Kings' Course

Few golf settings on the Big Island match the raw drama of playing through Waikoloa's lava fields. The Kings' Course, designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish and opened in 1990, carves its way across the Kohala Coast through ancient black lava flows, a landscape so visually striking it can be genuinely distracting. Wind off the Pacific is a near-constant factor here, reshaping the challenge of virtually every hole depending on time of day and season.

Weiskopf and Morrish built a layout that rewards shot-shaping and course management — the lava isn't just decorative, it's penal. Stray offline and you're in hardened volcanic rock with little hope of recovery. The contrast between manicured fairways and that jet-black terrain gives the course a look unlike almost anywhere else in American golf.

The Kohala Coast has established itself as one of the premier resort golf destinations in the Pacific, and Kings' Course sits comfortably among the reasons why. Visitors typically play it alongside its sibling layout, the Beach Course, making for a full day's immersion in Big Island golf at its most spectacular.