Golf Advisor announced its all-time top-rated golf courses in Hawaii—with ratings dating back to 2013—and two Nicklaus Design layouts were recognized in the list. No. 2 all-time is the spectacular Manele Golf Course on the island of Lanai—a Jack Nicklaus Signature layout that opened for play in 1993. No. 9 all-time is Kauai’s Ocean Course at Hokuala (formerly Kauai Lagoons), a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course that features Hawaii’s longest stretch of oceanfront holes.
Manele Golf Course, the anchor amenity to the Four Seasons Resort Lanai, is perched high above the crashing surf of Hulopoe Bay. The course was designed by Nicklaus and then built on lava outcroppings. It features three holes on cliffs, with the Pacific Ocean serving as the ultimate water hazard. The course’s five-tee concept offers resorts guests plenty of options, yet challenges even the best golfers, with tee shots over natural gorges and ravines requiring precision off the tee.
The Ocean Course at Hokuala, an award-winning Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, winds its way through a mango and guava tree forest, down to the edge of the Pacific, with the finishing green in the midst of a 40-acre freshwater lagoon. The course is frequently included in rankings of the Best Resort Courses and Best Courses You Can Play, and was named one of the most beautiful courses in the world by MSN Travel. The layout is set to begin renovation work in 2016.