The reward for winning a PGA Tour event is a trip to the beautiful Hawaiian Island of Maui the following January to compete in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. There the champions enjoy the legendary Plantation Course at Kapalua.
The Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw design offers breathtaking vistas as it unfurls across natural geographic formations and pineapple plantation fields. High def television captures the magic and majesty of the island in all its glorious detail.
As delightful as it is to watch from the comfort of your home, the Plantation Course at Kapalua is just one of a number of outstanding courses you can play on Maui, Hawaii’s second largest island.
Blessed with some of the world’s most celebrated beaches, intoxicating tropical views, and a very dramatic sunrise (viewed from the 10,000-foot peak of Haleakala), Maui is a spectacular golf destination. From affordable munis to magnificent private clubs, from volcanic slopes to stunning beaches, its courses offer diversity and an abundance of premier golf.
A Hawaiian vacation is its own reward, but throw in a near-perfect climate that allows you to play every day of the year, more than a dozen scenic and fun-to-play courses (including several that top any “best of” list), and you have a golf vacation you won’t soon forget.
Kapalua, on Maui’s west coast, is also home to Arnold Palmer’s Bay course. At Ka’anapali Golf Resort, also on the west coast, you may already be familiar with its Royal Ka’anapali course from 2008’s Big Break Ka’anapali on the Golf Channel. There’s also a second course, Ka’anapali Kai, well worth playing.
In central Maui, the King Kamehameha Golf Club, the island’s only 18-hole private golf club, is a pure golf experience without homes, streets, hotels, or condos around any of the holes. You can play there as a “Member for a Day.”
Wailea Golf Club in the south is one of island’s premier resort destinations and Hawaii’s only 54-hole golf resort. Not far away, Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s course at Makena winds over and around the verdant foothills of Maui’s dormant volcano.
There is no better time to come than this winter (when temperatures range from the low-70s to mid-80s) when you can witness the annual migration of thousands of humpback whales to the island’s warm waters. And if you here on January 3, you can attend the pro-am at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions free of charge. The tournament takes place January 4-7.
For more on all of Maui’s golf offerings, visit MauiGolfCoast.com or call 1-800-525-MAUI (6284).
