The Makena North course was a great round of golf. The service from all of the people we interacted with was excellent.
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.
Wailea Emerald (Wailea, Maui, HI)
The day after we played Makena North, we played Wailea Emerald. In stark contrast to the staff at Makena, the Wailea staff seemed snobby and somewhat rude. The attitude gave off the vibe that they were doing us a favor instead of just doing their jobs….
Makena South (Makena, Maui, HI)
After a good experience at Makena North and a bad one at Wailea Emerald, we were looking forward to our round at Makena South.
The service was once again quite good and we found the same leftover range balls on the range. See the Makena North review…