• Discover new ways to elevate your game with the updated DGCourseReview app!
    It's entirely free and enhanced with features shaped by user feedback to ensure your best experience on the course. (App Store or Google Play)

Hilo, HI

Naniloa Volcanoes Golf Club

3.385(based on 4 reviews)
Filter course reviews

Filter reviews

Filter reviews

Naniloa Volcanoes Golf Club reviews

Filter
2 0
jtencer
Experience: 19.9 years 58 played 3 reviews
2.50 star(s)

Shoot for uncrowded days 2+ years drive by

Reviewed: Played on:Mar 18, 2016 Played the course:once

Pros:

Disc golf on a ball golf course in Hawaii. That's tough to beat.
The golfers were friendly and seemed genuinely curious. I was alternating back and forth with a couple of locals that had moved out from Colorado.
The course is well laid out. There is a variety of holes here, but I wouldn't call it a long course, especially for one set on a ball golf course. I shot reasonably well here with only a buzz and a putter (only brought 2 discs on vacation). There were a few times I could have used a driver but I would have used a mid off the tee on most of the holes even with my whole bag.

Cons:

Safety. This is the big one. The other review stated that the two coexist well here. I don't know that that's true. The first 7 holes play along the perimeter of the golf course and it's no issue but later holes have you in between two golf fairways going opposite directions making it impossible to watch both ways. I was almost hit by an errant drive. The head groundskeeper even drove up to tell me that he wasn't comfortable with it from a safety perspective when the course was busy.

A confounding factor for the safety aspect is that the average golfer here appears to be really bad. The groundskeeper said they have no clue where they're hitting the balls and I agree. I was throwing my buzz further than a lot of them were hitting their drives and the ones that hit further (but with no accuracy) are more dangerous still.

The golfers have the right of way which is fine but it will result in significant waits when there are lots of golfers. One of the holes had a basket in between a green and the next tee making timing a shot to avoid golfers pretty problematic.

Baskets aren't in great shape. They mostly catch fine, but for $10 a round I expected them to be better maintained. Plus I imagine that in their current state they're somewhat of an eyesore for the golfers. The baskets were in worse shape than either of the free-to-play courses I hit on Maui.

Other Thoughts:

If there's a tournament of the ball golf is closed or not crowded I think this is a definite play. Otherwise, I'm not sure it's worth it unless you just really need your fix in Hawaii. I didn't get to play any of the other big island courses so I can't comment on this relative to other potential options.
Was this review helpful? Yes No
Top