The Land Time Forgot

Leave your worries behind and pack your bags for a week in a Kaua’i paradise

Kauai Lagoons Golf Club, Kiele Moana Course
Kauai Lagoons Golf Club, Kiele Moana Course

by Brian Beaky

This article originally appeared in the December 2014 issue of Cascade Golfer magazine. To learn how to receive Cascade Golfer, click here.

The air hits you like a wall the second you step off the plane — the heat, the humidity and the fragrant aroma of thousands of Kaua’i’s colorful flowers. For a traveler from the Northwest, it can be momentarily disorienting, a stark reminder that you’ve left our cool mountain climate behind and arrived in a tropical paradise. After six hours of nothing but blue, shimmering ocean, my first glimpse of Kaua’i is like a blind man’s first glimpse of a rainbow; the vibrant, green slopes of Kaua’i’s mountains are like no green I’ve ever seen, while the ridges cascading down from their peaks appear painted by some heavenly brush in streaks of orange, purple and red.

To my wife’s amusement, I find myself humming the theme from Jurassic Park as we glide across the final few miles of ocean to the tiny Lihue airport, echoing the scene from the film when the characters first approach the island by helicopter, the beautiful Kawaikini Mountain and stunning Waimea Canyon just as breathtaking in person as they were on film. In truth, Kaua’i’s unmatched natural scenery has made it the backdrop to dozens of Hollywood films, from South Pacific to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park and most recently, 2011’s The Descendants.

The last sight a golfer sees before the plane touches down on the runway is a series of stunning golf holes running along the coast, a tiny lighthouse standing sentinel on a tower of rocks behind a green, and the white-capped waves crashing into the shore below.

Kaua’i Marriott Resort on Kalapaki Beach
Kaua’i Marriott Resort on Kalapaki Beach

After picking up our bags, we hopped on the shuttle to Enterprise Rent-A-Car (www.enterprise.com, 808-246-0204), where manager Justin Hidalgo quickly had us out the door and into our new ride for the week, a fully-equipped, four-wheel drive, convertible Jeep Wrangler. Trust me, there’s no better way to experience Kaua’i; six days later, we’d return the Jeep with the top off and the hood and sides caked in mud from an off-road adventure into the heart of the island. The curious — and undeniably envious — looks of renters stepping out of their smaller cars were all we needed to know we’d made the right choice.

Just a few minutes later, we were walking into the lobby of one of the most opulent hotels we’d ever seen, the Kaua’i Marriott Resort on Kalapaki Beach (808-245-5050, www.marriott.com). Calling it a lobby isn’t even fair — it’s a garden befitting a palace, complete with floral trees and shrubs, tropical birds and fish, marble floors and towering columns. The pool area is the same, ringed with columns, palm trees and waterfalls, and decorated with animal-shaped fountains spouting streams of water into the largest hotel swimming pool in Hawaii. Best of all, the hotel is sited on one of the most spectacular harbors in all of Kaua’i, Nawiliwili Harbor, whose calm waters are perfect for swimming, body-boarding, or the world’s most popular new water sport, stand-up paddleboarding. When you lay on a lounge chair and feel the sun on your skin, staring past the volleyball players and sunbathers on Kalapaki Beach to the harbor and Hoary Head Mountains to the south — or better yet, indulge in a luxurious massage at the Alexander Spa & Salon — it’s easy to wonder why anyone ever goes home. By the time a hotel staff member places a complimentary mai tai in your hand, you’ve already forgotten that you’ve ever been anyplace else.


The trade winds dictate nearly everything on the island, from the ability of cruise ships to navigate into ports, the height and intensity of the surf that draws up to one million vacationers each year and the sometimes gravity-defying angles of the palms. Even the blades of grass on the greens can’t escape the trade winds’ influence, laying in whichever direction the predominant wind blows — a tip I received upon my arrival at Kaua’i Lagoons Golf Club (800-634-6400, www.kauailagoonsgolf.com) the following morning, and one that would prove valuable throughout the week.

Kaua’i Lagoons might well be the island’s most photographed course, boasting the longest stretch of continuous ocean holes in Hawaii, with more than a half mile of jaw-dropping views of the ocean, mountains and Nawiliwili Harbor. Located just steps from the front entrance of the Kaua’i Marriott Resort, it’s the first course you see when landing on the island, and the one whose ocean holes burn longest in your memory after you depart.

While bunkers line almost every hole, the course plays easier than it looks. Each hole offers one tough shot — perhaps a long forced carry off the tee, or a green closely guarded by bunkers. Manage that challenge, and birdies are there to be made.

Course designer Jack Nicklaus oversaw a recent renovation of the Kiele Moana Course, most often played as the back nine. The result is stunning — from the tee box at the par-4 Moana No. 4, to the green at Moana No. 7, the Pacific Ocean is a constant presence. The par-3 Moana No. 5 evokes Pebble Beach’s famed seventh hole or any of the fantastic oceanside par-3s at Bandon Dunes, a shot as exhilarating for its natural beauty as its physical challenge. It’s followed two holes later by the course’s signature hole, the reachable, downhill, 285-yard sixth, where a lighthouse near the green marks the entrance to the harbor.

Staring back across the green at the lighthouse framed against the harbor mouth by the mountains and golf course, I closed my overwhelmed eyes to experience the moment with my other senses — the warm tropical breeze on my skin, the fragrant plumeria and pikake, the sound of the crashing waves mixed with the chattering of the native nene and occasional rooster’s crow. It’s plain to see why King Kamehemeha was once so driven to add Kaua’i to his growing empire, despite its remote far-western location and stubborn resistance to imperialism, even after all other Hawaiian islands had fallen. There are few places on earth with such an abundance of beauty and what locals call the “aloha spirit” — a welcoming, familial grace that exudes from everyone you come in contact with, and makes you feel immediately at home. It’s a land worth fighting for.

Following the round, I rejoined my wife for an unforgettable meal by the Marriott pool at Kukui’s, where the peppered tenderloin and ono (a white fish similar to mackerel) melted in our mouths, while the forbidden rice — black Thai rice, pineapple, avocado, red onion, cucumber, sweet potato and Tamari sesame vinaigrette — fired flavor across every taste bud. A glass of red wine and a taste of the chocolate laulau as the sun disappeared behind the Hoary Head Mountains capped a perfect day in paradise.

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