We were up really early since we had a 9 am tee time. I wanted to get the course early so that we could properly warm up.
We headed downstairs to Banyan Breeze to grab some coffee and breakfast for our drive.
Along with breakfast sandwiches, they also have a lot of homemade goodies to grab and go.
Various flavored lemonades in mason jars. (Strawberry, Ocean Breeze, Mango)
Ham-N-Cheese danish & banana pudding.
Churro Cheesecake bars.
We chose to play at Royal Hawaiian Golf Club. Our other choice was Turtle Bay but it was further away. The regular price is $165 for visitors, but I found a slightly discounted price at hawaiiteetimes.com for around $140 but you have to pay in advance. A lot of the reviews I read said it was like playing golf thru Jurassic Park and it sure was as you'll see from the photos and videos below.
The views were amazing. All you hear were tropical birds throughout the course.
We checked in and headed to the practice area. Unfortunately, the driving range was closed which was disappointing for the amount of money we paid to play here.
The rough is really thick, I would drop a few balls for some chipping practice and I would occasionally have a hard time finding it.
First hole. The weather was amazing, but it's Hawaii what else do you expect. This course has a lot of blind fairways and forced carry. The carts are equipped with GPS that gives you a virtual walk-thru of each hole. Since there are so many blind fairways the GPS also lets you know where the carts are located for other players so you know when you can tee off.
To get to hole 2 you have to drive thru the jungle and it's a pretty long ride too.
RHGC signature hole 2 view from the white tee.
View from the yellow and red tees.
On the day we played, they had closed hole 7 (par 3) and replaced it with an alternative Hole 3b (par 3) it kinda caused a bit of confusion with my GPS watch.
Like I mentioned earlier there's a lot of forced carry at this course. If you can't hit well you're going to lose a lot of balls. Also, the surrounding area is so lush and thick that if you miss the fairway good luck finding your ball.
The only thing missing in this course is dinosaurs.
We had a great time playing at RHGC. The views were spectacular, for the price I expected the fairways to be a lot better. The front 9 was cart path only & the back 9 was the 90-degree rule. One of the most difficult courses I've played so far. I lost 8 balls, Viet lost 9 and Tammy lost 6. I think this course is worth a one-time visit but for the price, I wouldn't come back.
Our friends Anh and Anna had landed while we were playing golf. So we picked them up and head to lunch at Ginza Bairin Tonkatsu & Yoshoku Bistro. I wanted to dine here since I saw that they have Omurice and I have been dying to try it. Unfortunately, this restaurant is actually two separate restaurants that are next to each other. Yoshoku Bistro which serves Omurice was closed and didn't open until 4 pm. We didn't realize it until we sat down and asked. I guess we'll have to come back another time for Omurice.
Whisky Highball
Pork Tenderloin Katsu Sandwich.
Pork Tenderloin Katsu set
Specialty Kurobuta Pork Loin Katus set
Pork Tenderloin Katsu-don
The food at Ginza Bairin Tonkatsu is good. The Tonkatsu is perfectly fried. John loves Tonkatsu but he said Ginza wasn't as good as Tonkatsu Tamafuji. John said the meat wasn't as tender. It's been a while since I have dined there, but we have reservations tomorrow so I can try it again and compare.
After lunch, we headed back to the condos to rest a bit before dinner. Anna had made reservations at Yakitori Glad since Anh had seen this place and it was very similar to a Yakitori place he had frequented when he lived in Japan.
Shishito Peppers
Ebi-Karaage
Chicken Gizzard
Chicken thigh & Chicken breast
Beef with Japanese Horseradish and citron sauce
Ground chicken patty & Ground chicken patty w/ yakitori sauce and mayo.
Bacon-wrapped mushrooms.
There was a bunch of other stuff that we ordered but we scarfed it down before we remembered to take pics. Anh loved the chicken skin, he said it was the best chicken skin he has ever had. So if you love Yakitori chicken skin I guess you'll have to check this place out.
We went back to John and Robyns place and had drinks for the remaining night.
Tomorrow we head to the beach.
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