With this Hawaii Mauna course, rlslay is back in his own designing world, as this par 72 is very pretty all the way around, from the 1st tee to the 18th green, with its tropical plantings, beautiful two-tone ocean, villas, buildings, and challenging too on a few holes, with its water hazards and some greens, well-guarded by bunkers.
As you face the dogleg right par-5 1st hole, downhill all the way, you might think that you will be in for a long day, with its very tough approach to the green, guarded by two elongated water hazards, a small lake (on the right) and a big pond, parallel to it (on the left, and filled with plenty of bushes) but, thankfully, the next few holes are somewhat easier (par-3 2nd, downhill to the green, par-4 3rd, with a small lake, midway - on the right, par-3 4th, with a tee shot over a little part of a lake - mostly on the right, and the straight par-4 5th, facing the skyline).
You will then walk over to the pretty par-3 6th hole, downhill to the green (and with a beautiful panoramic view of the bay as you reach it), before enjoying a break with the wide open dogleg right par-4 7th, with a slightly-elevated green, and moving on to the scenic dogleg right par-4 8th, facing the city, with a big lake ending midway (on the left) and its small green, and the wide open dogleg right par-5 9th, with its wide green, reachable after a long second shot.
Four challenging holes await you to start the back 9 : the dogleg left par-4 10th, downhill all the way and facing the mountain and the ocean (with a small but gorgeous beach cove below, on the left), is very pretty and with a big pond to the left of the green to watch for, just like the dogleg left par-5 12th, with a downhill tee shot and an uphill approach to an elevated green (with the city skyline behind) where you might score an eagle, if you can avoid the huge bunker in front (and to the left) of the green.
Then, after the dogleg right par-4 13th hole, back the other way and slightly downhill all the way, the finishing stretch is easier, with four straight holes (par-4 14th, 15th), with the downhill par-5 16th, and its long approach over a small elongated lake across in front of the green, and the par-3 17th, downhill all the way, with a well-placed bunker, right in front of the flag (on the left), being the most noteworthy, before heading home with the dogleg right par-18th hole, with a second shot over a little creek to reach the green.
Beautiful to watch (don’t forget to bring your camera !), this Hawaii Mauna GC is also quite enjoyable and even though the back 9 has quite a few straight holes down the stretch, it is, nevertheless, another great course to keep, thanks to rlslay’s talent and imagination !

Uhhh, DITTO, again.