Maui's Golf Coast 2007 - (Page 6) T o his credit, K a‘anapali Kai architect Arthur Jack Snyder understood that golf is supposed to be fun. So the first hole of this 6,388-yard, par 70 course is a fantastic appetizer to what you can expect from this friendly resort track. A par 4 straightaway measuring greens moderately small. The prevailing trade winds, sometimes gusting at 15 mph, can wreak havoc to your game if you don’t pay attention to them. The third hole, for instance, is a 225-yard par 3 that normally plays directly into the breeze. It’s smart to take an extra club or two off housed a thriving sugar plantation that covered the fields and hills with acres of green sugar cane. Once processed, the sugar was shipped out from the now-gone Keka‘a Landing Pier near the Pu‘u Keka‘a promontory. The train no longer hauls sugar, and all that’s left of the pier is its jetty. But the locomotive continues to chug away, taking passengers on scenic tours of K a‘anapali and - Its Haleakala Trestle Lahaina. stands behind the tee boxes of the K a‘anapali Kai fifth. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch sight of the train trundling by. Maybe you’ll even hear its singing conductor crooning an island tune. Some of K a‘anapali Kai’s more notable holes include #11, a picturesque 182-yard par 3. It’s rated the easiest hole on the course, but your ball still needs to avoid the four bunkers surrounding the green. And you’ll Ka‘anapali’s friendly Kai Course 376 yards from the regular tee with little in the way of trouble, #1 oozes with birdie potential. It’s hard to imagine anything more appealing than starting a round one under par. The next 14 holes are located further upslope, rising and falling on the gentle foothills of Kahalawai (also called the West Maui Mountains by many locals). At these higher elevations, you’re treated to gorgeous views of the ocean beyond K a‘anapali’s shoreline, and of Lana‘i and Moloka‘i, painted purple by distance. Of course, being fun doesn’t necessarily mean the course will let you waltz home with a scratch score. The K a‘anapali Kai fairways are relatively tight and the the tee, and strive to control both your aim and the ball’s flight path. It’s even smarter to hang on to those thoughts throughout the course. One of the most unusual aspects of golf at K a‘anapali is that the courses straddle the tracks of the historic Sugar Cane Train, the only working steam-powered locomotive in Hawai‘i. K a‘anapali once Ka‘anapali Kai’s #16 hole is protected by greenside bunkers and a lagoon that comes into play on the approach shot 6
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