Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, site of the 2023 Sony Open in Hawaii, originally was designed by famed golden-era architect Seth Raynor and opened in 1927.
After the PGA Tour started its year at the mountainous Kapalua Plantation Course last week, Waialae offers a much flatter test – the course features only about 10 feet of elevation changes – while still providing ocean views to get many of us stuck on the mainland tuning in.
The private course alongside Kāhala Beach has undergone multiple reconstructions, mostly in the 1960s as a hotel was added to the property. Robert Trent Jones Sr., Desmond Muirhead and Rick Smith made changes to the course over the decades. In recent years Tom Doak has worked to restore some of Raynor’s original design concepts.
The layout will play to 7,044 yards with a par of 70 this year. Of note: The nines are reversed for the Sony Open to better take advantage of the scenic sunsets.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week. Check out the maps of each hole below. Worth noting: The nines are presented below in the order in which they are played during the Tour event.
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