Okay, I just had an interesting experience I can put under the category of “things that happen only in Hawaii.”

I just called to get a tee time on my favorite course in the world. “Anything open in the next couple of hours?” I asked.

“Let’s see,” said the reservationist. “You’re American?”

“Uh, yes,” I answered, not sure where she was going with this line of questioning.

“We have a 9:57 if you’d like it,” she said. “And a 9:02, but it’s with two Japanese. I don’t know if you’d want that one.”

“Why wouldn’t I want the 9:02 again?”

“Well, they’re Japanese,” she repeated. “They might be a little slow.”

Ah, the light finally dawned. I thought the "Japanese play slow" thing was just a stereotype, kind of like the "women play slow" stereotype we have at home. Do reservationists actually try to leave Japanese twosomes as twosomes? Is this the ugly underbelly of Hawaiian golf, racial profiling on the course? Someone call the ACLU!

I play golf somewhat regularly with a Japanese friend of mine at home, and yes, she’s a little slower than average. Mainly because she’s a beginner, not because of the land of her birth. She’s acutely aware of her pace of play, though, and even has a tendency to run between shots. How many Americans do you see running on the golf course?

From what I’ve heard, if I were in Scotland, I would be the one reservationists would warn against. I can hear it now: “Well, I have a 9:02 spot, but it’s with two Americans, and one of them's a woman." Click. "Hello? Hello?"

So I took the 9:02 spot. Maybe I’m risking a five-hour round, I don’t know. It’ll be interesting to find out.

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