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As Kauai golf courses go, the
Prince is the toughest to play
on a Hawaii golf vacation.
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If you're lucky enough to be planning a Kauai, Hawaii golf vacation and you'd like to really test your game while you're there, the Prince Course at the Princeville Resort may be exactly what you're looking for. Just be sure to allow at least two rounds to fully appreciate this tough, tropical layout.
While the course rides up and down the cliffs that overlook the Pacific, the holes themselves never really engage with the ocean. Instead, this Robert Trent Jones, Jr., design, which opened in 1990, plays through tropical ravines and thick jungle vegetation with some 65 bunkers, tight fairways, long forced carries, testy trade winds, ample elevation changes, and even a lake to contend with.
It's an exhilarating course to play on a Hawaii golf vacation, but right from the start, little mercy is shown. For example, the first hole is a 400-yard, downhill par four that requires an accurate tee shot to a fairway that slopes dangerously to the right. Hit it right, left or long, and you have already lost a ball. If you find the fairway, there is jungle to carry on the second shot.
At a rating of 75.3 and slope of 145, the Prince is the toughest of the Kauai golf courses, and, according to most publications, the state's best. If you're a mid-handicapper or more, eager to see what all the hype is about on your Hawaii golf vacation, our advice is to check your ego at the first tee, dial back the yardage by one set of markers, and bring plenty of extra balls.
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