It was always going to be an epic trip. The final big golf trip to finish our quest to play all 194 Top 100 Public Courses since 2003. After four previous Hawaii trips several years earlier on company conventions, I said that I probably would not go back because of the 10 hour flight from Ohio. If I did go back, it would be to only one island for some relaxation but no island hopping. Of course, I never thought that we would get to the point where we had the chance to actually finish all 194 courses. Once we saw that the end goal was in sight, the planning for this final trip became a priority. The decision to start and end the Hawaii trip with three days in Northern California was instrumental in making this adventure much more doable. Another idea that helped a great deal was that we would never schedule golf on a day that we flew. This eliminated the stress of possible delays and gave us more down time to relax once we arrived at these very special destinations. Now all we had to do was coordinate the following:
19 total days
11 golf courses
8 hotels
7 flights
6 rental cars
5 islands
2 ferry rides
Two other things that definitely made this venture work much smoother and added to the fun as well were GPS navigation systems and having our friends Daryl and Kathy Steiner join us. They had met us near the end of three previous trips and Daryl would play two or three courses with us as Kathy would do a great job of documenting the courses with her photography. This time they wanted to enjoy the entire trip which was very special as we did not think that anyone else was as crazy as us.
Another decision that eliminated some of the stress of all this traveling was to enlist the help of a travel agent to put together the hotels, rental cars and inter-island flights while on the Hawaiian Islands. I booked the flights to and from Hawaii with stops in Northern California, the hotels and rental cars while in California and all 11 golf tee times. This teamwork between Alex Kutin at Travel Leaders of Indianapolis and myself, enabled the entire trip to come off more smoothly than I could have imagined. Yes, there was a lot of moving luggage and golf clubs, but with the right attitude and plenty of shuttle drivers, bellmen, valets, and airport curbside check-in help, all went well. I would like to say that every detail went smoothly, but there was one interesting incident that challenged my patience.
We landed in Honolulu after a three great days in California to be greeted by rain and an airport in disarray. A great deal of construction, both inside and outside of the airport, meant a very long walk to baggage claim and a long ride to the rental car pick-up. I left Daryl and the girls to claim the luggage as I took the Alamo shuttle, which turned out to be a 3 mile ride, to pick up our Suburban. It was located in an industrial area with road construction and I made a wrong turn heading back to the terminal and ended up on an interstate highway out of Honolulu.
I decided to get off the first exit so I could turn back to the airport but the first exit was to Pearl Harbor and once on the exit ramp, there was no place to turn around. I ended up in a line of cars that was 15 deep and moving VERY slowly to the gate. After 25 minutes of waiting, I finally arrived at the military gate to be greeted by a very stern guard with a rifle who requested my driver’s license after I explained to him what happened. After making me anxiously wait for a few minutes, he turned me around, returned my license and unceremoniously sent me on my way.
Finally, I was reunited with my wife, friends, luggage and golf clubs. They only had to wait an hour while wondering if I was ever going to return. It seemed as if I was in one of those bad dreams where you can never quite get to where you are going. Despite that misstep, the next 12 days on the five islands of Hawaii were terrific. The following is a little summary of our golf:
Mike: Longest Yardage Played 6,406 Shortest Yardage Played 5,799 Average Yardage Played 6,174
Highest Slope Rating – Ko’Olau 141 Lowest Slope Rating – Manele 126 Average Slope Rating – 132
Highest Score – Spyglass Hill 87 Lowest Score – Hualalai 75 Average Score – 81.6
Marilyn: Longest Yardage Played 5,628 Shortest Yardage Played 4,851 Average Yardage Played 5,268
Highest Slope Rating – Pasatiempo 135 Lowest Slope Rating – Turtle Bay Palmer & Hualalai 117 Average Slope Rating – 126
Highest Score – Ko’Olau & Mauna Kea 98 Lowest Score – Turtle Bay Palmer & Manele 83 Average Score – 91.8
Cost of Golf – Did not matter, we had to play them. If you really want to know, you can check out their websites.
Total Cost of the Trip – Priceless!! A lifetime of wonderful, unforgettable memories.
