If you're a golfer, there are certain golf courses that you want to play in your lifetime. Of course Augusta National is at the top of everyone's list, but 99.9% of us will never have the opportunity. Pebble Beach is there, Sawgrass and Pinehurst. I've been fortunate to play a couple of courses that qualify as "bucket list" courses. The Old Course at St. Andrews and Chambers Bay. Today, I added a third... Kapalua.
Kapalua is the course that the pros hold their first tournament of the year, every year and it is called the tournament of champions because the only participants are those that have won a tournament during the previous year.
A local breakfast at the Home Maid Cafe for another meal of starch with a side of starch topped with starch... and we were ready to hit the course.
Did I mention they eat a lot of starch here?
Kapalua is on the northwest side of the island and we had to pass through Lahaina on the way. Once you get north of Lahaina, the scenery changes from tourist shops everywhere to really, really, really rich homes. If an average home here is close to $1m, then these are close to 8 figures.
As we pulled into the course, the excitement began to build for me. Not sure if Sonja has golfed long enough to fully appreciate today but I know she could feel my adrenaline beginning to rise.
We had a little over an hour so we hit the driving range and the putting green. In planning the trip, Sonja had begged out of playing here primarily due to the cost. This was a round over $300 and so she was just going to ride along. She did hit a couple of balls on the range and did some putting with me. Looking over at her putting balls, and I just thought "to hell with it". She deserves to check one off her bucket list too. Shoved the credit card in her hand and pointed her to the clubhouse to get going.
Best decision made all day.... she had a ball!
The course met all my expectations. It was stunningly beautiful, the views were out of a story book, the whales were breaching in the waters, and, oh yeah, I played pretty well too!
A few of the pics from Kapalua Plantation Course.
So, how do you top off a day at Kapalua? Well, a Hawaiian luau of course! It had been at least four hours since I'd had any starch and my body was beginning to feel weak.
Tomorrow, we're up at 3am to catch the sunrise on Haleakala. Aloha! (sounded just like a local, didn't I?)
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