To anyone reading this, I hope you and your family are safe and sound out there!! I wanted to give a review of two courses I was able to play on a recent trip to Oahu. One I played as a single, the other was with the world, and forum, famous and all around great dude, Mr. Hicksta!! I apologize in advance for the length of this post but there was a lot to see and I figured you may want to know why in the world we went on vacation during a pandemic.
My wife, Lauren, and I planned the Oahu trip a year in advance to go during the school spring break and we were taking our 13 yr old son and 17 yr old daughter so they could share in the experience. Needless to say, when the virus began to work it's way into the United States conversation, we were a week away from flying out. After some discussion, we decided to go, and we left on March 8th direct flight to Oahu from DFW airport with a return direct flight was for Sunday, late evening March 15th. We stayed at the Marriott Ko Olina on the west coast which was phenomenal. During this time, resort staff and guests were very careful about keeping things clean, wiped down, sanitized and everyone stayed out of each other's way, plus the hotel was at about 50% occupancy so plenty of room at the beach lagoon, pools, etc.. We were in an isolated spot at the time and we heard that spring break was extended by another week which made Lauren and the kids happy as she is a middle school teacher and my kids are in school now. My workplace had not experienced changes as of yet so were were able to relax for the most part. Sunsets here: spectacular. Weather: almost perfect: around 75 degrees during the day and 70 degrees at night. Residents of the island and resort guests: could not have been friendlier. As vacations go, we were batting 1000. We went to Pearl Harbor,Turtle Beach, the North shore and Kualoa Ranch to take a jeep your through the mountain trails where they filmed Jumanji and Jurassic Park. Lauren and the kids snorkeled with turtles and saw dolphins. Do all of that if you get to go to Oahu.
I contacted Josh, Mr. Hicksta, to see what his availability was to play golf since he was stationed in Oahu with his family. It turns out that he was completing the planning to move and be stationed in San Diego two weeks after our vacation. He graciously agreed to find the time during his busy schedule of planning and training to play 18 with me at the Marine base course, Kaneohe Klipper, which was located on the east coast of Oahu. He said there were some great views and I was stoked to play the course and to hang out with him for a few hours. I know Josh through the forum and he had helped me out several times with the purchase and shipping of some Hawaii-only Callaway items : hats and Truvis Shaka golf balls. Plus he had a rep as a great dude and a big part of THP is meeting some of the forum members you have spoken to through chat rooms and texting. During the few months up to our trip, Josh was extremely helpful in giving me advice on the sites to see and what to expect when we arrived.
First up was my planned round at Royal Hawaiian which is located in the mountains/jungle on the east course not to far from the Marine base. I planned to play there on Monday, the day after we arrived. I asked Josh to join me but he was training so I was solo on this one. The drive from the west to east coast was traffic filled: Oahu traffic sucks big time but I was excited to play. The views when you got through the mountain tunnels felt like a visual explosion as you can see over a lot of the east coast: ocean views for miles as you were still in the range of some spectacular mountain scenery. Any pictures I took don't do this view justice. I brought my clubs with me so I didn't have to bother with rentals. If I was going to lose golf balls in Oahu it would be from my own clubs dammit!!
The cost to play Royal Hawaiian was close to $120 w/tax. A bit pricy but worth every dime for the views. I was there at 7:30am for an 8am tee time. There was one car in the parking lot. They said I would have the course mostly to myself and I did up until the 15th hole where I played the rest of the way with a guy who was on vacation with his family who also had a great wife to let him go play golf by himself. Every hole had it's own visual story. It was overcast for half of the round and only rained for 5 minutes, which from what Josh told me was lucky because that side of Oahu gets quite a bit of rain.
I must have taken 10 pictures for each swing of the club. I didn't really keep score as I was there for the experience but if you didn't count my 3 mulligans, I played bogey golf which was not too bad. The OB here was pure jungle, You lose one, forget it. I took my time to shape some shots. There are some tight fairways but is open for the most part. As I got to #10, the clouds parted and I was able to see the mountain ranges: breathtaking and they are in a color green that Crayola doesn't account for. I would have loved to have spent more time there and played a few more rounds but that was a place to remember.
I played golf with Josh on Saturday morning and met him at his house about 20 minutes from the course. It was great to finally meet and when I asked him how the planning was going for the move to San Diego he told me that the night before, he received an e-mail stating that all relocations were on hold due to the virus which put a massive stop to his family's plans. I felt terrible for him as I could see he was feeling it from the bad news. I tried to talk him out of playing since I knew that playing golf with me was way down on his list of priorities at the moment but he wouldn't hear of it so off we went. Driving through the Marine base was a unique experience and when we arrived at the course, it looked to be in great condition. The fairways were pretty wide open and the golf was good for Josh: not too bad from me. My drives were decent, some second shots could have been left back in North TX though. Again I was there for the experience not the score but I was around bogey golf for the most part so it wasn't too bad. It was great to listen to Josh talk about his life, military experience and the island life. I probably should have paid him since he was clearly a knowledgeable tour guide! The best part was when we arrived at the ocean side of the course. We were on top of a ridge line looking out over the east coastline for three holes and I couldn't get enough of it!! A fighter took off from a runway maybe 1/4 mile from us and while Josh didn't flinch it scared the crap out of me: just like a Top Gun scene. Josh pointed out a whale breaching about 1/4 mile off shore. The whale didn't go all the way in the air but you can see the water spout and his body may have rolled over a few times. The rest of the round went well but truth be told, I knew there was a lot of weight on Josh's mind during that round. This virus has screwed up so many in so many different ways and here was just one more victim of circumstances. I did have fun though and I'm glad Josh went and that I had a chance to hang out with him for a bit. If you ever get the opportunity to converse with, meet and play with Josh, you'd be hard pressed to find a more likable and stand up guy in the THP family than Mr Hicksta!!
One last note. A few days after we got back, Josh told me that Hawaii pretty much shut down and we were lucky to go when we did. We are all healthy and unaffected by the trip and we feel that we were one of the forunate few to be on vacation before the world basically closed for business as usual. Josh and his family were able to get to San Diego and it appears that all of their belongings did as well. I'll post some pictures to this thread of the course views later today. Thanks again Josh for all of your help!! Stay safe out there everyone!!
My wife, Lauren, and I planned the Oahu trip a year in advance to go during the school spring break and we were taking our 13 yr old son and 17 yr old daughter so they could share in the experience. Needless to say, when the virus began to work it's way into the United States conversation, we were a week away from flying out. After some discussion, we decided to go, and we left on March 8th direct flight to Oahu from DFW airport with a return direct flight was for Sunday, late evening March 15th. We stayed at the Marriott Ko Olina on the west coast which was phenomenal. During this time, resort staff and guests were very careful about keeping things clean, wiped down, sanitized and everyone stayed out of each other's way, plus the hotel was at about 50% occupancy so plenty of room at the beach lagoon, pools, etc.. We were in an isolated spot at the time and we heard that spring break was extended by another week which made Lauren and the kids happy as she is a middle school teacher and my kids are in school now. My workplace had not experienced changes as of yet so were were able to relax for the most part. Sunsets here: spectacular. Weather: almost perfect: around 75 degrees during the day and 70 degrees at night. Residents of the island and resort guests: could not have been friendlier. As vacations go, we were batting 1000. We went to Pearl Harbor,Turtle Beach, the North shore and Kualoa Ranch to take a jeep your through the mountain trails where they filmed Jumanji and Jurassic Park. Lauren and the kids snorkeled with turtles and saw dolphins. Do all of that if you get to go to Oahu.
I contacted Josh, Mr. Hicksta, to see what his availability was to play golf since he was stationed in Oahu with his family. It turns out that he was completing the planning to move and be stationed in San Diego two weeks after our vacation. He graciously agreed to find the time during his busy schedule of planning and training to play 18 with me at the Marine base course, Kaneohe Klipper, which was located on the east coast of Oahu. He said there were some great views and I was stoked to play the course and to hang out with him for a few hours. I know Josh through the forum and he had helped me out several times with the purchase and shipping of some Hawaii-only Callaway items : hats and Truvis Shaka golf balls. Plus he had a rep as a great dude and a big part of THP is meeting some of the forum members you have spoken to through chat rooms and texting. During the few months up to our trip, Josh was extremely helpful in giving me advice on the sites to see and what to expect when we arrived.
First up was my planned round at Royal Hawaiian which is located in the mountains/jungle on the east course not to far from the Marine base. I planned to play there on Monday, the day after we arrived. I asked Josh to join me but he was training so I was solo on this one. The drive from the west to east coast was traffic filled: Oahu traffic sucks big time but I was excited to play. The views when you got through the mountain tunnels felt like a visual explosion as you can see over a lot of the east coast: ocean views for miles as you were still in the range of some spectacular mountain scenery. Any pictures I took don't do this view justice. I brought my clubs with me so I didn't have to bother with rentals. If I was going to lose golf balls in Oahu it would be from my own clubs dammit!!
The cost to play Royal Hawaiian was close to $120 w/tax. A bit pricy but worth every dime for the views. I was there at 7:30am for an 8am tee time. There was one car in the parking lot. They said I would have the course mostly to myself and I did up until the 15th hole where I played the rest of the way with a guy who was on vacation with his family who also had a great wife to let him go play golf by himself. Every hole had it's own visual story. It was overcast for half of the round and only rained for 5 minutes, which from what Josh told me was lucky because that side of Oahu gets quite a bit of rain.I must have taken 10 pictures for each swing of the club. I didn't really keep score as I was there for the experience but if you didn't count my 3 mulligans, I played bogey golf which was not too bad. The OB here was pure jungle, You lose one, forget it. I took my time to shape some shots. There are some tight fairways but is open for the most part. As I got to #10, the clouds parted and I was able to see the mountain ranges: breathtaking and they are in a color green that Crayola doesn't account for. I would have loved to have spent more time there and played a few more rounds but that was a place to remember.
I played golf with Josh on Saturday morning and met him at his house about 20 minutes from the course. It was great to finally meet and when I asked him how the planning was going for the move to San Diego he told me that the night before, he received an e-mail stating that all relocations were on hold due to the virus which put a massive stop to his family's plans. I felt terrible for him as I could see he was feeling it from the bad news. I tried to talk him out of playing since I knew that playing golf with me was way down on his list of priorities at the moment but he wouldn't hear of it so off we went. Driving through the Marine base was a unique experience and when we arrived at the course, it looked to be in great condition. The fairways were pretty wide open and the golf was good for Josh: not too bad from me. My drives were decent, some second shots could have been left back in North TX though. Again I was there for the experience not the score but I was around bogey golf for the most part so it wasn't too bad. It was great to listen to Josh talk about his life, military experience and the island life. I probably should have paid him since he was clearly a knowledgeable tour guide! The best part was when we arrived at the ocean side of the course. We were on top of a ridge line looking out over the east coastline for three holes and I couldn't get enough of it!! A fighter took off from a runway maybe 1/4 mile from us and while Josh didn't flinch it scared the crap out of me: just like a Top Gun scene. Josh pointed out a whale breaching about 1/4 mile off shore. The whale didn't go all the way in the air but you can see the water spout and his body may have rolled over a few times. The rest of the round went well but truth be told, I knew there was a lot of weight on Josh's mind during that round. This virus has screwed up so many in so many different ways and here was just one more victim of circumstances. I did have fun though and I'm glad Josh went and that I had a chance to hang out with him for a bit. If you ever get the opportunity to converse with, meet and play with Josh, you'd be hard pressed to find a more likable and stand up guy in the THP family than Mr Hicksta!!
One last note. A few days after we got back, Josh told me that Hawaii pretty much shut down and we were lucky to go when we did. We are all healthy and unaffected by the trip and we feel that we were one of the forunate few to be on vacation before the world basically closed for business as usual. Josh and his family were able to get to San Diego and it appears that all of their belongings did as well. I'll post some pictures to this thread of the course views later today. Thanks again Josh for all of your help!! Stay safe out there everyone!!
