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Even the best of Wailea Emerald's ocean holes don't blow you away. (Chris Baldwin/GolfPublisher.com)

A view to forget: Wailea Emerald golf course is no Maui must-play

Wailea Golf Club's Emerald Course doesn't live up to the hype. The club's Gold Course, also designed by Robert Trent Jones II, is a superior round of golf.

WAILEA, Hawaii - They push the ocean views on Wailea Golf Club's Emerald Course hard. Even Scientologists might think the staff's coming on a little strong.

When I first showed up at the big clubhouse, I planned to make Wailea's Gold Course - the prime Robert Trent Jones II course - the first course I played of the three Wailea tracks (Jones also designed Emerald). The clubhouse attendant behind the counter suggested Wailea Emerald, saying it had the better views.

"If you want scenery, Emerald's the course," he said.

Hopefully, this attendant isn't Wailea Golf Club's "Dear Abby." For while all the brochures and course Web site pages also pimp Emerald's vistas, this advice doesn't reflect reality. The only thing that Wailea Emerald and Wailea Gold share is the same clubhouse (and unfortunately price point). Gold is the far better course in almost every way, including the look of the holes.

The exception to this is if you're a short-hitting woman or man who does not want to face the possibility of getting roughed up a little (Wailea Gold can inflict some scorecard damage).

Wailea Emerald has colorful clusters of flowers by many tee boxes. Sometimes they're used as obstacles. A lot of times they just provide a pretty background. There are wide, wide fairways (at least until you get to 17).

Could it possibly scream any louder that this is the women's course?

Trent Jones II himself has referred to Emerald's "feminine characteristics" in interviews.

Surely, Wailea Golf Club isn't trying to say that women are the messier sex though? Because Emerald turned out to have much worse course conditions than Gold at the time of this early winter review visit (the third course, Wailea Old Blue, is down the road with a separate clubhouse).

A number of fairways on Emerald were sort of worn down, many of the greens were grainy and several of the bunkers messy.

The course did enforce cart path only on this day, but that only made the mediocre conditions more annoying.

In fairness, there was a course maintenance worker out in a truck who seemed to be concerned about the conditions.

This all wouldn't matter as much if the Wailea Emerald's ocean views just blew you away. They don't though, not even close. Sure, you can see blue on a lot of the holes, but it's faraway Pacific looks. Emerald's views come from its height. You never feel that close to the ocean. Worse yet, you never get that jolt of adrenalin from a great postcard look where you cannot help but snap a few photos.

If you're taking pictures on Wailea Emerald, it's more because you think you should.

This kind of ocean golf is like seeing a dolphin at Sea World. It's nice, but nothing like a real world experience.

Compared to great Hawaii ocean courses like The Challenge at Manele on Lanai or even The Plantation Course in Kapalua, which isn't a true pure ocean course but still boasts great water looks, Wailea Emerald cannot stack up.

Sticking with Emerald will, however, get you to a nice finish. The par-3 16th has the best ocean look of the day. On 17, you can finally hear waves crashing and even better, you're playing a fun, narrow, driveable (332-yard) par 4, shooting back toward the lake that started your back nine on No. 10. Then, No. 18 is the best hole on the course without question.

It's a tough 553-yard par-5 finisher that doglegs up to a green on a tall hill with even more big bunkers scattered below it then the number of starlets who've dated Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

In fact, Emerald's 18th is such an interesting hole, it almost seems out of place on this 6,825-yard, 128 slope rating course.

You leave wishing that Jones had made the rest of Wailea Emerald more like its end run.

The Verdict on Wailea Golf Club Emerald Course

Wailea Emerald is not a bad golf course. It's just not a Hawaii course of vacation dreams. And it's priced like one with $180 winter rates for any Wailea resort guests, $190 for other Maui resort guests.

If you only plan to pay that type of green fee once in Wailea, save it for the Gold Course. If your trip's all about convenience and getting to play a variety of golf as close to your hotel as possible, Wailea Emerald is an option for South Maui vacationers.

Just know you could do better.

Even the GPS system in the carts is old school compared to most high-end Maui courses, with graphics more fit for an old Atari video game. Maybe Wailea Emerald was cutting edge when it opened in 1995. Just 13 years later, it seems sort of outdated, while the much older Gold Course holds up.

It also seems sort of squeezed in, especially compared to Gold. When your 10th and 17th holes need to share the same lake with the greens snuggling against each other, that's not a good sign.

Even more disappointing is how much Emerald's been pumped up over the years in golf publications. That clubhouse attendant isn't the only one caught up in false hype. It's almost as if magazines like Golf for Women became so seduced by Wailea Emerald's side touches - the flowers, the extra tee boxes - that they forgot that a golf course still needs to produce memorable golf.

Wailea Emerald, you could do better. Okay, it's probably not destined to be a brochure slogan. But it's something a golfer should keep in mind.

Maui hotels and resorts

If you're playing Wailea, you're on luxury row in Maui. Numerous high-end, high-dollar resorts are right down the street from the golf club. The best might be Fairmont Kea Lani. It boasts supersized standard rooms, easy beach access and a giant waterslide pool scene.

Fast Facts

David Leadbetter - swing coach to Michelle Wie - opened up a teaching academy at Wailea Golf Club. But Eddie Lee, who was named the top instructor in Hawaii by Golf Digest before he went through Leadbetter's program, is the main on-site teacher.

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February 5, 2008

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management.