The course is rated highly though I played Makai which was recently renovated afterwards and liked it better. The greens are due to be redone in my opinion. I understand that the setting is nice, and the views along the way are great, but I was left a little disappointed. There are a few holes that demand local knowledge. It is a challenging course that would get much easier after playing it a few times. I hope they are considering paying some attention to the greens in the future to restore the course closer to what I believe it was and currently isn't. I'd like to rate it higher than I did.

Customer Service

Everything was as it should be.

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Makai is on the island and I guess would be the closest comparison though Makai comes to the ocean a bit more

This is the second time that I've played Princeville while on vacation to Kauai, and frankly, the novelty has worn off. Yea, I know I'm not a scratch golfer who is up to the challenge of this demanding course(I did par several holes with some birdie opportunities),however, my issue is with the overall poor conditions of this course. Unraked bunkers full of debris, poorly maintained tee boxes, rough, uneven greens. The inconsistencies drove me crazy. One tee box would be meticulous(usually a hole that was highly visible to the public) and the next tee box would be a disaster with unkempt clumps of various grasses that looked terrible. This course is slowly but surely making a backslide to mediocrity, which is a shame considering the prime location of this tract.

Customer Service

No problems. Staff was friendly and professional.

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Puakea in Lihue

The Makai course is no longer in operation. (CLOSED) Was 27 holes. The championship course is still in operation. (open)

If the championship course gets a lot of rain, golf can be ugly.

Customer Service

Good.

Similar Products Used:

None.

Played Princeville in July of 09. I got a three-course deal, called Kauai Challenge that let me play three top courses on Kauai, (Kauai Lagoons, Princeville and Poipu) for a discount price. After reading the reviews I was a bit nervous about playing Princeville. To start, the facility is first class and the staff was great. Prior to the round, the starter briefed us about the course and encouraged us to play conservative, (listen to everything he tells you). First, this course is an architectural landmark. No fairways touch and the course is laid out over 40 achors of breath taking views. This course is not for the high handicappers or once a year hacks and will eat you up. I think I used need to use my driver on only four holes and hit three and five wood off the rest. If your not sure about a green or landing area, do yourself a favor and ride up to the green and take a look. The players are spread out so you wont slow up play. The cart’s GPS also gives tips on how to play each hole. There were a couple of spots on a few fairways that were muddy, but it rains on this part of the island almost everyday. Each tee area also has a patio cover. The rains only last about 10 minutes and are very light so you should be ok. I finished with a good round and only lost two balls, (only because I hit blindly without knowing my landing area). I was glad I played here and would do it again knowing what I know now. My only gripe was that the restaurant did not open until 8:00AM, so I ended up picking up a sandwich off the food cart later.

Customer Service

Great!

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All Southern California courses.

Hated this course. Lousy condition and stupidly penal even with good shots. Struck the ball well and still couldn't wait for the round to finish. Go to makena on Maui or Challenge at manele for real hawaii golf. Avoid this course at all costs...

Customer Service

Friendly cart staff. Feel badly for them as I can't possibly be the only one that feels this way after a round at Princeville.

MOST DIFFICULT COURSE I EVER PLAYED! CONDITION WAS NOTHING LIKE LATEST REVIEWS. INCREDIBLE COURSE MAINTENANCE FOR THE RAINFALL THEY GET, WETTEST PLACE ON EARTH! VERY WET, CART PATH ONLY, BOTH TIMES I PLAYED, BUT STILL VERY PLAYABLE DUE TO INCREDIBLE DRAINAGE. GREENS WERE WET, BUT NO STANDING WATER. THIS PLACE IS CARVED OUT OF JUNGLE SO GET READY TO LOSE A LOT OF BALLS, AS YOU TRY TO CARRY JUNGLE, AND RAVINES, WITH BREATTAKING OCEAN VIEWS ON SEVERAL HOLES. NEW COURSE OWNERS, SO THINGS HAVE CHANGED FROM LAST SEVERAL YEARS, JAPANESE CONGLOMERATE OWNED BEFORE, BUT THERE DECLINING MARKET HAS CAUSED THEM TO SELL THIS COURSE.

Customer Service

COURSE PEOPLE WERE AMAZING, PRO SHOP PEOPLE NICE. MY MUDDY SHOES CAME BACK CLEAN, LIKE NEW. BAR AND RESTAURANT HELP SUCKED, OBLIVIOUS THAT WE WERE THERE, TWICE HAD TO GO TO BAR FOR SERVICE, AND NOBODY F;ING EVEN THERE!

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MAKAI NICE AS WELL, EASY COURSE. WAILUA GREAT PUBLIC COURSE, CROWDED THOUGH 32.00 DOLLARS TO PLAY, GREAT DEAL.

Played in June 2006. Would not play there again. Way to pricey for the condition of the course. Also played the Makai course which was in much better shape but had a crappy pro shop and grill. Would not play either course again.

Disappointing...I expected more from Golf Digest's top rated course in Hawaii. 4-5 very nice holes with great views but very marginal, slow, grainy, inconsistent greens. Fairways were O K. On the back, I hit what I thought were good shots and got penalized...local knowledge would have helped significantly. Had an enjoyable time, but definitely not worth the money.

Customer Service

Excellent...very friendly and helpful staff.

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Kapalua Planatation (in Maui) which was much prettier and more enjoyable.

This review is for 'The Prince' Course.

I played this course June 14th, 2006 and was very disppointed in the conditions. The course was extremely dry. I never had to fix a single ball mark on any of the greens they were so dry. Also, there were many spots on several of the greens where non-native grass was taking over and growing wild. I was also disappointed to see so many dirt spots and areas of excessive dead grass. The grounds crew was completely blind to the fact that people were playing the course. On one of the holes on the back 9, they were pulling a leaf blower with a tractor to clean the fairway... needless to say, when I addressed my ball the grounds worker just continued like they were the only one on that hole. This is the way they treat their guests who pay $175 per round! Please investigate the courses condition prior to playing. If I had known the condition of the course prior to playing... I would have only paid $50 to play it. Anything higher would have been (and was) a rip off!!! Don't just call the course and ask them the codition, they always say it's in 'Good Condition'.

none.

see above

Horrible. Just Horrible. I've played many 'top tier' courses and expected to be able to compare the Princeville courses to those. Boy was I wrong. Upon playing the Prince course last Thursday, what did I find ? Shaggy fairways overrun with weeds, clover and invasive grass, burnt out and diseased greens, un-raked, poorly maintained sand traps with broken down edges and grass growing within them and massive amounts of standing water due to poor drainage and not a groundskeeper to be seen trying to do anything about it. I quit after 8 holes I was so disgusted. I then spoke with the one of the pros named Steve Murphy, who admitted that the course was and has been in crappy condition for a long time. He attributed it various things (the climate, lack of staff, etc..), none of which really hold any water when you are charging $175 for a round of golf and $575 a night at the hotel. Complaints were not uncommon, he said, as they get dozens every week and that the greenskeeper is often 'about to hang himself' over some of the comments they get. Granted, there has been lots of rain there lately and especially in the last few weeks but there was no excuse for the, frankly, piss-poor condition of the course. Later I spoke w/ the hotel front desk manager who, thankfully, agreed to give me a credit on my room acct for any rounds that I played on other courses on the island. He said that there had been similar complaints from someone else on the unlimited golf package just the week before and had offered the same solution to that gentleman. I decided to keep my 2 tee times on the Makai courses the next day (it looked in better shape from the road, at least) and found that they were indeed a bit better, but still not worth anything near the greens fees they charged. The architecture was nothing to write home about and the facilities (pro shop, 'restaurant', etc..) were complete crap -- barely what I'd consider low-grade municipal level. Pathetic, really, for a place that touts itself as a golf vacation destination. I've played $40-$50 courses around Chicago that blow both of them out of the water. The following day I played the Kiele course at Kauai Lagoons and later Poipu Bay. Both were vastly superior to either Princeville course in all aspects -- service, course condition and even architecture. Bottom line: STAY AWAY FROM PRINCEVILLE.

Customer Service

ok, after I complained.