The Challenge at Manele

The Challenge at Manele designed by Jack Nicklaus is one of his best architectural efforts. The course is literally carved out of the side of a hill, which means you have tremendous ocean views to distract you and the shot values are of extremely high quality.

The back nine at The Challenge has a couple of Hawaii’s most beautiful and difficult seaside holes.  The 12^th is a 202-yard par three that offers very little room for error. The tee is placed at the edge of a cliff, which means the shot here must carry the crashing surf some 150 feet below.  The green at 12 is wide, but shallow so make sure you take plenty of club here because long is definitely better than short.   The par four 17^th brings you back to the sea … the dramatic tee shot here is the toughest on the course.  There are no fairway bunkers so if you miss the fairway you’re either in the ocean or lava.  Finding the fairway off the tee is just the first challenge here at 17.  Approach shots are played down the hill to a kidney-shaped green protected in the front by a deep bunker.