The best places to play golf in Hawaii are not interchangeable. A round on Maui’s Kapalua Plantation Course is a wind-and-elevation test that feels like playing across a mountainside. Big Island golf is lava rock, Kohala Coast sunshine, and resort courses cut tee-to-green through black lava fields with the Pacific as a backdrop. Kauai gives you cliff-edge views and some of the best scenery-per-dollar in the state. Oahu is the easiest round to fit into a Waikiki trip, with public-access resort golf on both the North Shore and Ko Olina side.

If you only have time for one round, choose by island first and course second. Driving across an island for golf can swallow half a vacation day, and most of the famous Hawaii courses are priced like a splurge. This guide stays visitor-focused: the rounds most worth planning around, the convenient alternatives, and the places that sound famous but are not useful for most travelers.

Best overall golf island: Maui, if your budget allows it. Kapalua, Wailea Golf Club, and Kaanapali Golf Courses give you the strongest mix of famous, scenic, visitor-playable resort golf.

Best luxury resort golf: Big Island’s Kohala Coast. Mauna Kea Resort and Mauna Lani are the classic lava-and-ocean settings.

Best scenery for the money: Kauai. Princeville Makai and Poipu Bay are premium rounds, but Kauai also has more modest public and local-feeling options than the resort-only reputation suggests.

Best if you are staying in Waikiki: Oahu. Turtle Bay Golf is the big scenic round, while Ko Olina Golf Club is the easiest polished resort round to pair with a west-side beach day.

Best splurge: Turtle Bay Golf, North Shore. The Arnold Palmer Course at Turtle Bay Golf is the Oahu round that feels most like a Hawaii vacation postcard. The course has oceanfront views and a resort-level practice setup. It is not next door to Waikiki - plan on a full North Shore day - but that is also the point. Pair the round with lunch in Haleiwa or a sunset stop at Sunset Beach.

Best resort-base round: Ko Olina Golf Club. Ko Olina works especially well if your Oahu trip is based in the west-side resort zone. The course sits inside Ko Olina, lists dynamic tee-time pricing, and is forgiving enough for mixed-skill vacation groups without feeling like a throwaway resort course. It also has the most convenient “golf plus lagoons” day on Oahu.

Best lush inland round: Royal Hawaiian Golf Club. Royal Hawaiian in Kailua is not the easiest Oahu course and not the beachiest. Its value is the setting: a jungle-green Ko’olau foothill layout that feels completely different from Ko Olina or Turtle Bay. Choose it if your group cares more about scenery and novelty than a forgiving resort round.

What to skip for most visitors: Waialae Country Club. It is famous because of the Sony Open, but do not build your vacation plan around playing it unless you already have a confirmed invitation or connection.

Best bucket-list round: Kapalua Plantation Course. If someone in your group watches golf on TV, this is probably the round they already know. The Plantation Course has the huge downhill holes, big trade-wind decisions, and Pacific views that made the Sentry broadcasts instantly recognizable. As of the current course notice, the Plantation Course is open and the Bay Course is closed for a renovation project - check the Kapalua Golf site for the latest before you book.

Best Wailea round: Wailea Gold or Emerald. Wailea Golf Club runs three courses - Gold, Emerald, and Blue - inside one of Maui’s easiest resort clusters. Gold is the stronger test. Emerald is the prettier and more forgiving vacation round. Blue is the most casual of the three and can make sense when price or availability matters more than checking off the most famous layout. If you are staying in Wailea or Makena, this is the lowest-friction serious golf day on Maui.

Best Kaanapali round: Royal Kaanapali. Kaanapali Golf Courses has two layouts: Royal Kaanapali and Kaanapali Kai. Royal is the better-known championship course; Kai is shorter and more forgiving. For West Maui visitors who do not want to drive to Kapalua, Kaanapali is the practical pick. The course site currently notes that both courses are open, which matters because West Maui water and drought issues have affected golf operations in the region.

Best value/local-feel option: Waiehu Municipal Golf Course. Waiehu is not a luxury resort course, and that is the appeal. It is a Maui County municipal course with oceanfront holes, local players, and prices that usually sit far below the resort tier. Choose Waiehu if you want to play golf on Maui without turning the day into a premium resort spend.

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Best classic Hawaii round: Mauna Kea Golf Course. Mauna Kea is the Big Island golf icon. Per the resort, the course was originally designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and opened in 1964, and the renovated layout still treats the over-the-ocean third hole as its signature moment. If you want one splurge round on the Big Island, start here.

Best resort-golf base: Mauna Lani. Mauna Lani’s North and South courses sit in the Kohala Coast resort zone, close to the Fairmont Orchid, Mauna Lani Auberge, Mauna Lani Point, and Waikoloa-area stays. The South Course is the more memorable visitor play, especially for lava-field holes and ocean-adjacent scenery.

Best luxury guest-only feel: Hualalai. The Four Seasons Hualalai golf experience is exceptional, but it is not the simple public-play recommendation for most travelers. Treat it as a reason to stay at Hualalai, not as the easiest Big Island tee time to add from a Kona condo.

Best Kona-side practical round: Kona Country Club. If you are staying in Kailua-Kona or Keauhou and want a good round without driving north to Kohala, Kona Country Club is the practical answer. It is easier to reach, less formal, and still has ocean views.

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Best scenery: Princeville Makai Golf Club. Princeville Makai is the Kauai round most visitors imagine when they picture cliff-edge golf on the North Shore. The course publishes 18-hole rates and online booking on its rates page, so check the live booking engine before you commit. The setting is the draw: north shore cliffs, mountain backdrops, and the kind of views that make bad scoring easier to tolerate.

Best South Shore resort round: Poipu Bay Golf Course. Poipu Bay sits next to the Grand Hyatt Kauai and markets its history as the home of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf from 1994 to 2006. It is the easiest premium round to build into a Poipu stay and a good fit for couples or families splitting the day between golf, spa, and beach time.

Best Lihue-area premium round: The Ocean Course at Hokuala. Hokuala is the strongest pick if you are staying near Kalapaki, Lihue, or Timbers Kauai. It is a Jack Nicklaus Signature course without requiring the drive to Princeville or Poipu.

Best public-course value: Wailua Golf Course. Wailua is the classic Kauai value play: ocean-adjacent, public, and far less precious than the resort tracks. It is not where you go for white-glove service. It is where you go if you want a real local-feeling round near the Coconut Coast.

The Manele Golf Course is the serious course on Lanai, with Jack Nicklaus design and cliffside ocean drama, but current access is tied tightly to the Four Seasons Resort Lanai experience rather than broad public play. Lanai’s other option is Cavendish Golf Course, a quiet 9-hole course near Lanai City that is more about local charm than destination golf. If you are already staying on Lanai, golf can be a memorable add-on. If you are choosing an island mainly for golf, Maui, Big Island, Kauai, or Oahu make more sense.

Molokai, for completeness: it is not a golf-trip island. Ironwood Hills is the island’s small 9-hole course, and any round there is a low-key local experience rather than a resort-golf centerpiece.

If golf is the point of the trip, pick Maui or the Big Island. Maui has the best concentration of famous visitor-playable courses. The Big Island has the best luxury-resort golf feel, especially around Kohala.

If scenery matters more than score, pick Kauai. Princeville Makai, Poipu Bay, Hokuala, and Wailua all deliver scenery in different ways. Kauai golf is more spread out, so choose your course based on where you are staying.

If convenience matters most, pick Oahu. Oahu is not the deepest golf island, but it is the easiest place to add a good round to a trip that is mostly about Waikiki, Pearl Harbor, North Shore beaches, or Ko Olina.

Book earlier than you think. Resort tee times, rental clubs, and morning slots fill fastest in winter, spring break, and summer family-travel periods. Afternoon and twilight times can be cheaper, but Hawaii’s trade winds usually get stronger later in the day.

Do not build the day around stale rate pages. Hawaii golf pricing shifts by season, resort status, demand, aeration windows, and local discounts. Use this article to decide where to play, then use each course’s live booking page for the actual tee time, rate, rental-club policy, and closure notice.