In Volume 2 of The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses, Tom Doak published that.

“The original course at Princeville was very overrated, which may have had something to do with the fact that GOLF DIGEST’s publishers owned property here. The old par-3 3^rd was its signature hole, but its gorgeous backdrop has been photobombed by the expansion to the hotel. The St. Regis Princeville is a super-posh resort, but it seems very out of place here in the laid-back surf town of Hanalei, at the beginning of the rugged Na Pali Coast.“

The Princeville Makai Golf Club received a score of 4 out of 10 from Tom Doak and a score of 6 out of 10 from one of his co-authors.