Home of the Arnold Palmer and the George Fazio courses, Turtle Bay Resort & Spa on the North Shore of Oahu is offering the Daily Unlimited Golf Challenge, including a day of unlimited golf with cart per guest; and for non-golfers an $80 credit per day to use at the spa, horseback riding, helicopter tours, kayaking, etc. (from $287 per night for Ocean Front accommodations, through December 21, 2009). Away from the hubbub of Honolulu, about 45 minutes from the airport, on a spectacular headland surrounded by two beaches, Turtle Bay is isolated, yet nearby the quiet pleasures of the North Shore. The resort is comprised of 375 guest rooms, 26 suites and 42 luxury beach cottages and villas, tennis courts, and hiking and horseback riding trails in the hills.
Even closer to the airport (17 miles), Ko Olina Golf Club hosts the LPGA Fields Open in February. Generous fairways are kind to resort players, while elevated, undulating greens and acres of translucent lagoons, ponds, lakes and cascades, plus a scattering of pot bunkers, raise the excitement level, between the waving coconut palms and the overhanging banyan, plumeria and monkeypod trees. Across the road from the golf course, perched on the beautiful, sand-fringed bays of Ko Olina Marina, JW Marriott's Ihilani Resort & Spa has more than 400 rooms and suites for guests who spend their days snorkeling, swimming, kayaking and sailing in the calm bays. The resort's Escape! Golf in O'ahu package includes 2 nights in an ocean view room, 2 rounds of golf per day and 2 sleeves of golf balls(from $648 through December 18, 2009).
Read more about golf resorts in Hawaii at examiner.com (I'm the new Resorts & Spa Columnist).
