Round Played; with Dan Roton, Zack Sagawa, and Kevin Long –
By Wayne Halm –
A familiar course … but different –
Warm and dry, I sat in the Hookipa Café at the Puakea Golf Course for over an hour. I finished my Loco Moco breakfast, drank a pot of coffee, stared out the window, and fretted about whether to play or not.
I don’t like to play golf in the rain, but this wasn’t rain. It wasn’t even fog … it was like the clouds were colliding with the mountains. I had not seen this before.
Finally Dan Roton came in and told me, “We won’t melt”. I’m glad he did.
On February 15th 2017 I played the Puakea Golf Course with my buddy Dan Roton and his friends Zack Sagawa (from Seattle, Washington, USA) and Kevin Long (from Olympia, Washington,USA). I didn’t think the weather the best … but we didn’t let that stop us from having fun.
(Click on the pictures for a larger view – then use the browser ‘back’ button.)
Kevin, Zack, and Dan
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This was a different course today. The grass was extremely wet … yet the ground was perfectly dry.
Not much roll today.
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My normal low “nothing but downrange” drive just wasn’t cutting it. But that was okay, I needed to practice putting some air under it anyway. Everyone found that amusing … and I had to shake my head and chuckle at some of the shots too.
The guys from Washington didn’t think the weather particularly noteworthy … but I did. It was downright strange.
Zack, Dan, and Kevin on the 6th tee.
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Same view every other day.
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Zack, Wayne, and Kevin on the 13th tee.
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Same view on another day.
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The odd conditions affected our putting the most. Water droplets condensed on the greens all day. This made the speed all but impossible to judge … after our expectations subsided it was comical. We stayed on the greens a long time.
I asked the group behind us if they wanted to play through. They looked tentatively at each other. Then one of them expressed it, “No, we’re fine. We’d rather watch you guys three putt than have you watch us three putt”.
It just didn’t dry out. All day long the clouds hung around and the grass stayed wet.
The 17th fairway.
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No, this wasn’t the prettiest of days … but it was fun in a way. It made a familiar golf course play completely different.
I have a 2017 goal of playing golf with 100 people I haven’t met. Dan doesn’t count but Zack and Kevin are numbers 2 and 3. Want to be in that number …
Come play golf with me.
The Puakea Golf Course 808-245-8756 www.puakeagolf.com
Return to Golfing on Kauai Home Page and read about other rounds played
Golfing on Kauai 
Wayne
Sometimes the craziest things happen by chance. The weather looked wet for sure, but not wet enough from stopping us avid players from hitting the links. Our season is so short, there would be no hesitation of whether I would play! Ah to live in Hawaii!
Cheers
Jim
Aloha Jim,
Yes, yes, yes … I’m spoiled … I know it. Sometimes I feel guilty – but not often. Sounds like you had a great time at the show.
A Hui Hou,
Wayne
It was a fantastic time. Do you go to golf shows?
Aloha Jim,
No … that’s a problem with living on Kauai … We have Demo Days – but everything else is over 2,000 miles away.
A Hui Hou,
Wayne
Haha, good one. 😂😂😂
Aloha Wayne,
That isn’t the Kauai weather Beth and I become accustomed to. If there were clouds when we were there, they didn’t seem to hang around for very long. Glad you decided to get out there, still sounded like a fun round and a couple notches on your goal for 2017 to boot…keep it rolling!
Cheers
Josh
Aloha Josh,
The weather that day was different alright … but there is still fun to be had in “different”. Though after a few holes I was wishing that I had worn the waterproof Footjoys.
A Hui Hou,
Wayne