Poipu Bay Golf Course

Grand Slam history on Kauai’s south shore.

For thirteen years Poipu Bay was where the season’s four major champions met for the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, and Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods all lifted the trophy here. The course runs across 210 oceanfront acres on Kauai’s south shore, next to the Grand Hyatt Kauai. It is a public resort course with published rates, online booking 30 days ahead and a 7-hole option for short afternoons. Look out for the stone heiau, Hawaiian temple sites centuries old, preserved within the layout.

Poipu Bay Golf Course green fees and tee times.

Tee times are booked online up to 30 days in advance through Poipu Bay’s EZLinks system, or by phoning the golf shop on +1 808 742 8711. Every round includes a cart with hands-free GPS, bottled water and cold towels. A second round within ten days costs US$200. Tee times after 2pm do not guarantee 18 holes, which is why the course sells shorter “BreakAway” loops: holes 1–7 for US$120, a front or back nine for US$150 and the ocean holes 8–18 for US$175 at 7–8am. Registered Grand Hyatt Kauai guests book Stay & Play rates by phone. No handicap limit is published.

The round, in perspective.

Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed the course, which opened in 1991. It is par 72 and measures 7,123 yards from the gold tees, 6,610 from the blues and 5,241 from the reds, according to GolfPass. There are 85 bunkers, five water hazards and seashore paspalum greens. The inland holes are open and rolling, with Kauai’s mountains behind; the back nine reaches the coast. The 16th, a 501-yard par four from the gold tees along the coastal bluffs, is the hole that features in the photographs. Several heiau and hand-built stone walls estimated at more than 500 years old are protected on the property, and golfers may not enter them or play a ball from them.

Know before you go.

Booking window

Online up to 30 days ahead

Included

Cart with GPS, bottled water and cold towels

Late tee times

After 2pm, 18 holes not guaranteed

Dress

No swimwear, tank tops, T-shirts, cut-offs or halter tops

Cultural sites

No entry to heiau; balls in them are not played

Rentals

Clubs US$95; shoes US$15; rider fee US$35

Make the trip work.

The clubhouse is on Ainako Street in Koloa, next to the Grand Hyatt on Keoneloa Bay, and Kauai Poke, overlooking the 18th, serves poke bowls and plate lunches after the round. If you plan to play three times or more, the unlimited packages are good value: US$645 for three rounds, US$1,025 for five and US$1,950 for ten, shareable with a spouse and used within 90 days. The course closes for aeration on 27–28 April and 21–22 September 2026. Travellers from outside the US pay in US dollars, and Hawaii sales tax is added to most purchases.

Lihue Airport (LIH) is about 15 miles away, roughly 25 to 30 minutes by car through the Tree Tunnel on Maluhia Road. Kauai has no rail and limited buses, so most visitors hire a car at the airport. Long-haul travellers usually reach Lihue on a short inter-island flight from Honolulu or direct from the US West Coast.

Where it is.

Somewhere to settle in.

The Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa is beside the course, and its guests get the Stay & Play rates and unlimited packages at lower prices. Koloa Landing Resort and the condominium blocks along Poʻipū Road are a few minutes away, and Poipu has plenty of holiday rentals for a week’s stay. Old Koloa town, with its plantation-era shopfronts, is a short drive inland and has restaurants for evenings away from the resort.

Make a trip of it.

Kiahuna Golf Club, another Jones Jr. design, is a few minutes away in Poipu, and Puakea Golf Course sits just outside Lihue on the way back to the airport. On the north shore, Princeville’s Makai Golf Club is about 90 minutes’ drive. Off the course, the Mahaʻulepu Heritage Trail follows the coast east from the hotel along the same lithified sand dunes, and Waimea Canyon is about an hour west.

Find your season.

Golf is played all year. The south shore is the drier side of Kauai, though winter brings more passing showers than summer. The course offers $30 off selected rates from 23 September to 12 October 2026, a quiet window between the summer and winter peaks. Afternoon trade winds blow across the coastal holes for much of the year.