Oahu offers a good variety of military golf courses.  Unfortunately my daughter and I didn’t have time to play all six courses, but we did manage to whack our way around half of them and visit some of the others.  There are five 18-hole courses and one 9-hole to select from--some with driving ranges--plus one par 3 course.  The courses are located at the following installations:  Hickam Air Force Base; Kaneohe Marine Corps Base; Wheeler Air Field-Schofield Barracks; Navy Marine Course-Pearl Harbor; a Navy Region course at Barbers Point and the 9-hole course at Fort Shafter. The par 3 is at Hickam, plus Bellows Air Field offers a basic driving range.  A valid military ID is required to play these courses, however the course at Wheeler Air Field-Schofield Barracks is not on either base, but situated between the two bases which permit it to be the only military course on the island open to the public. 

The courses all present great photo opportunities.  Hickam is along side the Bay of Mamala and between two airfields in continuous use.  Leilehua at Wheeler has lush foliage and flowering bushes with birds tweeting in overdrive.  The Klipper course at Kaneohe offers extraordinary scenic ocean and mountain views.  The course at Pearl also offers views of Oahu’s majestic mountains and of the ships berthed at Pearl Harbor. The Barbers Point golf course at Kalaeloa is off the base perimeter from the Barbers Point Navy Base and is flat but still fun to play.   The Ft. Shafter course while only 9-holes are hilly and challenging. 

The following is a brief overview of each military golf course on the island of Oahu. 

Hickam Mamala Bay Golf Course - Air Force

The Hickam course sits adjacent to Mamala Bay and the waterway entrance into Pearl Harbor amidst swaying palms and blue skies. The holes are situated between the Honolulu International Airport’s Reef Runway and the Hickam Air Field which makes for a very interesting round of golf with planes taking off and landing on all sides.  Aloha Air, United and C130s all coming and going while we golfers try to focus on drives and putts. The course meanders between the takeoff and landing fields with noise a constant,   but it is a very forgiving course for bad drives and errant approach shots… some sand traps, but there were no balls lost and none were found, even though the 18^th hole, par 5 goes 548 yards uphill.  Some water between 13^th and 14^th hole shouldn’t come into play.  Blues 6868; Whites 6412 and Red tees at 5675 yards.  (808) 499-6490; Par 3 (808) 449-2093 

Leilehua Golf Course – Wheeler/Schofield

Situated between Wheeler Army Air Force Base and Schofield Barracks at Wahiawa —but not physically on either base—this military course is open to the public as a “walk-on” only, i.e., no scheduled T-time permitted.  There are no water holes, but there are lots of big trees and the rough is rough.  Four of the blue T-ups exceed five hundred yards and three of the whites.  It sits between the Waianae and Koolau Range in the Ewa Forest Preserve and is a lovely course to play. 

Blues 6916; Whites 6521 and Red tees at 6174 yards.  (808) 655-4653 

Barber’s Point Golf Course - Navy

The hard to find Barber’s Point course is located inland from the Barber’s Point Navy/Coast Guard Base on the Leeward side of the island.  It is one of the shorter courses in the military course complex with the red tees playing at 5393 yards, the white at 6385 yards, with four holes under two hundred yards and none over five hundred.  There are no

hills and the course has very fine greens.  The military station itself is at Waimanalo Bay.

Whites 6385; Reds 5293.  (808) 692-1911 

Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course - Marine Corps

The military golf course gem on Oahu is the Championship Marine Klipper Golf Course.  While slightly shorter than Hickam and Leilehua, this course plays tougher.  The sand dunes located along side of holes 13, 14 and 15 are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The thirteenth hole is touted as “home of the Best Hole according to the DOD*”.  The settings on these three holes rest along side the beautiful Bay of Kaneohe with exceptionally photogenic scenery.  The back 9 have a couple of cardiac-type holes and basically are not well marked, requiring next hole directional guesswork.

The Kaneohe course is also mentioned as one of the world’s best military courses and is consistently voted #1 by DOD patrons.  The Koolau Mountains form the front nine and the Pacific Coastline spans the back nine on the Mokapu Peninsula, which is surrounded by Kaneohe Bay.  The day before we played the North and Windward side of Oahu received a record 23 inch rainfall, thus the front nine was under water and was being sump-pumped out and not open for play..  The course has both sand and water holes, especially after the record setting rainfall.  Driving range, chipping and putting greens are all available.

Blues 6559; Whites 6216; Reds 5577.  (808)  254-1745 

Navy Marine Golf Course

It’s rated as “one of the top 10 military courses in the world” according to military island propaganda.  The18 hole, par 72, 6406 yard course is located adjacent to the Hickam course with both courses spanning a side of the H-1 highway that runs through Honolulu towards the Leeward side of the island.

(808) 471-0348 

Walter J. Nagorski Golf Course – Army

This course is on Fort Shafter Military Reservation located inland off Mamala Bay at the Makai (toward the sea) side of  Oahu with the Ewa Forest Reserve on its Mouka (mountain) side  .  It’s a hilly, 9-hole course and it plays at a par 34 for its 2837 yards.  (808) 438-9587 

We recommend staying at the Hale Koa complex while enjoying these great courses!