Kaanapali Kai Course

Few settings in American golf match what you get standing on the fairways of the Kaanapali Kai Course — the West Maui Mountains rising sharply behind you, the Pacific stretching out ahead, and the kind of light that makes the whole scene feel slightly unreal. Kai is the companion layout to the more celebrated Royal Kaanapali Course on Maui's leeward coast, and where Royal plays as the tougher, longer championship test, Kai has long been regarded as the more relaxed and walkable of the 2. That said, the trade winds off the ocean are a genuine factor here, capable of turning a seemingly straightforward approach into a puzzle.

Kaanapali itself is one of Hawaii's original planned resort destinations, developed in the 1960s when the state was actively building a tourism identity around golf and luxury hospitality. The courses became anchors of that vision.

A par 70 design rewards ball-strikers who can manage the shorter, tighter moments the layout presents, but the scenery makes even a difficult round hard to regret.