MAUI, HAWAII — Designed to be fun for practically every player, the 6,825-yard Wailea Emerald Course was one reason Golf for Women Magazine first granted the Wailea Golf Club a Top Fairways Award for the country’s most women-friendly golf clubs, an honor that the Wailea Golf Club received seven times.
Other golf authorities agreed: LINKS Magazine and Golf Digest have also lauded Wailea’s picturesque Emerald as a great course for women.
Its women-friendly reputation aside however, the Emerald Course is simply a delightful course for all players. Its carpet-like fairways, fragrant tropical foliage, and numerous ocean and island vistas capture just about everything you could expect from a golf round on gorgeous Maui.
While the Emerald’s friendly fairways are by no means a cakewalk, the course is ideal for players who enjoy the challenge of golf but view it as an enjoyable form of recreation rather than a grueling test of concentration and precision.
Memorable holes include #6, a par 4 downhill dogleg, measuring 415 yards from the white tees. There’s plenty of landing area for your tee shot, but the green falls off sharply in all directions into grass bunkers, leaving you with a tricky pitch shot if your approach shot isn’t on the mark. Hole #11 is the longest on the course, 535 yards from the white tees, and usually into the wind, making it tougher to reach the green.
One of the more unusual features of the Emerald Course is the double green shared by holes #10 and #17. The green borders a 2.7 million gallon brackish water lake and is one of the most picturesque spots on the course.
Like its companion Gold Course, the Emerald has four to six tee boxes on every hole, enabling golfers to tailor the course to their skill level.