KAUAI CALLING Is
Hokuala is a tropical treasure for snowbirds
I
seeking tranquility on the tee
n 36 years of trying, and after maybe 10,000 tee shots on ace-able holes, I’ve yet to savor the singular joy of holing my tee shot. Twelve years ago on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, however, I came about as close as you can get. The awesome par-3 14th hole on the Ocean Course at Hokuala is one of those pin-up holes you often see on calendars and just sort of gawp at for a while. In person, you stand on the tee and assume you must have stepped into a parallel universe for a moment. It’s not real somehow, a make-believe computer-generated representation of your most vivid golf dream.
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DECEMBER 2021
BY TONY DEAR • CG EDITOR
From the back tees it plays 210 yards, downhill slightly, from one lush promontory to another with the occasionally white-capped, but usually deep blue, waters of Nawiliwili Bay below and the diagonally oriented green backed by palm trees up ahead. The first time I was lucky enough to visit this supernatural spot, and after the obligatory cooing and murmured disbelief, I pulled a hybrid from my bag and met the ball squarely on the sweet spot. The other three guys in the group were nice enough to compliment the swing and the strike before we all fell silent, and just watched, wondering how well this shot might turn out.
It was on a good line the whole way and seemed to rise and fall on the exact arc required for the ball to land just short of the pin. It pitched maybe 10 yards from the hole, bounced lightly and began trundling towards the cup. It looked dead center, even from 200 yards away. You could sense the four of us hold our collective breath for a second, ready to burst as the ball disappeared. The anguished cries of disbelief as the dratted pill made a last-second squirm to the right, catch the lip, circle the cup and come to a stop maybe three maddening, exasperating, disturbing inches from glory could probably have been heard in the clubhouse a few hundred yards away. cascadegolfer.com
