"There's no finer private golfing experience. Every square inch of the facility is immaculate. Driving range is supplied and maintained like it's for a professional tournament. Golf course design is simply spectacular, subtly balancing priorities between capitalizing on scenic views and optimizing hole routing. Food and service caters to your every need without feeling stuffy. I'll say it again: there's no finer private golfing experience." - Satisfed Golfer

A Scottish links inspired routing placed on the mountainside that weaves through the lava rock and tropical surroundings of Hawaii, Nanea delivers one of the most unique offerings in America. The course gets very little play and thus maintains Augusta-like conditions that compliment the ocean views throughout the round. While Kidd will always be known for designing Bandon Dunes, Nanea may go down as his Mona Lisa.

What to Expect: Located on the slopes of Mount Hualalai, Nanea is Hawaii's version of a Scottish links that came about when billionaires Charles Schwab and George Roberts partnered up to create the club by leasing 8,000 acres of property and hiring Scottish architect David McLay Kidd to design the links. The terrain features plenty of elevation changes, variety in the design, and the mountainside location lures putts down the hill towards the ocean no matter what you are reading in the green to the contrary. The course is completely covered in player friendly paspalum grass and was the first course in North America to do so. As a side note, Kidd's father Jimmy pioneered the use of paspalum in the Middle East. Bring plenty of balls on your visit to Nanea because any ball that leaves the fairway will likely be lost or at a minimum sliced up from the lava rock. That being said, the fairways and greens are plenty generous so players enjoy forgiveness throughout the round. Putts that head toward the peak of Mount Hualalai roll quite a bit slower than you would think and the putts going to the ocean race at an Augusta National like pace. You wouldn't expect the tropical islands of Hawaii to enjoy a golf course with firm and fast conditions but the city of Kailua-Kona gets less than a foot of rain a year which allows Nanea to generate a firm links like experience despite the lack of natural links soil. Though the club is ultra exclusive, the membership and staff couldn't be less stuffy and are very welcoming to all that are privileged enough to tee it up at Nanea. The clubhouse enjoys stunning views from the panoramic windows which put the golf course and ocean on full display while the locker rooms feature outdoor showers enclosed by a lava rock wall. The turn into Nanea doesn't feature any signage and don't trust your GPS to get you there; just turn on the unlabeled road across the highway from Kukio's entrance before entering the gate and driving two miles to paradise.