Before you even get there you are consumed with the plethora of felicitous possibilities. Drive into the Hilton and dive into one of the 1,242 guest rooms stretched along 62 acres of pelagic property with every tourist amenity imaginable: babysitting, business centers, shuttles, kid’s programs (Camp Menehune), concierge services and an American Express Travel Desk.

The three towers are connected by a tram and a mahogany boat, which transport you to play evening tennis, use the 18-hole putting course, visit the Dolphin Quest Learning Center (reservations, please), see the Flamingo Sanctuary, do laundry, get married, join a convention, shop, get a massage, attend a luau, play volleyball or just go for a stroll along the pink flagstone walkways.

Two championship courses drape the resort property. In 1991 Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish collaborated to build the 7,064-yard Kings' Course. The links layout folds around six lakes and features 83 bunkers, a double green (the 3rd and 6th), wide fairways, gusty winds, lava bookends and some extravagant par-4s.

Or the 460-yard 12th that hides a boulder around a bunker intruding from the right edge of the fairway at the landing area and a narrow green with a deep bunker.

A Weiskopf feature is the tempting short par-4. The 5th is a 327-yard, sharp- angle dogleg left with sand up the entire left edge of the fairway and beneath the tiered, sloping green.

The 13th travels an attenuated 332 yards through trade winds and beside a ubiquitous pond on the left.

The 18th is a memorable finish. Struggle 501 yards up a tumbling, double dogleg, narrowing fairway to a narrower, hilly green. Handicapped 4, this short par-5 will drive you straight to the 19th hole, and this is a good thing.

The Beach Course was designed through lava flow by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. in 1981 along the picturesque Anaeho‘omalu Bay and features one of the most photographed oceanfront holes in the islands. The 6,566- yard, par-70 track winds over the lava formations and around ancient petroglyph carvings and burial caves.

Five modest par-3s and three distinctive and rugged par-5s (three of the four most difficult handicaps) highlight the course. The signature hole (see cover) is the 12th, an outstanding right-angle dogleg left that sets on a stage of lava and concludes on a glorious dark- rock peninsula surrounded by the Pacific. Handicapped 4, the drive must hit the fairway angle between two bunkers.

Then it’s a perilous downhill shot down the water’s edge to the commodious, front- sloping green. It is both fun and scenic. In the winter, look for the breaching whales.

The par-4s, with the exception of the 447-yard 14th (another sharp dogleg pestered with strategic bunkers) are modest, ranging from 366 to 419 yards.

The pleasure of golf at Waikoloa is encompassing. The practice facilities and teaching pros provide a great opportunity
for improvement. David Pritchett, the garrulous Director of Golf, has structured events and programs to titillate and enhance the experience and score. “We have two facilities and great instructors,” he said, walking on the expansive driving range. “We invite parents to bring their children and putt on the practice greens or hammer balls out of the sand trap.”

He has established a program with the Kohala Spa at the Hilton Waikoloa Village and its golf fitness specialist, Joanna Weber, to analyze your tightening body and stretch it out to maximize performance on the course.

“It’s a terrific program,” Pritchett continued, “to watch a stressed body relax and see after several days an appreciable increase in the range of motion” under the careful, studied tutelage of Ms. Weber. “I’ve seen casual golfers come here off the plane scrunched up and immobile and five days later—okay, some excruciating—they are pounding the ball 20 to 50 yards longer. It’s all about loosening and turning.”

“It’s a great opportunity for the family or the under-achieving recreational golfer to get some great game going. We’re here to make it fun.”