It was very early the next morning, after a nice breakfast from room service, Charles and Xation made their way from the hotel down to the pier, to the south, to catch the ferry to Lanai. They had to keep the top up on the little red corvette as a mist of clouds and light rain had swept in over the island from the ocean, and it was a little chilly, just before sunrise, when Charles complained about the weather to Xation, who happily explained to his friend, the clouds would soon burn off in the morning sunshine and all would be well for their golf adventure. Such is the climate as anyone knows who lives beside the ocean.
As they parked the rental car on the ferry Charles and Xation made their way up on deck to get a better view of the surroundings. Charles stood, leaning against the railing, as he noticed a group of dolphins below him in the water, swimming at a fast pace keeping up with the large vessel. The scent in the air was strong of salt water and fresh ocean wind; which seemed to be blowing in from all directions here out on the open waters, as they grew ever closer to the spectacular island of Lanai, with it's steep red lava cliffs covered in bright green grass, plants, trees and various tropical vines and vegetation. This island was much smaller, and higher in elevation, than Maui, only 13 miles wide and 18 miles long, home of the Dole Pineapple plantation, 36 resorts, 2 Four Season Hotels, a small airport amid forests of pines and kiawe trees, full of millions of myna birds and secluded herds of deer. Charles stared up the imposing high cliffs of the island and Xation clearly saw Charles was wide-eyed and mystified by this remarkable sight of nature. Just as they drove off the ferry and up the long switch-back roads; which led up to Lanai city, the Four Season Resort and the Challenge at Manele Bay, the sun broke through the thin grey clouds and the light mists of rain abated as the two men pulled up to the spectacular course; which was situated high above the waters, perched atop the red lava cliffs overlooking the vast bright blue ocean and the island of Maui to the east.
"My God would you look at this!" Charles said as he gazed around the property with it's magnificent hotel and breathtaking ocean side, 18 hole, par 72, Jack Nicklaus designed course with over 7,000 yards of pure excitement overlooking Hulopoe Bay.
"This is a monster of a course Charles, if we are going to tee it up here today we need to bring a lot of game and a lot of balls!" Xation laughed his statement was both literal and figurative.
The two valeted the convertible at the Clubhouse and were driven over to the Pro-Shop by a friendly member of staff who gave them the yardages off the black, gold, blue, white and red tee boxes. As Charles noticed the treacherous carries over deep ravines, Charles thought he should really be playing from the red tees, to even stand a chance, but that would be extremely humiliating since the red tees were for girls and old men. Putting his slow swing-speed at the back of his mind, Charles and Xation made their way into the busy Pro-Shop, where they were informed, much to their disappointment, by the white haired Golf Pro behind the counter that, 'due to the amount of people on the islands for the upcoming PGA event', they were doing shot-gun starts and would needed to be paired up to make their tee time of 8:45. It was the same story back at the Plantation Course yesterday. Xation and Charles gave each other a disillusioned look.
"Why the long face fellas?" Gregg, the aged Pro, asked sensing there was a story here.
Xation and Charles quickly lamented the previous days turmoil and trouble with the Germans to the sympathetic man, and old Gregg took pity on them, then with a mischievous smile, a twinkle in his blue eyes, he looked down at the roster and with a sly laugh he said "Gentlemen, I think you will be most pleased when you see who you will be making the rounds with today." he shook his head and called over to one of the caddies "Take them to get matched up with a caddy, then drive them over to hole #3." with that he turned his attention back to Xation and Charles telling them "Now if you boys do NOT have a good time out their today, you just let know and I will personally take care of your green fees."
Xation and Charles felt like old Gregg was up to something, but they both were imbued with a certain strange energy of excitement as they headed out to pick out their caddies and make their way over to the third hole, an easy par three with a wide open green. As they both wondered who they would be paired up with today Xation and Charles looked out on the blue tee box, and when they saw who it was, their mouths dropped wide open when they discovered just whom it was waiting for them to tee off.
"Jesus! Lord in Heaven! Is that who we are playing with today?" Charles asked his caddy.
"Oh yes!" his caddy said with great enthusiasm "God bless that man! Old Gregg took GOOD care of us all today!"
As they parked the rental car on the ferry Charles and Xation made their way up on deck to get a better view of the surroundings. Charles stood, leaning against the railing, as he noticed a group of dolphins below him in the water, swimming at a fast pace keeping up with the large vessel. The scent in the air was strong of salt water and fresh ocean wind; which seemed to be blowing in from all directions here out on the open waters, as they grew ever closer to the spectacular island of Lanai, with it's steep red lava cliffs covered in bright green grass, plants, trees and various tropical vines and vegetation. This island was much smaller, and higher in elevation, than Maui, only 13 miles wide and 18 miles long, home of the Dole Pineapple plantation, 36 resorts, 2 Four Season Hotels, a small airport amid forests of pines and kiawe trees, full of millions of myna birds and secluded herds of deer. Charles stared up the imposing high cliffs of the island and Xation clearly saw Charles was wide-eyed and mystified by this remarkable sight of nature. Just as they drove off the ferry and up the long switch-back roads; which led up to Lanai city, the Four Season Resort and the Challenge at Manele Bay, the sun broke through the thin grey clouds and the light mists of rain abated as the two men pulled up to the spectacular course; which was situated high above the waters, perched atop the red lava cliffs overlooking the vast bright blue ocean and the island of Maui to the east.
"My God would you look at this!" Charles said as he gazed around the property with it's magnificent hotel and breathtaking ocean side, 18 hole, par 72, Jack Nicklaus designed course with over 7,000 yards of pure excitement overlooking Hulopoe Bay.
"This is a monster of a course Charles, if we are going to tee it up here today we need to bring a lot of game and a lot of balls!" Xation laughed his statement was both literal and figurative.
The two valeted the convertible at the Clubhouse and were driven over to the Pro-Shop by a friendly member of staff who gave them the yardages off the black, gold, blue, white and red tee boxes. As Charles noticed the treacherous carries over deep ravines, Charles thought he should really be playing from the red tees, to even stand a chance, but that would be extremely humiliating since the red tees were for girls and old men. Putting his slow swing-speed at the back of his mind, Charles and Xation made their way into the busy Pro-Shop, where they were informed, much to their disappointment, by the white haired Golf Pro behind the counter that, 'due to the amount of people on the islands for the upcoming PGA event', they were doing shot-gun starts and would needed to be paired up to make their tee time of 8:45. It was the same story back at the Plantation Course yesterday. Xation and Charles gave each other a disillusioned look.
"Why the long face fellas?" Gregg, the aged Pro, asked sensing there was a story here.
Xation and Charles quickly lamented the previous days turmoil and trouble with the Germans to the sympathetic man, and old Gregg took pity on them, then with a mischievous smile, a twinkle in his blue eyes, he looked down at the roster and with a sly laugh he said "Gentlemen, I think you will be most pleased when you see who you will be making the rounds with today." he shook his head and called over to one of the caddies "Take them to get matched up with a caddy, then drive them over to hole #3." with that he turned his attention back to Xation and Charles telling them "Now if you boys do NOT have a good time out their today, you just let know and I will personally take care of your green fees."
Xation and Charles felt like old Gregg was up to something, but they both were imbued with a certain strange energy of excitement as they headed out to pick out their caddies and make their way over to the third hole, an easy par three with a wide open green. As they both wondered who they would be paired up with today Xation and Charles looked out on the blue tee box, and when they saw who it was, their mouths dropped wide open when they discovered just whom it was waiting for them to tee off.
"Jesus! Lord in Heaven! Is that who we are playing with today?" Charles asked his caddy.
"Oh yes!" his caddy said with great enthusiasm "God bless that man! Old Gregg took GOOD care of us all today!"
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