Turtle Bay Resort Arnold Palmer Course

About Turtle Bay Resort Arnold Palmer Course

The Palmer course is really two courses. The front nine is Scottish links-style, and the back nine turns tropical, wrapping in a horseshoe around the Punahoʻolapa marsh, a 100-acre wetland and bird sanctuary. Water is in play on 14 holes and there are more than 60 bunkers. The map survey adds that 12 holes bend, nine of them to the right, so a fade is a useful shot here. Course character from OpenStreetMap contributors' survey data.

It's a par 72 with five sets of tees, 6,225 yards from the resort tees and 7,218 from the black Palmer tees. The 17th is the hole the course puts forward: it sits in the marsh, has nine bunkers, and you get the ocean from the green. On the North Shore the trade winds are part of the round, and the course expects 18 holes to take four and a half hours.

Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay designed it, and when it opened in 1992 Golf Magazine named it one of its Top 10 New Courses in America and Golf Digest ranked it 4th among the Best New Resort Courses in America. It hosted a Champions Tour event eight years running, and the resort's golf has also drawn the LPGA Tour, the Hawaii State Open and Golf Channel's The Big Break. There's a grass range, a short-game area and The Breaks, an 18-hole putting course next to Lei Lei's bar and grill.

It's one of 26 courses Yoink watches in the Oahu area, and the closest alternative is Hawaii Country Club, about 14 miles away — handy when your first choice is booked solid.

What it's like to play Turtle Bay Resort Arnold Palmer Course

Water comes into play on 15 of 18 holes, and you carry it on 7 of them. Keep the ball in front of you. 12 of the 18 holes bend, most of them to the right, which favors a fade, so position off the tee matters more than length. A creek or river runs through the property and comes into play on 14 holes.

Course character from OpenStreetMap contributors' survey data (ODbL).

Booking a tee time at Turtle Bay Resort Arnold Palmer Course

How far out you can book depends on who you are: resort guests get 120 days, other visitors to Hawaii 90 days, and kamaʻāina with a Hawaii ID 30 days. Nine-hole times open only 24 hours ahead. Rates for visitors start at $265 for 18 and $150 for 9, with a cart and range balls included; Hawaii residents get preferred rates with ID at check-in. Twilight rates start at 1 p.m. year-round, but in winter that's also the last tee time that can realistically finish 18 before sunset (2:45 p.m. in summer). The golf shop is 808-293-8574.

How to get a tee time at Turtle Bay Resort Arnold Palmer Course