Originally known as the Kiele Course at Kauai Lagoons Golf Club, the Ocean Course at Hokuala was redesigned by Jack Nicklaus in 2010 and now winds its way through mango and guava groves to dramatic seaside cliffs. The holes that hug the Pacific coastline are the most memorable, and the continuous stretch of oceanfront golf is the longest in all of Hawaii and a certain highlight of every visit.

In Volume 2 of The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses, Tom Doak published that.

“The Kiele course is a bold design, with wide fairways and more than one multiple-fairway hole set off by sprawling sand – although the heavy sand they used to reduce wind erosion is hell to play from, so you really have to respect the hazards here. The death-or-glory par-3 5^th with its carry over a jungle-filled valley punctuates the front nine, before the back nine leads to the oceanfront. But the finish is disappointing – on the short par-4 16^th you can’t really tell where you need to hit, and the last two holes play around lagoons like you’ve suddenly been airlifted to Florida.“

The Ocean Course at Timbers Resort Hokuala received a score of 5 out of 10 from Tom Doak and a score of 5 out of 10 from one of his co-authors.