Puakea Golf Course

Overview: Puakea Golf Course is a public Kauaʻi routing between tropical vegetation, rolling mounds, ravines and views toward Mount Hāpuʻu. Robin Nelson’s par-72 layout measures 6,954 yards and uses the former plantation property’s slopes and drainage lines to create changing lies. The course moves between shaded inland holes and more open views across Līhuʻe.

History: The course was developed in stages after the original project was disrupted by Hurricane Iniki. The final construction work concluded, and play resumed on July 1, 2003, giving Puakea the unusual history of a routing finished in response to a major natural disaster rather than built in one uninterrupted phase.

Did You Know? Puakea’s property was once part of a sugar plantation. The plantation history remains visible in the vegetation and land pattern, while the finished golf course turns former agricultural ground into a public mountain-and-valley routing.