Kaua’i Mini Golf & Botanical Gardens Return
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5-2723 Kuhio Highway #101
Kilauea, HI 96754
(808) 828-2118
Cost: $18 Other Activities: Botanical
gardens, food, shaved ice, gift shop
Par: 47
Difficulty: 6
Creativity: 6
Atmosphere: 8
The first thing you will have to overcome when playing this course is the cost of $18 per person. It’s by far the most we have ever paid for one 18 hole round and it’s expensive even by Hawaii standards. However, this is also the first course we’ve ever played that is both a miniature golf and a botanical gardens and the cost is to reflect the additional entertainment you’re supposed to derive from the botanical gardens. While the botanical gardens are impressive we’re still not sure it justified the full price (it is considerably less for children which is good) but at least it didn’t feel like a complete rip-off.
The course itself was in decent condition though there were some mats that were showing signs of wear. The course is only four years old so our guess is that it is the original carpet and the conditions the course is subject to (almost rainforest like) are certain to be rough on it. It’s slightly above average in difficulty and has a good spread of easy and difficult holes with a few ace opportunities thrown in. Their free game is controlled by a “lucky hole” which you find out at the end whether you aced that hole of not. Of course the only ace we got the whole round was on that day’s lucky hole so we won a free game! From what we can tell, this was a Harris Company course but they did a good job of selecting some different style holes that we don’t see everywhere so the creativity score was a bit above average.
The reason to play the course though, besides being the only one on the island of Kauai, is the botanical gardens. There isn’t just a few trees and flowers spread across the course, there are hundreds of varieties covering all of the holes. According to the folks at the desk, the course takes a journey through the history of Hawaii and its flora, and is split into sections based on what sections of the world the plants were originally imported from. Each hole has a sign that talks about a specific part of Hawaii’s relationship with its plants and all of the varieties are tagged throughout the course. If you aren’t rushed on the course you can really enjoy all of the different varieties and learn a lot in the process.
Overall, it’s worth playing once if you are on the island and are willing to spend the money. It’s a beautiful section of land and be sure to treat yourself to a shaved ice when you’re done to cool off from the heat.
Reviewed by: Pat, Liz and Duffer
Reviewed in: 2014
Course Pictures (click to enlarge)
For pictures of all
18 holes visit our Flickr
album
Map