Kapalua: Re-designs Plantation Course

Kapalua Golf on the island of Maui has hosted the Sentry Tournament of Champions for the winners on the PGA Tour for years. This January, Kapalua’s Plantation Course will have a different look after the design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw made some terrific changes to the island layout. 

And, while the Top 100 golf course appears on television during the tournament, even 4K high definition does not do the course justice. This is a course with incredible views, rolling terrain and a set of closing holes that are spectacular.   The 17th hole is a downhill par-4 with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, while the par-5 18th is one of the best finishing holes in golf. In the 2019 refinement of their original 27-year old design, Coore and Crenshaw took great care in retaining what made the Plantation Course special. 

“It’s like when you have a special piece of art and you get a chance to dust if off and make it new again,” said Coore. “This was a very thoughtful restoration and refinement, but it wasn’t a redesign. We were very happy with the way the course looked and the way it had gone through the past nearly three decades.”

Plantation Course enhancements include new bunkers; re-grassing tees, fairways and roughs with Celebration Bermuda Turf; green complexes were reconstructed and resurfaced with TifEagle Bermuda grass; and new tee boxes were added for both resort golfers and for tournament play.

Kapalua Golf’s Arnold Palmer-designed Bay Course was also recently enhanced. In 2018, the Bay Course was rerouted to improve pace of play and create a memorable and challenging final stretch of holes. The new 16th and 17th holes (formerly holes 4 and 5) play along and over the ocean, with the par-3 17th hole Maui’s only over-the-ocean par 3. The new 18th hole (formerly the 6th hole) is a challenging, and intriguing uphill par-5. For those who see their golf game go sideways while on vacation, the Kapalua Golf Academy sits near the Bay Course and provides a picturesque locale for quality golf instruction.