly with 4 groups on a single hole at one point.

We had fun (because we were determined to), but won’t be making a special effort to play Pearl Country Club again.

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We went to the right side of the driving range this time and found the ground to be a little more flat. The same complaints about hitting into the sun still applied.

Fortunately, the two-some we were paired with for this round were a lot more capable than the group we played Emerald with. Again, I was playing from the back tees but I was able to reach the par 5, 525 yard 2nd hole with a driver and three wood. There was about a one club wind for most of the round, which made some of the par 3’s pretty tough. Three of them were 200+ yards into the prevailing wind.

Around the 11th hole it started raining, by the 13th it was pouring. The course held the water quite well, but it made the rough a lot tougher. General note about the rain: when your hand slips on your driver grip, bad things happen.

The course was well bunkered around the greens and generally had a couple of fairway bunkers around the landing areas. On some holes, I took 4-iron or 3-wood off the tee to take the bunkers out of play. Doing this generally left a 140-170 yard approach shot, pretty reasonable. The longer holes (410+ yards) set up well for driver, but generally required a 280+ yard drive or the approach was a real bear. The longest par 4 is 490 yards; I hit a duck-hook left which left my approach blocked by trees along the left side of the fairway.

The Wailea Gold course has a lot more holes near the ocean than the Emerald course does. We admired the views and through the front nine but pretty much stopped looking as it rained on the back nine.

We had lunch at the clubhouse again, much better service this time around. The views are awesome and the food is decent.

Our experience at the Wailea Gold course was much better than our Wailea Emerald experience, however I think I’d still play both Makena courses before coming back here.

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The service was once again quite good and we found the same leftover range balls on the range. See the Makena North review for more about the service and the course in general.

The South course runs much closer to the water than the North course does which made for some really spectacular looking golf holes.

The South course set up shorter off the tee than the North course; I hit a lot of 4-irons and 3-woods. I got myself in good shape off the tees, but the greens were very well bunkered requiring very precise approach shots. Since I’m used to playing golf about a mile above sea level and we had about a 2 club wind on that day, my yardage control wasn’t good enough to score well on this course.

The bunkers had very nice soft, fine sand which made for predictable bunker play. Unforunately, an approach shot with a wedge or short iron that has a lot of spin on it will embed itself it it’s pitch mark. I had three approach shots that I thought I’d hit perfectly (right at the flag) that came up short and buried in the bunker in front of the green. I was able blast out from one bunker without too much trouble, but no such luck with the other lies. On one I tried to blast out but didn’t make it out of the bunker. On the other (the 18th hole), I didn’t even bother, the ball was about 85% buried so I just took an unplayable lie.

A number of the holes on the back nine were very close to the water. The par 3 15th was reminiscent of the famous 17th hole at Pebble Beach; a severely downhill par-3 out towards the ocean. What a view!

Makena South was a great course and a great experience. If we could only go back to one course on Maui, this is the one we would choose.

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To get to the driving range, you grabbed a few clubs then took a cart up around the hill. Unlike the Makena course, the range balls at Wailea are free. We set up about a quarter of the way in from the left side of the range and the ground in this area was very uneven. After swinging quite well the day before, I struggled hitting balls from this uncomfortable lie. Also annoying was the fact that you were hitting balls up a hill directly into the sun. It wasn’t very pleasant looking into the sun to see each shot.

We were paired with an older couple, the lady was a 30+ handicap. Ugh. I played from the tips and even though I was driving the ball pretty well, I wasn’t able to think about trying to reach the par 5’s.

The course was in decent shape, but the bunkers had a lot of small pebbles and gravel in them. The combination of the dirt, fairway grass and rough were a lot different than what I’m used to playing in Colorado. The top layer of the soil is moist and soft and you can take a divot really easily. This made chip shots a lot different than I was accustomed to, since the club doesn’t bounce off the turf at all. The rough is wiry and thin looking, but it grabs the club a lot more than you’d expect.

The pro shop has a lot of merchandise including some nice hats by Imperial, my favorite golf hat manufacturer.

After the round, we ate at the clubhouse which has a beautiful view overlooking the ocean. The food was good, but both of our orders came out wrong. All in all, not a great experience. If we hadn’t already made the tee time later in the week for the Gold course we probably wouldn’t have come back.

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The driving range was located right next to the clubhouse and pointed out to sea so that you didn’t look into the sun to watch your shots. A large bucket of balls cost $8 and was a good warm-up for two people. There were lots of balls left on the range as well, we probably could have hit almost a large bucket worth by just scavenging left-over range balls. I heard a clubhouse attendant mention this to another guest, so I guess it is common.

I played from the back tees, which made the course set up a little better for me (I could hit driver on more holes), but also made the par 5’s too long to reach in two.

The course book ($5) includes maps of both the North and South course so we got it and it was very useful. The hole maps were generally up by the forward tees so I used the book to see the hole layout on most holes.

We got to play alone as a two-some, with a 9:45am tee time. The course was very pretty but didn’t have many ocean views.

The starter told me that the 3rd hole (a dog-leg right) was longer to the corner than it looks and that i should go ahead and hit driver. It was 239 to the corner and 278 to the trap so I ignored the advice but reached the trap anyway with a 3-wood.

We had lunch at the clubhouse afterward and the food was quite good. All in all, we were very pleased with the experience and we’d definitely come back in the future.

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