Maui's Golf Coast 2007 - (Page 20) 15 COMFORT STATION T TRAINING FACILITY 17 18 16 DRINKING WATER 12 13 he Wailea Gold vaulted to international prominence when it became the home course of the Champions Skins Game in 2001. That year’s foursome, televised around the world on ABC – TV, came from the stuff of a golfer’s dreams: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Hale Irwin. But recognition of the Gold’s potential came much earlier, back when it opened in 1994 and Golf Magazine and Golf Digest praised it as one of the ten best new layouts in the country. And again in 1996 when Condé Nast Traveler ranked it number one for course design in the publication’s first poll of the world’s top golf resorts. 14 11 DRINKING WATER CLUBHOUSE & SEAWATCH RESTAURANT 9 10 8 DRINKING WATER PARKING 7 COMFORT STATION 5 1 4 3 6 2 DRINKING WATER TO BLUE COURSE AND WAILEA HOTELS Wailea Gold’s challenging 7th hole For seven years, the 7,078-yard par 72 Gold Course hosted the Champions Skins Game at Wailea. So it is with a sense of awe that one steps up to the tee here, knowing you are walking in the footsteps of golf’s greats, and praying that a duffer’s angel will send your ball flying to where Jack’s or Arnie’s might have landed. For us lesser mortals, course architect Robert Trent Jones II kindly added in a bit of congeniality. The course is flexible, with four to six tee boxes on every hole. The roughs are, for the most part, manageable. The turf is nothing less than superb, rolling over the gentle slopes like Berber carpeting. And, it’s a relatively open layout, with breathtaking view corridors to the ocean from every hole. Still, like any course worthy of being called the world’s best, there are challenges. The Gold, according to Wailea’s pros, is not about gunning your ball as far as it can go. It’s about accuracy and finesse. About using brains over brawn. Gauging the wind and elevation, clubbing yourself right and choosing wisely among options. On Gold #6, Jones II created a short (241-yards from the white tee) drivable par 4. A small ravine divides the tee boxes from the fairway and the hole is tightly bunkered. The safe bet is to lay up with an iron. But the green is open in front and if you’re driving well, an eagle’s certainly in the realm of possibilities. Hole #7 swings the opposite way. At 544 yards from the white tee, this long uphill double-dogleg par 5 with nine bunkers and usually a crosswind is rated the most difficult in all of Wailea. Scoring par on this hole makes you feel like you birdied instead. Gold #8 is an absolute treat. An ancient lava rock -wall called papohaku meanders along the edge of the fairway, one of many that are visible on the course. The southern view from Wailea Gold’s 10th hole 20
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