About Oahu's Private Clubs
There are five private golf clubs on Oahu. Each one tells a different story about how the island has valued the game of golf across more than a century.
From Oahu Country Club, chartered in 1906 in the lush Nuuanu Valley and still home to the oldest amateur golf championship in Hawaii, to Hoakalei Country Club, the newest and longest course on the island at 7,413 yards, Oahu's private clubs span eras, architectural styles, and locations that reflect the full geographic range of the island. Two of the five were designed by Seth Raynor, one by Arnold Palmer, and one by Ernie Els, making Oahu's private golf landscape one of the most architecturally distinguished in the Pacific.
This guide covers all five clubs with official course ratings, slope ratings, par, and total yardage from the championship tees, alongside the defining historical and architectural detail that makes each one worth knowing. For those considering a move to Oahu, or evaluating neighborhoods near these courses, the closing section addresses what private club proximity means in real estate terms on this island.
A Note on Access
All five clubs below are private and require membership or a member guest invitation to play. Moanalua Golf Club operates as a semi-private facility and is not included in this guide. For membership inquiries, contact each club directly.
The Five Private Clubs
Members Only · Championship Tees · Men's Ratings
Est. 1927 · Seth Raynor
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⛳ Waialae Country Club
Home of the Sony Open in Hawaii, the first full-field PGA Tour event of every calendar year, a tradition dating to 1965. Seth Raynor's 1927 design features 83 bunkers and iconic coconut trees forming a living letter W behind the 7th green. Jack Nicklaus won here in 1974. In 2017, Justin Thomas shot a record-breaking 59 in the opening round and finished 27 under par for the tournament, setting records at every distance. Most recently, Chris Gotterup captured the 2026 Sony Open at 16 under par. Waialae is one of only 40 private clubs in the United States selected to host a sanctioned PGA Tour event.
Waialae sits at the eastern edge of Kahala, Honolulu's most established prestige neighborhood. Homes on Kahala Avenue, the oceanfront street adjacent to the club, represent some of the most sought-after addresses on the entire island. The annual Sony Open places Waialae and its surrounding streets in front of a global audience every January.
Est. 1906 · Alex Bell
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⛳ Oahu Country Club
The oldest private golf club in Hawaii, chartered on June 8, 1906, and officially opened in April 1907 in the lush Nuuanu Valley above Honolulu. The first golf ball struck at the club was reportedly hit by Annie Walker Faxon Bishop, wife of the Club's founding president. Home of the Manoa Cup, the oldest amateur golf championship in Hawaii, contested annually since 1907. Ted Makalena, the native Hawaiian PGA Tour winner for whom Ted Makalena Golf Course is named, learned to play at Waialae as a caddie but the OCC's amateur tradition shaped generations of local players alongside it.
Nuuanu Valley is one of Honolulu's oldest and most storied residential corridors, historically home to Hawaii's most prominent families. Properties in Upper Nuuanu and the Dowsett Tract neighborhood adjacent to the club carry the quiet prestige of deep local history, mature landscaping, and a pace of life distinctly removed from the city center just minutes below.
Est. 1977 · Arnold Palmer & Francis Duane
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⛳ Honolulu Country Club
Co-designed by Arnold Palmer and Francis Duane in 1977, with additional contributions over the years from Nelson and Haworth and Mark Miller. The course features Seashore Paspalum greens and Bermuda grass fairways, a combination that produces some of the most consistent playing conditions of any private club on Oahu. Set in the verdant Manoa Valley, the layout has a distinctly intimate, tree-lined character. It is considered one of the more member-friendly private courses on the island while still carrying genuine challenge.
Manoa Valley is one of Honolulu's most cherished residential neighborhoods, known for its lush landscape, University of Hawaii proximity, and generational homeownership. The Honolulu Country Club anchors the upper valley and contributes meaningfully to the area's quiet, established character.
Est. 1926 · Seth Raynor
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⛳ Mid-Pacific Country Club
Seth Raynor's final design before his passing in January 1926, built on 163 acres of coastal land in the heart of Lanikai. When Raynor first visited the property, he told the Honolulu Advertiser he was certain the course would rank among the best five or six in the United States. The front nine plays flat with water on four holes, including the signature par-5 5th with its island green. The back nine climbs into more dramatic, hilly terrain. The club's own website describes it as a place where U.S. Presidents, world-class golfers, and discerning members have long found something rare: peace, presence, and connection.
Mid-Pacific sits at the edge of Lanikai, one of the most sought-after and tightly held residential communities on Oahu. Lanikai and the adjacent Kailua Beachside neighborhoods are among the island's most competitive real estate markets. The club's 163-acre footprint is itself one of the most significant undeveloped land parcels remaining on the windward coast, contributing to the surrounding area's perpetually high demand.
Est. 2009 · Ernie Els & Greg Letsche
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⛳ Hoakalei Country Club
At 7,413 yards from the championship tees, Hoakalei is the longest golf course in Hawaii and the only layout in the state designed by a major champion golfer. Ernie Els and Greg Letsche's 2009 design was built on a former sugar plantation next to the old US Navy airfield at Barbers Point. The course features 112 bunkers, water on 13 holes, and Seashore Paspalum throughout. With a course rating of 77.1 and slope of 144, it is the most demanding private layout on Oahu by every official measure. A new clubhouse with a Michelin-recognized chef opened in 2019.
Hoakalei sits at the heart of the Ewa Beach and Ocean Pointe communities, the fastest-growing residential corridor on Oahu. New construction, master-planned neighborhoods, and easy access to the Ko Olina resort area make this the most dynamic real estate market on the western side of the island. Membership at Hoakalei, combined with proximity to the course, is increasingly part of how buyers in this corridor define the lifestyle they are purchasing.
Private Golf, Membership and Property on Oahu
When Membership Is Part of the Address
On most islands, private golf is a luxury. On Oahu, it is a genuine lifestyle infrastructure. The five private clubs covered in this guide are distributed across the island in a way that places at least one within a reasonable distance of nearly every major residential corridor. Kahala homeowners are minutes from Waialae. Kailua and Lanikai residents share a neighborhood with Mid-Pacific. Ewa Beach and Ocean Pointe buyers have Hoakalei at the edge of their community. Nuuanu and Manoa are home to the two oldest clubs on the island.
What this means in real estate terms is something that does not always appear in a listing but almost always factors into a buyer's thinking. A property near a private club is not just near a golf course. It is adjacent to a self-contained community of members, a manicured landscape that will never be developed, and an established social environment that attracts a consistent demographic of like-minded residents. These are not small things. They are the kind of intangibles that make certain addresses hold value across market cycles in ways that comparable properties elsewhere do not.
For buyers who play golf seriously, the calculus is even more direct. A membership at Hoakalei paired with a home in Ocean Pointe is a particular kind of life: world-class golf on the most demanding layout in Hawaii, every day of the year, without a tee time queue, without a resort fee, and without the variable conditions that come with public play. That combination, private access and ownership in the same zip code, is what separates the Oahu golf lifestyle from any other version of it available anywhere in the world.
Oahu, Hawaii · Private Golf & Real Estate · 2026
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