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The Best Golf Course Neighborhoods on Maui — and What They’re Asking
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I should start by saying that I’m writing this from the perspective of a true golf lover. Taught to play by my grandfather, I’ve been playing since I was about 7. Admittedly, I should score better than I do for having played for over 35 years now, I just love the game. One of the reasons I moved to Maui back in 2010 was to be able to play golf in near-perfect weather 12 months a year.
I’ve played all of the golf courses on Maui. Many of them I’ve played dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Safe to say, I’m a fan.
I also know a few things about real estate and golf course homes on Maui. I actually live on a golf course myself. So, this isn’t some generic AI article about the subject of finding the perfect golf community for you on Maui. This is just what I’ve learned from being a massive fan of the game and selling over 150M in real estate in the last 5 years.
Maui Offers a Variety of Real Estate Options For Golf Enthusiasts
Anywhere you decide to live on Maui, excluding Hana, will be close to a golf course. In the South Maui area, there are five golf courses: Kihei, Wailea, and Makena. On West Maui in Ka'anapali and Kapalua, there are four courses. In Central Maui and the Northshore, there are four more, and we even have another course Upcountry in Pukalani for a total of 14 courses. 15 golf courses in Maui County if we count the exceptional Challenge at Manele Bay on Lanai.
Most, but not all, of these courses offer on-course residential or condo real estate ownership opportunities, and living in any of the resort areas of Wailea, Ka'anapali, or Kapalua offers quick access to the course.
But, if you're looking to be on the course and love those golf course views with the intimacy of living in a golf community, here is a complete guide to the options we have for golf course homes on Maui, along with active listings.
The Best Golf Courses and Their Neighborhoods Around Maui
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Along with several private clubs, Maui has so many great public golf courses to choose from. I feel the need to give a little synopsis about each course as it relates to the real estate options around the course, because, after all, you want to enjoy playing the course you live on!
Wailea Golf Club: Including the Gold, Emerald, and Blue Courses
These three courses are fantastic. They are at the top of my list of courses to play in South Maui. Gold and Emerald are newer than the Blue and a little more forgiving with spectacular views, easier greens, and wide fairways. There aren’t any homes or condos along the Gold and Emerald, so you never have to worry about hitting a house there!
The Blue Course is an older layout (one of the very first developments in all of Wailea in 1972). It has several different options for golf course living in some of Wailea’s best gated neighborhoods, including Wailea Golf Estates, Wailea Fairway Estates, Wailea Highlands, or Wailea Golf Vistas. There are several condo communities on the Blue Course, including Wailea’s latest and most significant development, La’i Loa, along with Wailea Ekolu, Ho'olei, Grand Champions, Kai Malu, Wailea Fairway Villas, and Makali'i.
Wailea has the most consistently great golf weather on the island. During rainier times of the year, while many other courses might have a windy or cloudy day, Wailea will typically still have just a light breeze and maybe just some cloud cover. It will very, very rarely have the near gale-force winds that are common on the north shore at Maui Country Club, and that can happen with afternoon rounds in Ka’anapali and Kapalua.
Wailea Golf Course Listings
Ka’anapali Royal and Kai Courses
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The Ka’anapali Royal Course is the more challenging course of the two and usually has very pure, fast, heavily sloped greens. The course is a lot of fun and set in an incredible oceanfront location at the Ka’anapali Resort. I absolutely love this course and it has a variety of great real estate along its fairways and nearby.
Ka'anapali Condo communities on the Royal include Maui Eldorado, Ka’anapali Royal, The Masters, International Colony Club, and Ka’anapali Plantation. On the Ka’anapali Hillside section of the Royal, there are a few homes in the Ka’anapali Golf Estates that are along the Royal.
The Kai Course is a more forgiving track than the Royal and the greens, while still typically in good condition and challenging, aren’t quite as tricky as the Royal’s greens. The Kai has several long, straight holes, with larger greens, making it a really nice resort course accessible to a variety of experience levels.
Along the Kai, you can find the northern edge of Ka’anapali’s newest luxury gated community, Lanikeha, which is an exceptional community with a variety of quality new construction homes. You’ll also find the Vintage at Ka’anapali residential condo community, the Summit and Pinnacle gated subdivisions.
Kapalua Plantation Course (reopened) and Kapalua Bay Course (currently closed)
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The Kapalua Plantation Course is undoubtedly Maui’s most famous golf course and one of the most awe-inspiring golf courses anywhere in the world. Featured annually on the PGA Tour’s annual tour opening event, now known as the Sentry, formerly the Mercedes, this course is a tough test of golf that the professionals make look WAY too easy.
In 2026, the course will not be used for the Sentry Tournament as an ongoing water dispute between Tadashi Yanai (The Plantation’s owner) and Maui Land and Pineapple (their water provider), but the PGA Tour hopes to return in 2027, given the resolution of the dispute.
Along the Plantation Course, some of Maui’s most incredible real estate finds a canvas. The Plantation Estates, Mahana Estates, and Honolua Ridge showcase the highest elements of Kapalua architecture and island luxury living.
The Bay Course
The Arnold Palmer-designed Kapalua Bay Course could be out of commission for some time. Before the water dispute hit a head and the course was closed, it was already showing signs of its age and reduced irrigation.
A large-scale, much-needed, multi-year update of the Bay Course had been slated to begin soon, so the shutdown of the course could coincide with their long-term plans of revamping the course. It's the much more forgiving and playable course of the two Kapalua tracks; I consistently shoot better scores on the Bay vs. the Plantation, which is notorious for having very few flat lies around the entire course.
Along the Bay course, one of Kapalua’s premier residential communities can be found at Pineapple Hill. Condo complexes include the Golf Villas, Bay Villas, and Ridge Villas along with the oceanfront luxury community of the Ironwoods. The Ritz Carlton Residences are also just off the Par 3 16th.
Maui Country Club (Private 9-Hole Course)
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For those looking to incorporate a variety of other sports and outdoor activities into their golf course lifestyle, Maui Country Club, located in Spreckelsville in Paia, combines all of these elements.
The golf course, opened in 1927, is Maui’s oldest. It is a 9-hole only design with alternating tee boxes to create an 18-hole round. It is a links-style course that is not very long at 6,600 yards total for the 18-hole setup. But, that does not mean the course is easy.
Maui’s Northshore is known for being the windsports capital of the world, and you’ll find more kitesurfers, wingfoilers, and windsurfers on the water on most days than golfers on the golf course, which can have 20-plus miles per hour winds on an average day and 40 mph on a particularly spicy day. The course was built parallel to the beach, so you are either playing dead into the wind or it's at your back, making your drives look really long! The greens are usually impeccable and are really my favorite to play on the island, even if the course design and wind aren’t as positive factors.
Most don’t join Maui Country Club just for its golf, though; it's a very social club with a great community of people. The tennis and pickleball scene is as big as the golf scene, if not bigger, and it's a great place to make friends over games. There is a pool and kids' activities, along with an excellent restaurant, making it a great place for families with children.
Maui Country Club is in Spreckelsville, which is certainly in my personal top 3 neighborhoods anywhere on Maui. Sprecks, as it is known, has many oceanfront homes and homes within walking distance to the beaches there, including Baldwin Beach.
A bike path connects Sprecks to Paia and is a pleasant walk or ride to get morning coffee in town. Sprecks rarely has much, if any, inventory, and it offers one of the few areas where you can live the Country Club lifestyle and the beach/oceansprots lifestyle all in one place.
King Kamehameha Golf Club (private)
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King Kamehameha is the only private golf course on Maui that doesn’t have any private residential real estate on the course. It is a golf-focused club with a robust membership of golfers who take the game and the friendships at the club seriously. I really enjoy playing the course when I get invites; however, the condition of the greens hasn’t been at its best recently.
Makena Golf and Beach Club (private)
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No one does private golf clubs and real estate ownership like Discovery Land Company, the developers of Makena Golf and Beach Club. To even have an opportunity to pay the 300k initiation fee, you’ll need to own a property in a designated area in Makena. Most of the real estate being developed here is on Maluaka Beach.
Where the Maui Prince hotel once stood is now a boutique collection of luxury residential condo communities, such as the Kula Villas, the Molokini Residences, and the Beach Cottages. These condos can easily hit the 10M mark in price, with most being well over that number. Larger residential homes are available oceanfront at Maluaka Estates and can exceed 20M.
The Dunes at Maui Lani
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The Dunes at Maui Lani is located in Kahului and offers a laid-back, yet challenging round of golf as well as one of the better public practice facilities on the island. Along the Dunes, you can find some of the Maui Lani master planned community subdivisions of the Parkways at Maui Lani, The Bluffs at Maui Lani, and the Island at Maui Lani.
Waiehu Municipal Golf Course
Waiehu is another course that doesn’t have any real estate along its fairways and greens, but it does have a fantastic oceanfront setting and some really great greens and green complexes. As a municipal course, it also has some of the lowest green fees on the island, which will also mean more traffic and longer round times.
Pukalani Country Club
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Pukalani is the only course in Upcountry Maui and offers another laid-back style of golf (T-shirts and jeans welcome!) with very affordable green fees. It is surrounded by homes on almost every hole, where homes are more in the median value range compared to luxury homes in Wailea/Makena, Ka’anapali, Sprecks, or Kapalua.
Maui Nui Golf Club
Maui Nui is located above the highway in North Kihei and is also a higher-density course that gets a lot of play. The course has a great layout, but it is rarely in good condition, to be honest, and it tends to be quite windy in the afternoons due to its location. No offense to anyone who loves playing here!
The Hokulani Golf Villas were built along the course in 2009 and offer an excellent option for those seeking a gated golf course community with luxury and a central location.
Things to Consider When Living on a Golf Course on Maui
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Living on a golf course myself, I am very well acquainted with the pros and cons of golf course living. Nothing beats being just a few minutes away from the range and from your tee time or being able to stop by your house in the middle of a round for a mid-round beverage.
It’s also a nice alternative to have a golf course view if a full ocean view isn’t in the budget.
However, depending on where you are located in relation to the particular hole, you can certainly be subject to the occasional errant shot finding your roof, and if so, it can make having solar panels impossible (this is my case).
Also, golf course maintenance noises can be an issue for homes that are close to greens that require daily mowing and blowing. It’s definitely important to consider what impacts the golf course activities can have on your daily life. In most of these communities, that effect is minimal, but in certain homes, it can be a challenge.
Ready to Start Looking For Your Golf Course Home on Maui?
As a Realtor, lover of golf, and golf course home owner, I can certainly help you buy or sell a home or condo on a golf course on Maui with confidence. Even if you just want to be near golf, but not directly on the course, there are many options for that as well as we are blessed with golf courses across the island. Feel free to call, text, or email me at 808-214-4799 or evan@mauieliteproperty.com to learn more today.
Evan Harlow ranks among the best real estate agents on Maui annually and is in the top 1% of Coldwell Banker agents worldwide in production. Evan has the expertise,
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