iSank

Here on Lana’i I can play cavendish at no cost, or Manele for $250. Not a tough choice but Manele is sweet and with the little traffic it gets you could walk the whole course barefoot. (If you so desire) On Oahu the muni’s are $22 to walk 18, then places like Koolina, Kapolei or Turtle Bay are close to $85 with occasional deals. And that’s why I keep a set on both islands. Aloha, iSank

Aloha Golf Buddies, You likely got the email too but this morning the St Andrews Links shared that June 16, 2021 they will be celebrating 200 years since Old Tom’s birthday. Here’s the short video going back to the archives Very cool and all but every few years my wife and I enter the raffle in August for the summer tee times and we usually have June free. Does this mean we have no chance of a June Old Course tee time? We are like 0 for 9 on entries, if it wasn’t for getting up at 3:00AM on our last morning I’d be 0 for 2 on trips to Scotland. So will anyone else (we were already planning this) be in town next June? I know it’s all random so hopefully we are due. One course we play for sure is Royal Dornach, worth the drive. Aloha, iSank

I prefer to only share a buggy with my wife or the friend that I made the tee time with. About a year or so ago I was at Kapalua Plantation solo and the starter told me and another guy that we were the next two tees, would we like to play a 2 ball and we did. Had an enjoyable game, but the started said “if asked, you had two different tee times and chose to combine on the course. I thought that an odd comment then the next day I’m at the Bay course and they loaded my bag on someone else’s cart. I clarified that I was not with the guy, and they said yea two to a cart? When did this start? Played Kapalua several times as a solo and never was forced to ride with a stranger. in each case the partners were great. We had enjoyable games, but I do not get combining two people that do not know each other.

Oh for the optimism and ignorance of the new year, we made it to Vegas and played the Wynn on the day before they closed and kicked us out of the hotel. Then Hawaii got shut down with a 14 day quarantine if you travel even within the state to another island so Maui did not happen. But I am thrilled to report we have rebooked with Kapalua and will be there in a couple weeks. Aloha, iSank

Good call on the caddie for #2. Yea it’s a bit pricey but being that it’s cart path only, I think the twosome that played with us and had a cart probably walked more that we did. Plus it’s a great course to walk. Other than the ones you have scheduled I enjoyed #9 quite a bit. Have fun, wish I was headed there in July.

There’s no rough on the course, it’s fairway then jungle and many forced carries. I play it about once every two years. There’s a muni just east of this course that is good fun. The Pali golf course still has some great views but rain is always a possibility on the windward side. And lastly another target course nearby is the Royal Hawaiian country club. It’s a bit funnier for me than Koolau. Nice foto!

Enjoyed the Royal links at Vegas but more for just the fun that links style courses offer but we were nowhere near the coast. And we played Bear’s Best outside of Atlanta. Both courses were fun, we did not search them out and you could recognize many of the holes. A nice day out golfing but nothing like playing the original. Been making my rounds on all the Honolulu muni’s while here waiting for the inter island travel ban to end; It’s just nice to get out again. Aloha, iSank

Played Sunday at Koolina and they had a sponge ring in the cup so the ball fell and it felt normal, it was just easy to fetch the ball. Today I played a muni and they had the cup raised so all you had to do was smack the ball against the cup. Koolina also ran out of carts, two groups behind us was walking. It’s just been great to get out. Thursday I walk a different muni. Not a fan of the raised cup. Aloha, iSank

Just announced that Honolulu courses can open starting Friday afternoon. I just checked a few websites and their not updated yet, but pretty sure I’ll get out this weekend. Aloha, iSank

Working on a boat out of Honolulu was a pretty fun job, but when I started as a deckhand the job was not so good. Marine toilets all have a sign that basically say “ if it did not come out of you, put it in the trash, not the toilet”. When someone decides to put anything else in the plumbing the macerater would jam up. It’s the deckhands who take apart, clean, and replace the little beast. Nastiest work I have ever done, and it motivated me to pass the Captain’s exam ASAP. I did and then as Captain I got to assign who would clear the beast but I felt for them so during a refit, I talked the company into going with a bigger macerater. As I put it to the maintenance manager, I wanna be able to flush a thanksgiving turkey without any clogging. got to go watch Mike Rowes dirty jobs video. Aloha, iSank, now teaching high school

Honolulu and Lana’i it’s a no go, I think every mayor shut the courses down public and private but Big Island may not have. On Lana’i the cop actually came up to the free public course and told everyone to leave, but you can sneak up quietly with just few clubs and 1 or 2 players. Honolulu first had the muni’s closed then they forced by decree the private courses close as well. Too bad because the muni’s on Honolulu are set up good for social distancing with the starters behind some cage. Too bad, I got all this time off, and can only swing practice balls in the backyard. Aloha, iSank

Hawaii! Honolulu while you work then pick an outer island to retire. I chose Lana’i. Lana’i is always 10 degrees cooler than Honolulu, it’s quite diverse, shorts year round, venison is free but every other bit of food is expensive so a monthly trip to Costco is in order. Free golf but no pro teams at all, in fact the only sport that fills the arena is volleyball. Along with location pick an age and save for it. I somewhat agree with outside Atlanta. I’ve gone there a few times and always bring my clubs.

Well it’s not a planned trip but a few people will have a pretty cool golf travel experience. Did not see this anywhere else if it’s a repeat, I’ll delete if possible. Coronavirus: Pinehurst auctions unique experiences for employee relief Not even the Cradle of American Golf is immune to the coronavirus. Pinehurst Resort and Country Club was forced to close its hotels and restaurants due to the pandemic, negatively... Anyone wanna go in for a good party? Aloha, iSank

1. Yes, in that we checked into the Encore Sunday only to find out at dinner that the whole Wynn property was shutting down Tuesday. Our Wynn GC tee time was Tuesday but seeing that only 3 groups were golfing on Monday we got our round in and had a great time. That was a fun course! 2. I hope it only helps my game because if it ends up hurting it would likely be from me catching the darn thing. Having fun in a quiet Vegas, we also played some course built after several Scottish links holes. A fun day out ending with a crazy uber ride. iSank

Yea that’s a pretty good combo, Long Ashes David.