Overall: 4 (1 = poor, 5 = exceptional)
Conditions: 3.5
Pace of Play: 4
Layout: 4

Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. #29 on Golf Digest's Top 100 Greatest American Public Golf Courses.

I played this during my 40th birthday and it was a great experience. The proshop is extremely well run and friendly. The range is in great form with a huge putting and chipping area. All you can use range balls available. But, given the heat and humidity, you'll probably only be warming up for 30min max.

I enjoyed the course layout with rolling elevations and many holes with views of the ocean, as you would expect and want from a round in Hawaii. Hole #3 is the iconic hole where you hit over the coastline. It's definitely a beautiful hole (albeit I believe it close neighbor Mauna Lani South has a better version of it on Hole #15).

On the day I played, they were doing fairway maintenance, so they plowed up some areas. But the greens were fine.

Pace of play was slow on the day I played. Lots of touristy foursomes ahead (you can tell as from all the photo taking). But, I didn't mind. I was on vacation and it was simply a blessing to be on this famous Hawaiian course.

All in all, I enjoyed my round. However, I played Mauna Lani South two days later and that is a course I would play again and again. In fact, I played Mauna Lani South 5 days later again before leaving Hawaii. Mauna Lani South isn't on a Golf Digest top 100 list, but it should be. It's often listed as the #2 course on the Big Island, behind Mauna Kea. Both courses are only about 10min away from each other. To me, Mauna Lani South had much more character and many more ocean view holes than Mauna Kea. Check out my review on that course.

Mahalo and Aloha.