Hawaii 5 Oh, Yeah: The Pineapple Connection

by Hal Quinn

Another picture perfect day at Maui's Wailea. (Photo by Kirk Lee Aeder)

The funny thing about Americans — you know, folks like Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Dan Aykroyd, Martin Short, Rich Little, Celine Dion (nah, nothing funny about her), William Shatner (now, that’s funny), the late John Candy, Eugene Levy, David Steinberg, SNL brainiac Lorne Michaels — is that ... wait, they’re all Canadians. But a lot of Americans think Canadians talk funny. What’s up with that, eh?

For the most part, in the contiguous United States, Canadians and Canada are that big blank part on top of the weather map, that no-name glomp responsible for all the cold air streaming down to ruin American summers and wreak havoc during winter. Great White North, eh?

It ain’t that white anymore, what with global warming, but through it all, Canucks — just like Minnesotans, New Yawkers, New Englanders, Dakotans and Montananites (is that what they call themselves?) and anyone living in the northern section of the States have hoped for, and dreamed about, and planned winter golf vacations in the sun.

In the East, like their American cousins, Canadians think Carolinas and Florida and the Caribbean. In the West, like their breadbasket brethren south of the 49th, they think Mexico, California, Nevada and Arizona.

But most of all, they think South Pacific: H-A-W-A-I-I.

Nobody anywhere says ‘aloha’ or ‘welcome’ and actually means it like Hawaiians. In the rapidly shrinking global economy, any place with a beach or a winery or a “golf trail” is suddenly a tourist destination. Hawaii invented the term, invented resort hotels and kept the patent on the genuine “aloha.” All eight Hawaiian islands have their seductive charms, but none more so than the Garden Isle of Kauai. This lush tropical paradise has 14 courses, including five by Robert Trent Jones Jr., three at the Princeville Resort and 18-hole layouts at Kiahuna and Poipu Bay, site of the annual PGA Tour Grand Slam; and two by Jack Nicklaus at Kaua’i Lagoons. But one that not every golf traveler has on his or her list is a true treasure, one that was almost 12 years in the making.

Just outside Lihue in the shadow of Mount Haupu, in terrain so beautiful and almost primordial that is was used as the setting for the film Jurassic Park, Robin Nelson (designer of more than 20 courses in Hawaii) set out in 1991 to create a gem. Hurricane Iniki halted construction in 1992 after 10 holes were completed. Puakea opened as a nine-hole course in 1997. Then in 2002, Nelson came back to finish his masterpiece for new owner and AOL founder Steve Case.

Puakea’s long-awaited opening in July 2003 was worth the wait. Each hole in the 6,954-yard layout stands in splendid isolation against a spectacular tropical backdrop. The 176-yard No. 6 hole over water from a dramatic elevated tee is one of the best 3-pars anywhere.

Now let’s head east to Maui, 48 miles long, with all 14 courses easily accessible. There are three in the interior, or “Upcountry” as the Islanders refer to it, and two on the north coast. On the southern portion of the west coast along the Pi’ilani Highway are the spectacular string of resorts and hotels that make up Wailea — Wailea Golf Club and its three courses and the well-known destinations of Kapalua and Ka’anapali.

They have a saying at the Ka’anapali Resort that it’s “Where the world comes to play,” and it’s certainly where Northerners come to play around, a seductive enclave of six resort hotels plus three condominium resorts winding along the silky-soft white sands and deep blue surf of Ka’anapali Beach. The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa last year celebrated its 25th anniversary. Built for the then-stunning figure of $80 million, it was the first-ever “destination” resort and introduced innovative concepts including free-form swimming pools with slides, lagoons, wildlife and open-air entrances with flora and art collections that are now staples of the industry.

It’s always a treat to play a Jones Sr. course anywhere in the world, and the Ka’anapali Tournament Course is no exception. A multi-million dollar renovation and restoration has returned the luster to one of golf’s most storied resort courses. After visitors play the 18th, a sinewy par 4 that Arnold Palmer called one of the toughest finishing holes he’d ever played, the Jones adage: “Par is tough but bogey is easy,” seems to be carried on the trade winds.

And that’s just a small part of what northern North Americans love and cherish about the Hawaiian Islands. They know that winter after winter, as surely as the cold fronts come down from the great white north, Hawaii’s courses will be green and lush, the trade winds warm, and the ‘aloha’ as welcoming now as it was a generation ago and will continue to be a generation from now.

Funny, American and Canadians agree on that, eh? FG