Southern California's No. 1 Golf Source
SITE
SEARCH
GOLF RESOURCE GUIDE:
Destinations
|
||||
 (PHOTO: courtesy Makai Golf Club) It’s a rare thing anywhere in the world when an uncommonly beautiful golf layout is paired with an equally astonishing luxury resort and hotel complex, but when the setting is the north shore of the island of Kauai, the result makes for an experience that will remain in memory forever. Just ask the course designer, the legendary Robert Trent Jones, Jr. “Several years ago,” said Jones not long ago, “as I stood perched atop a Hawaiian bluff that offered breathtaking vistas of the Napali mountains, the Pacific Ocean and the ravines and dense tropical vegetation below, I knew I’d found the perfect spot for the first tee.” The result was the Makai Golf Club at the St. Regis Princeville Resort, one of the most desirable holiday destinations on earth, and a mecca for players with an appetite for both uniquely challenging golf and unequaled natural beauty. The Makai has been known as one of the premier championship layouts in the world since it opened in 1971, and has been regularly honored by prestigious golfing and travel publications yearly. But since its extensive 14-month renovation beginning in October 2008, the golf club has consistently occupied the industry’s most coveted “top” lists. The original layout as Trent Jones built it consisted of three nine-hole courses over 200 acres that extended like spokes from a common clubhouse. Each nine had a distinctive personality and scenic grandeur: the Lakes Course wound its way around serene water features, the Ocean Course ran to the magnificent coastline and back, and the Woods Course meandered through lush native vegetation. Today there are two courses: —The nine-hole Woods Course is ideal for the casual golfer who wants to enjoy a leisurely shorter round on a relaxed layout. It winds through native woodlands and is set against a backdrop of majestic mountain views. —The 18-hole Makai Course incorporates the original Lakes and Ocean nines and plays to a par-72, Four sets of tees extend the course to more than 7,200 yards for the golfer who desires a more traditional playing experience. Within the dramatic scope of the renovation of the Makai Course: —Seashore Paspalum turf grass on all tees, fairways and greens, providing spectacular playing surfaces for golfers of all skill levels, —reconfigured greens and green surrounds, —bold reshaping of all bunkers, which are filled with G-3 silica sand, —addition of a fourth tee box on all holes, —increase in yardage on all holes, —refurbishment of cart paths and comfort stations, —upgrading of the practice facility with two new large practice tees, a practice fairway bunker, seven target greens with bunkers, a teaching tee, a short game practice complex and an expanded practice putting green, —a total of 80 new golf carts and new Callaway Golf rental clubs fore men and women. The entire golf complex is served by the Makai Grill, which is open daily for breakfast, lunch and snacks. And for golfers with disabilities, the Makai Course offers specially designed golf carts free of charge. While the courses were being renovated, so was the adjacent sister property, the former Princeville Hotel, which reopened in 2009 as the St. Regis Princeville Resort. The luxury hotel sits on one of the most magnificent pieces of property on earth and is considered Hawaii’s quintessential address. Appointed in a sophisticated elegance appropriate to its setting, it offers 252 guest rooms overlooking legendary Hanalei Bay and a signature restaurant overseen by world-renowned Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The hotel’s premiere suites are carefully tended by the famed St. Regis Butler Service, and guests are invited to rejuvenate mind and body in the sanctuary of the hotel’s exclusive Halele’a Spa. The resort is pleased to offer “stay and play” golf packages. For information on the latest offers, call (808) 826-1912 or go online www.makaigolf.com. |
||||
RSS Subscribe
