In early September, a group of golfers gathered at Honolulu International Airport for the start of our 2018 Hawaii trip.  After a short flight to the Big Island of Hawaii and settling in to our hotel in Waikaloa, we had a delicious Welcome Dinner at Sansei Seafood Restaurant, where we were able to get to know new friends and renew old acquaintances.  We played 3 courses over 4 days on this beautiful island, including the iconic Mauna Kea Golf Course, one of the most renowned and spectacular of all Hawaiian golf courses, the lovely oceanside Waikaloa Beach Course, and the lave-surrounded Mauni Lani North Course.  On our day off, some people went hiking in the waterfalls, some checked out the local shops and some simply relaxed in the resort.  We enjoyed local food and Polynesian dancing at a luau.  By the end of our time on the island,  Judith carried a healthy lead in the golf competition – she played consistently and smartly and managed the challenges of resort golfing very well. 


We travelled to the main island, Oahu, and checked into our wonderful hotel, the gorgeous old Moana Surfrider.  Dinner at the Beachhouse Restaurant was relaxed and stylish. No golfing trip t o Hawaii is complete without travelling up to the Royal Hawaiian course.  Set in the mountain jungle inland of the island, this course is quite different to the oceanside courses that are usual in Hawaii.  Easy it is not, and the scoring reflected this!  A day off for most people meant shopping either at Ala Moana or Waikele outlets, as well as swimming in the warm ocean at Waikiki.  Our final golf game the following day was at the exclusive Kapolei Golf Club – a lovely, meandering garden course.  Our three competition frontrunners Judith, Meredith and Carol played together to decide the overall winner, and while it was very close, Judith prevailed.  The men had a competition among themselves, which meant that Peter scored drinks.

Our final dinner was held at Hawaiian favourite, Dukes, where we celebrated a wonderful week of golf, cocktails, and fun.

It was time to farewell a few of our party, but the rest of us proceeded to beautiful, green Kaua’i. We played 2 more games of golf on quite different courses, Hokuala and Puakea.  The highlight was a sunset cruise along the spectacular Na’Pali coast which is wild, lush and utterly beguiling. Spinner dolphins made a guest appearance.  We were all very sad to leave our lovely hotel, the Kaua’i Marriott, but our time in warm, beautiful Hawaii had come to an end.