There's something different about those golf resorts on Maui and Lanai

The Four Seasons Lodge at Koele (Mike Bailey/TravelGolf)

LANAI CITY, Hawaii – Talk about getting away from it all. There are only 3,000 people on this island and a few hundred maybe visiting the two hotels of the Four Seasons Resort Lanai and the small Hotel Lanai. You get here by small plane or ferry, and in my case, shuttle up the mountain about 1,500 feet above sea level to the Lodge at Koele.

The Lodge and Lanai is about as isolated as it gets, and so was the course next to the Lodge, the Experience at Koele. I felt like there was me and about four other people playing the course, which looks nothing like what you’d expect in Hawaii. Designers Greg Norman and Ted Robinson take it up and down a mountain, including the par-4 17th, where you tee it up several hundred feet above the green.

Lanai, of course, is located across from Maui and Molokai. Maui is quite the opposite of Lanai. It’s touristy, the resorts are big, but in both cases, the golf can be spectacular. Having spent the last week at four different resorts, there’s been quite a variety, both in the golf and the accommodations and restaurants. Here are a few more photos:

Kapalua’s Plantation Course is breathtaking. (Mike Bailey/TravelGolf)

Sunset at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa. (Mike Bailey/TravelGolf

The private beach at the Ritz-Carlton in Kapalua. (Mike Bailey/TravelGolf)

Lighting the Tikis at the Fairmont Kea Lani Maui at Wailea. (Mike Bailey/TravelGolf)

The Experience at Koele is one of mountain solitude. (Mike Bailey/TravelGolf)