Archives for: August 2009
What I'll miss, what I won't from my golf trip to Hawaii
Thursday August 27, 2009 | 09:13:10 pm 301 words, 2553 views
Whenever I’m on an extended trip, I’m usually pretty anxious to get home. This time, though, leaving was a little bit difficult. I mean, we’re talking Hawaii here.
Here are five things I’ll miss most from the golf trip I just concluded to the Big Island and Oahu:
1. The golf, of course. There are great signature holes everywhere, it seems, but the 15th on the South Course at the Mauna Lani Resort and third hole at Mauna Kea are two of the best postcard holes I’ve ever seen.
2. The weather. It’s warm, but not too hot, even in the ...
Nothing Mickey Mouse about new Disney resort going up next to Hawaii's Ko Olina Golf Club
Wednesday August 26, 2009 | 03:44:53 am 381 words, 3031 views
Just across from the J.W. Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa and Ko Olina Golf Club on west side of Oahu there’s a huge construction project underway. Apparently, not everyone got the word that tourism has been on the decline in Hawaii.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is building its first Hawaii destination. The 21-acre oceanfront property, located at the Ko Olina Resort & Marina development, is scheduled to open in the fall of 2011. Like the Marriott, the Disney destination will overlook crystal blue lagoons and white sand beaches.
The property, which is scheduled to include 350 hotel rooms and 480 ...
Oahu and the Big Island: They're night and day, but both have worthwhile golf
Sunday August 23, 2009 | 02:31:11 am 322 words, 2721 views
After spending my first 24 hours on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, I’ve come to this fairly obvious conclusion: Vacationing on Oahu isn’t better or worse than being on the Big Island; it’s just different, really different. It really depends on what you want out of a vacation.
The Big Island of Hawaii, where I spent the previous week, is uncrowded, unhurried. Heck, the airport doesn’t even have walls, though somehow security manages to route you onto the right corrals.
Landing in Honolulu last night almost seemed like I returned to California. Honolulu is a bustling American city, with all the traffic, ...
A day off from golf: witnessing creation on the Big Island of Hawaii
Friday August 21, 2009 | 02:19:45 am 367 words, 2557 views
When you go to a place like the Big Island to play golf, you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t take a day or two off from the links to take in some of the most breathtaking scenery on the planet.
So yesterday, I made the trek from Waikoloa on the west side around the north end of the island to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. It took a little under three hours to go about 100 miles, but it was well worth it. Seeing new land come up from the center of the earth – well, that’s not something ...
This just in: Golf on the Big Island keeps blood pressure in check
Wednesday August 19, 2009 | 01:53:26 pm 224 words, 2663 views
Yesterday, I played the Francis H.I’i Brown South Course at the Mauna Lani Resort on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. It’s where they used to hold the Senior Skins Game with guys like Palmer, Nicklaus, Trevino and Chi Chi.
As the round went on, the views just kept getting better and better until it came to a crescendo on the 15th, a par 3 with a green that jets out into the deep blue Pacific Ocean.
When we got to that hole, there were two groups on the tee in front of us. We would have to ...
Taking a golf break in Hawaii to see that Tiger Woods really is human
Sunday August 16, 2009 | 09:16:08 pm 355 words, 2903 views
We were finishing up a windy round at the Kings’ Course at Waikoloa (Hawaii) Beach Resort this morning when we made a great decision.
Waiting behind a group on the 17th tee, I suggested to my playing companion, head pro Johnny Eusebio, that we take a break and come back to finish the last two holes. We retreated to the nearby clubhouse, which was packed with a tour group glued to the TV sets, watching the final round of the PGA Championship in the grill.(We had been getting periodic updates throughout our round.)
As it turned out, Tiger Woods and Y.E. Yang ...
Tiger Woods looks invincible, but lets hope there's PGA Championship drama this weekend anyway
Friday August 14, 2009 | 09:12:13 pm 260 words, 2590 views
Tiger Woods has looked nearly invincible the last two weeks. So much so, in fact, that when he makes a bogey, you can’t hardly believe it.
When Tiger does look beatable, there’s seems to be some sort of chink. Usually, it’s his driver or tee shots, but none of that is evident during the first two rounds of the PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club, where he leads by four at 7-under-par.
And yes, his record in majors as after leading the first two rounds is a perfect. No surprise there, and I expect it will probably be 6-0 after ...
PGA Championship is one of golf's majors, but it's also a reward to its members, the club pros
Thursday August 13, 2009 | 12:09:32 am 419 words, 2674 views
The PGA of America will tell you that the PGA Championship has the strongest field among the four majors. They will tell you that it’s the only all-professional field, that it has 99 of the top 100 players in the world and so forth.
It is also the only tournament that reserves 20 spots for its own members, the club professionals.
In the past, this was somewhat of a sticking point, especially when there were 40 spots for PGA club professionals a little more than a decade ago. That was eventually cut to 25 as the PGA Club Professional Championship was refined ...
Tiger Woods amazes again with a fantastic game-changing shot at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
Sunday August 9, 2009 | 10:01:14 pm 299 words, 2905 views
Tiger Woods has hit a lot of great shots in his career, and the 8-iron he hit on the 16th at Firestone Country Club’s South Course on Sunday to win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational is right up there with the best of them.
After laying up on the 670-yard “Monster” hole to 182 yards, Woods, trailing Padraig Harrington by a shot at the time, did the unthinkable, even for him. He hit an 8-iron high into the sky over a pond and onto a sliver of green and managed to spin it within a few inches of the hole for a tap-in ...
Padraig Harrington looks better than his old self; Tiger Woods rolling again before a major
Saturday August 8, 2009 | 07:50:05 pm 293 words, 2616 views
As impressive as Tiger Woods’ 65 was Saturday at the WGC-Bridgestone, Padraig Harrington’s response was equally outstanding.
Woods, for the third consecutive time this year, is in position to win the last tournament he plays in before a major. He birdied four of his last six holes to tie for the lead at 7-under-par at Firestone Country Club’s South Course on Saturday, then Harrington went to work.
After Woods birdied the 18th to tie Harrington at the top of the leaderboard today, Harrington went on a tear. He birdied three of his next four holes – 12, 13 and 15 – and ...
Michelle Wie automatically makes Solheim Cup more interesting
Tuesday August 4, 2009 | 09:28:08 pm 193 words, 3254 views
Let’s face it: Whether you think Michelle Wie has underachieved or not, whether you think she deserves to be on the U.S. Solheim Cup team or not, her inclusion makes this year’s Solheim Cup Matches that much more intriguing.
Wie, who finished 11th at the Women’s British Open last week and moved from 16th in the point standings to 13th, was selected along with Julie Inkster as wild cards for the Solheim Cup, which will be contested Aug. 21-23 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.
Truth is that Wie does deserve the spot, especially considering her standing after only joining ...
Having a hot time playing golf in Western Canada
Saturday August 1, 2009 | 08:37:44 pm 275 words, 2945 views
Most Americans, when they travel to play golf in Canada, figure they’re going to need a little outerwear – even in the summer.
Not on this 10-day trip through Alberta and British Columbia. It was so hot that I was looking forward to the relief I was going to get when I returned home to Houston.
Record highs everywhere prevailed. In the desert-like region of Kamloops, B.C., for example, it was 39 degrees Celsius while playing Tobiano Golf Club and nearly that hot the next day at Talking Rock Resort. That’s 102 Fahrenheit for us Yanks – 102!
We didn’t get ...
The Accidental Golfer
The Accidental Golfer (AKA Mike Bailey) has spent more than 15 years writing about the game that has brought him unbridled joy and temporary bouts of insanity. Now on staff at WorldGolf.com, Bailey is a former senior editor for PGA Magazine, senior writer for Golfweek's SuperNEWS and Turfnet magazines and past president of the Texas Golf Writers Association. He has covered every facet of golf, including the PGA and LPGA Tours, equipment and course architecture, as well as the bane of his golfing existence: instruction. The last has led to at least 30 different golf swings, which all feel different but appear to his playing companions to be the same.
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