Timeless Magic, 1965 - 2015
45 MAUNA KEA BEACH HOTEL pilots put them in their suitcases Juan Trippe chairman of Pan Am was a close friend of my father having built Cotton Bay Club together on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas and Juans son John was a roommate of mine in college The finished product at Mauna Kea proved to be a masterpiece Perhaps nowhere in the world existed 18 holes that possessed such an enticing blend of beauty and brawn Legendary Mauna Kea General Manager Adi W Kohlers reminiscences in his book Mr Mauna Kea testify to the courses singular character Bob Itamoto Mauna Keas longtime superintendent played the course all by himself one afternoon just before it opened Kohler writes It was not what he expected Before Mauna Kea Itamoto said golf courses in Hawai i were essentially flat Not that challenging and interesting The greens werent so big and there were not as many bunkers Plus 7000 yards is a huge golf course There wasnt anything like it anywhere Still it was one hole in particular that catapulted Mauna Kea into worldwide fame the par three 3rd hole Jones called it his gem among eighteen jewels It was all of that and more The single most dramatic hole in the Robert Trent Jones Sr arsenal the gargantuan 250 yard 3rd asked for a smash across the pounding Pacific surf from an isolated tee box set into 5000 year old lava rock to a massive green ringed with a necklace of seven bunkers Astonishingly No 3 is not even the toughest par three on the course That honor falls to No 11 A 247 yard test from the tips the 11th plunges 100 feet downhill to a narrow green framed by kiawe trees coconut palms and bunkers with the beach and ocean to the right and beyond THE B IG 3 MATCHES AND A V I S I T FROM SHELL No golf course ever opened with a bigger splash than Mauna Kea In December 1964 golfs reigning monarchs Arnold Palmer Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player assembled at Mauna Kea to christen the course The event as Kohler recalls was filmed by Music Corporation of America as part of an eight match series for NBC which introduced TOP Arnold Palmer tees off on No 3 during 1964 s Big 3 matches ABOVE Designer Robert Trent Jones Sr center reviews plans with Laurance Rockefeller to Jones right and others No golf course ever opened with a bigger splash In December 1964 Arnold Palmer Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player assembled at Mauna Kea to christen the course
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