Playing Favorites
In the 12th Century, it was the fertile land and proximity to the coast that drew ancient Hawaiians to the North Shore of O‘ahu, where the rolling hills gave way to rugged cliffs, overlooking the rhythmic waves below. Over the years, adventure-seekers settled along this fabled shore, in pursuit of the perfect wave along seven miles of idyllic, surfer-friendly coastline. With the addition of Turtle Bay Resort, in 1972, the North Shore became a respite for city dwellers. Those looking to escape the hustle of Honolulu gravitated toward the resort’s 850-acre tract.
And while surfing remains a big draw, a pair of exquisitely designed golf courses at Turtle Bay Resort—the George Fazio Course and Arnold Palmer Course—might now be the finest showcase of the North Shore’s stunning landscapes and blessed location.
Despite a 20-year age gap between these two courses, there is no sibling rivalry. The Palmer Course and Fazio Course offer two entirely different golf experiences. While the former brings more challenges, with its tight corridors and bunkers that weave through the Punaho‘olapa Marsh, the latter curves at a slower pace, offering golfers stunning views from each hole. The harmony is evident; each course plays off the other in juxtaposing features.
The Fazio Course is the older of the set. Opened in 1972, as part of the resort initial launch, it represents George Fazio’s only Hawai‘i design, focused as much on beauty as it was on play. Like its famed architect, the course is gracious and friendly to golfers, with generous fairways and open greens. The course winds its way through palms for just over 6,500 yards, creeping dramatically close to the North Shore coast at times. Ocean views pop up throughout the front and back nine, where Fazio’s minimal use of forced carries makes this a very walkable course.
Still, with its sculpted Paspalum greens and a slope of 130, the course is not without its fair share of tough spots. The reward for getting through the sixth hole (a par-4 that doglegs to the right) is a sweeping view of the Pacific Ocean. Windy days are unforgiving, where many golfers can end up double bogeyed by underestimating the course and its tricky crosswinds. This 18-hole course has played host to some of the greatest names of golf over the years, including Gary Player, Sam Snead and Chi Chi Rodriguez in the first Champions Tour Skins Game, in addition to hosting the LPGA Tour’s Hawaiian Open.
The Fazio layout is regarded as more forgiving than that of the Palmer Course, which wasted no time winning awards when it was built, in 1992, earning a spot on the Golf Magazine’s coveted “Top 10 New Courses.” And while it’s still frequently named to “Best Resort Course” lists, this one is something of an outlier. That’s because its designers, PGA legend Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay, built it as a tournament course, not a pure resort spot. The split-style layout remains true to that vision; all told, there are more than 70 sand traps, and plenty of other places to get stuck.
Each hole features five sets of tees, offering the chance to play the par-72 course from the resort tees (6,225 yards) or take the Palmer challenge with black tees (7,218 yards) for legit championship-style play. The course easily divides into two separate fields of play, where the front and back nine are separated by the Punaho‘olapa Marsh in a horseshoe-type curve. The marsh has become home to a handful of endangered Hawaiian bird species, and the soundtrack of the tropical birds is a peaceful reminder of the North Shore’s protected environment.
Aside from the opening hole, which begins with a banyan tree shading the right side of the first tee, the front nine is nearly free of foliage as golfers progress, navigating elements sand and water and rolling terrain. A Scottish Links feel is prevalent for the first nine holes, while the back nine takes golfers through an ironwood pine forest. The Paspalum greens are satisfyingly fast and the fairways roll out like a fine carpet. Water appears on all but one hole.
The ebbs and flow of intensity leads up to Palmer’s signature 17th hole, where nine bunkers stand between tee and green atop an extended plateau, 100 feet from the ocean. The views help ease any woes of sunken balls, and the last hole—named “Ho‘o mana‘o e mahalo nui” or “to remember and say thank you”—is more forgiving, with a helping wind that guides the ball toward the hole when tee shots are aimed left of the mounds on the right side of the fairway.
But the Fazio and Palmer courses, while recognized globally, aren’t the only golf attractions at Turtle Bay Resort. As of March 2020, players can hit The Breaks—an all-new, 18-hole, 90,000-square-foot, “mini seaside links” putting course located just outside of the clubhouse. Golfers (and non-golfers) of all ages can now take in a round there, before heading to the onsite pro shop and onto the beloved Lei Lei’s Bar & Grill. The restaurant’s cold beers and signature prime rib entree offer the ultimate celebratory feast after a day well spent on the golf course. In the mood for something else? Lei Lei’s is just one of seven restaurants on the property, and the addition of a new eatery, called Alaia, will soon bring locally sourced ingredients from farmers, fisherman, bow hunters and food artisans to the forefront.
Newness has become a recurring theme at Turtle Bay as of late. In addition to The Breaks and Alaia, the resort’s 410 ocean-view guest rooms and 42 oceanfront beach cottages were recently renovated. The resort recently saw the addition of six pickleball courses, as well as more than two dozen Stay Well Premier wellness guest rooms. Turtle Bay’s most popular amenities received an update, too, with the expansion of the 11,000-square-foot Nalu Kinetic Spa, where treatments range from the coconut lava shell massage and an aloe relief wrap therapy to private stretching sessions with a certified personal trainer.
Not that you need any more reason to visit Turtle Bay Resort. Hawai‘i residents love teeing off here, and out-of-town players feel the same pull. Like the North Shore itself, the attraction the Fazio and Palmer courses remains as powerful as ever. Respite, par excellence.
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