Anyone Ever Golf in Hawaii?

Artist credit: warrenkeating.com

Me and my big mouth...

So a couple of years ago, my wife and I, my in-laws and my sister-in-law and her husband were on a family vacation in the Florida Keys.

One evening, while lounging under a few palm trees and sipping on some rum-based concoction, my aforementioned gigantic mouth blurts out: "Hey, next time, we should go to Hawaii!"

The next day, my wife reminded me of how crazy my suggestion was: "Hawaii? You realize I'm pregnant, right? When will we have time to go to Hawaii with a baby?" "Relax," I told her. "Your step sister is pregnant too. It was late, I had a few in me - no one took me seriously. We're not going to Hawaii...trust me."

Fast forward to present day. It's midnight and I just spent the last several hours online booking our flights to Hawaii. Maui, to be exact. Turns out my sister-in-law not only took me very seriously, but considered my suggestion a splendid idea to boot (babies or no babies).

Anyone ever try to book a vacation to Hawaii from the East Cost of the United States with a toddler in tow? Making the trip all in one day is an impossibility (our son would be off the wall by the 8th hour in). So we have to break-up our flights.

Initially, I tried to fly into LA and then catch a non-stop flight to Maui the next day, but it turns out to be much cheaper to go to San Diego first, then to LA and then to Maui. Yep - a flight from LA to Maui was like $300 more per-person than a flight from San Diego to LA to Maui (same airline). WTF?

Of course, you can't go to San Diego with a toddler and not go to the zoo. So we're flying into San Diego two days before our flight to Maui (via LA) and going to the zoo (now I know why I was saving all my hotel points...geesh).

So, when we finally get to Hawaii, we'll have seven days to lounge under a few palm trees while sipping on a Mai Tai (AKA: a rum-based concoction) - which is just enough time for my fat yap to suggest we all go to Greece next.

All that being said, I'm pleased to report there will be time for a round of golf while I'm in Maui...But where should I play? Since we're staying on the west coast of the island, I feel like Kapalua Plantation (home of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions) should be high on my list. Anyone ever play there?

How about other suggestions? I'll probably only have time for one round so I want to make it count. But Kapalua is pushing $300 and this trip is costing me a small fortune already - perhaps there's another awesome course with lower greens fees? Don't get me wrong, I'll go a bit more in debt for Kapalua, but I just wanted to weigh all my options first.

My trip is in April - any suggestions beforehand would be greatly appreciated! And I plan on posting about my experience on whichever course I end up playing, so stay tuned for that too.

Wish me luck!

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More Crazy PGA Playoff Ideas

I'm sitting here watching the NFL Playoffs and I catch a commercial or two for a golf tournament. A golf tournament? Are you kidding? They say this is the first tournament of 2012. Well, I guess it is. It's just earlier than I expected. For cryin' out loud, the last tournament of 2011 just wrapped up a month ago! But now, along comes the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Someone help me because I don't know - Has golf always been a year round sport on the professional level? Wouldn't that cause fans to become a bit "golfed out?" I know it would for me. I mean, the off-season is one month long? Sorry, but that's just not long enough. As much as I love football, I need the off-season. It gives me the break I need so I don't get tired of a sport I love. If it was going on for eleven out of the twelve months of the year, I'd probably be bored of it.

Am I wrong, or would golf benefit from a shorter season? Do people get golfed out? I really don't follow the tour, and that's one of the reasons why. The season's just too long. And I would have to imagine many of these tournaments are somewhat "inconsequential." And if a tournament doesn't really matter, then that diminishes the interest.

I think the PGA Tour as a whole could benefit from a shorter, more focused season. If there was some type of a playoff system, then I'm sure every individual tournament could mean much more to both the fans, as well as the players themselves.

Further, if the season were to be shorter and a playoff system instituted, then due to the importance of each tournament, players would be less apt to skip any, thus creating a better chance at a star-studded field every weekend. Could you imagine Tom Brady just sitting out two or three games because they don't matter? Yeah, I know that some NFL teams will sit a couple of players during the last week of the season, but that's 1 game in 16.

Let's look at the PGA Tour numbers. Last year there were 50 tour stops. 50! Now, there were four weekends on which two tournaments were played. So, since you can't be in two places at once, that leaves 46 potential tournaments to play. Now, of the 445 players who played in a PGA Tournament last year, only 26 of them played in 30 or more tournaments, with the most being 35. So, even the player who played most often still skipped 11 tournaments! Doesn't that just get on your nerves - that players pick and choose when they want to play? That's like Aaron Rodgers sitting himself for four games, or Kobe Bryant sitting himself for twenty. What if Albert Pujols didn't play in over 40 games because they just weren't important enough? Are you serious?! It's ridiculous, but it happens week in and week out during the PGA season.

How about if that was eliminated? How could it be you ask? Make every tournament matter. Trim the fat and streamline the schedule. Make it so more players play in more tournaments. Make them count toward an end of season playoff for a real championship.

I've got several ideas to get this done. Besides this one, I've previously discussed a road to an actual PGA Championship as well as a championship itself. Someday I'll figure out how to get these combined into one revolutionary idea. And someday, maybe the right people will take it into consideration. Hey, after all, I'm just trying to help!

Swing 'til you're happy!

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