MAUI, Hawaii -- The South Course at the Kaanapali Resort will re-open on Nov. 19, resort officials have announced. The course has undergone an extensive renovation by golf course architect Robin Nelson, who redesigned many of the holes and utilized new turf grasses for enhanced conditions from tee to green.
Widely known for his more than 30 layouts and redesigns on the islands, Nelson retained many elements of the South's original, player-friendly routing, while presenting a much stiffer challenge to more accomplished players with an array of strategically placed bunkers, contoured fairways and reshaped greens.
Nelson also added new tees, and the course now offers four sets with yardages. However, even from the tips, which measure 6,400 yards, a premium is placed on strategy off the tee and finding the proper quadrant of the fairway from which to attack the pin.
"Robin's renovation to Kaanapali's Resort South Course is phenomenal in that he provides one demanding shot after another for accomplished players, while maintaining scoring opportunities and a fun test for higher handicappers and players who are not long hitters," said the facility's PGA General Manager, Ed Kageyama. "By bringing more of the short game and shot selection into play, Robin has leveled the playing field, so to speak, for a wide spectrum of players, which bodes well for many an enjoyable round on the South Course."
In addition to Nelson's reworked layout that incorporates stunning ocean views and vistas of the islands of Lanai and Molokai, Kaanapali's tees, fairways and greens boast new turf grass and irrigation that will enhance course maintenance and allow the resort to continue offering immaculate playing conditions.
On the tees, Kaanapali will use 419 Hybrid Bermuda, a denser Bermuda variety with finer blades that allow for lower mowing heights and faster grow-in for divots. Many fairways have also received enhanced irrigation -- a great benefit to a greens crew that tirelessly manicures the course's well-defined fairways and tough-but-fair rough.
Kaanapali South's greens have been regrassed with Tifeagle Hybrid Bermuda. Tifeagle is a premier Bermuda grass used for putting surfaces on many world-class layouts. The turf grows in very tight, making almost non-existent the heavy grain one typically associates with Bermuda. Tifeagle can also be mowed very closely allowing for faster, smoother and truer greens.
Begun in April, the redesign of the Resort South Course is the first phase of a multi-year renovation project for the entire Kaanapali facility that will include the re-tooling of the Tournament North Course's layout in 2006 and the remodeling of the golf shop and clubhouse.
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