Ala Wai Golf Course

This review is for the new driving range and putting green which just opened on 11/15/25. They're open 6:30-23:00. Lots of bats available. I went at night time around 19:00. The ambiance is nice. They started playing some music on the speakers. Ball prices are a bit more expensive than other driving ranges further from town but this is right in town so its very convenient if you live in town or visiting ala Moana or Waikiki. Small basket (35 balls): $10 Large basket (70 balls): $15 The putting green is currently not in great shape since half of the grass is only half grown in. Almost like put…

Dropped by the legendary Ala Wai. You can feel the history and the hustle here. It’s amazing to see Waikiki right in the background while at the range. Even just watching the first tee, the energy is high. It’s flat but iconic. Smartgolfcourses loves seeing such a busy, vital part of the Hawaii golf scene.

In Hawaii visiting and wanted to get a quick nine in. There’s no pro shop nor is there a driving range. They do have a putting green, with barely any grass or putting surface. If you are a resident of Hawaii, the green fees are very inexpensive. However, if you are visiting the island and not a local resident, the green fees are Astronomically high in do not reflect the condition of the golf course. To walk nine holes on a Thursday as a guest to the island was $40 only played the front nine. Fairways were a mix of green grass but mostly burned areas with dirt and absolutely zero grass. The tea…

Awesome staff, great proximity to waikiki, great guests and golfers - brutal condition course. Barely any grass at all. Playing from dirt. Flat. Super expensive for non residents for quality of golf. ..but works for a practice round.

I was on vacation the week of May 18th in Honolulu and my son and I wanted to play a round of golf. This course is located very close to the hotel, so we booked a time. The fairways have a lot of bare spots and the greens on the back nine were better than the front nine. We were teamed with a couple of local guys, and they were great to play with. If you have time to take a 30-minute drive, I suggest you try Kapolei (recommendation from a local) and pay the little extra for a better course. The course has potential, but they will need to put some time and $$ to make it better. I will say the c…

Squeezed in a quick 9. Every staff member I dealt with was incredibly nice and accommodating. Super helpful and made it easy to navigate. The downside was the poor conditions of the course itself. Fairways, roughs and tee boxes were all in very poor condition. Poor drainage and probably the lack of fresh water (more like the lack of funds) to maintain a municipal course are likely the culprit. Layout is flat and boring, but you are in the middle of Waikiki with the mountains in the backdrop. The BIGGEST issue I witnessed was a bunch of older Korean men constantly heckling and trying to fight o…

Very expensive for non residence and the rental clubs will really get ya. Coming from the cold though it’s hard to beat golfing in December. The course is not in the best shape but it’s nice and close to downtown. The views are stunning, but don’t expect a world class golf course.

The bad: Ala Wai Golf Course has seen better days. Most of the tee boxes are being re-done, so they are mostly dirt. The fairways are bare in a lot of places, so you may be hitting off hard packed down dirt or mud if it rains. Same th8ng for the rough, a lot of dirt patches and when it raines, may flood or e very muddy. Greens on the front 9 have a lot of bald spots. These spots are pretty big, and putting through them will throw your line off a lot. Due to the aeration, the bald spots have a lot of sand in them and make them like bunkers on the green. The greens in the back 9 are a little b…

Nice course with some challenging holes. Course was in decent shape and the driving range was nice. The staff was so accommodating and polite…had a great conversion with the guy running the pro shop and the starter, super cool people.

Google ala wai golf course to book a tee time 3 days in advance. Bring a ton of water as you will be savagely dehydrated. Course is fun. Don’t expect Augusta national. It’s a muni. The greens roll great and the course gets tight on the back. People were nice and great views of diamond head! Bring lots of golf balls and tees.

Tee time was at 10:18am, was there at 09:25am, checked in around 09:40am. Got the cart and a minute later we were being told to tee off. We hadn't even got our bags on the cart, hadn't got tees and balls out, hadn't got to prep and they were already telling us to tee off. The group that we were supposed to be with already teed off because we were not ready. The lady then came over the loud speaker again and called us and a new group, who hadn't even got their cart yet. We drove up to the tee box and teed off and the lady came over the speaker and yelled at the group behind us that had just got…

The good, the bad, the ugly… Good views, bad pace of play or course length, ugly conditions…but it’s cheap enough.