37. Flights from Hobart to Sydney to Honolulu to Kilo, March 5, 2016

Flights from Hobart to Sydney to Honolulu to Kilo, March 5, 2016

I had booked us on a set of flights taking us from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia to Kilo, Hawaii, USA on March 5.  Because these flights cross the International Date Line, we were scheduled to depart Hobart at 4:15pm and arrive in Kilo at noon the same day (after about 16 ¾ hours of flights and layover times).  The evening before I noticed that the first flight (Hobart to Sydney) was on Jetstar, and given our experience flying from Queenstown, NZ to Melbourne on February 18, wanted to be sure we would avoid getting “jetstarred” with highly exorbitant luggage charges.  The Jetstar website provided several sets of highly confusing legal language regarding luggage allowances and reaching Jetstar by phone was impossible.  So we left for the airport early enough to get us there at least 3 hours before our flight.

That turned out to be a good thing.  The Qantas and Jetstar folks at the airport did advise that our luggage allowance (including carry-ons) would be only 46 lbs each (even though we were flying business class on the main leg…Sydney to Honolulu), but that we could purchase excess luggage credits over the web or phone until 2 hours before scheduled departure, at a cost of about $55 between us…compared with about $500 after 2:15pm.  We got that done in time at the lower rate, and then checked in at 2:15pm.

However, Jetstar would not book our luggage through to either Honolulu of Kilo…this despite the following:

1.     Our air tickets were purchased on the Qantas website which offered this set of connections and issued the tickets for these 3 flights under a single airline ticket number/confirmation code;

2.     Jetstar is a wholly owner subsidiary of Qantas.

While the scheduled layover time in Sydney was 1 hour 50 minutes, the above meant we would have to:

1.     get off the Jetstar flight;

2.     collect our checked luggage;

3.     bring 4 pieces of checked luggage and two carry on pieces (totaling some 220 pounds) to a separate terminal; and

4.     check in at Qantas for the Sydney-Honolulu leg

all within a grand total of 50 minutes…as Qantas had a firm cutoff of for check-in one hour prior to scheduled departure.  Qantas provided zero instructions on the fastest way to get between the Jetstar terminal and the International Qantas terminal.  Discussions with 3 different Jetstar and Qantas employees yielded three different ways to proceed with step 3.  All three employees opined that doing the above in less than 50 minutes would be next to impossible, but that it must be “doable” since Qantas wrote all three flights on a single ticket.

To make a long story short…we were able to make the flight, thanks to sage Sydney airport advice provided by a flight attendant on the Jetstar flight.  We checked into the Sydney-Honolulu-Kilo flights (and checked the luggage through to Kilo) 1 hour 20 minutes prior to scheduled departure, and made it to the Qantas International terminal and through emigration with all of 10 minutes to spare after several mad dashes.

Well, at least we made it.  When we reached Honolulu, we had to collect our luggage to clear US Customs…and two of our four pieces of checked luggage did not appear on the carousel (fortunately our clubs made it and our clothing etc. did not…although Pat did not agree with that assessment).  The Qantas baggage customer service person claimed he could not determine where the two suitcases were…this despite that fact that all checked luggage is bar coded and scanned at multiple points…and tried to shuttle us off to Hawaiian Airlines in Kilo (our final destination).  After some somewhat unpleasant discussions, they were able to advise that both pieces were still in Sydney and would be about the March 6 flights and delivered to our friend’s house the next day (which did happen).  And I remember when Qantas was one of the world’s great airlines…

Nanea Golf Club and Mauna Kea Resort, March 6 and 7, 2016

We stayed at the house of friends at their Hawaiian vacation home on The Big Island’s Kona coast.  They are members of Nanea Golf Club and Mauna Kea.   I had played Mauna Kea in 1974 while returning from a trip to the Far East, and Pat and I played both Nanea and Mauna Kea two years ago on another trip to Hawaii.

Nanea Golf Club, March 6, 2016:  This is a very very private club.  It is simply exquisite, and fun to play…but it also very much values its privacy, and I shall respect that, and severely limit what I say about the course and club on this forum.

The club was founded by George Roberts (of KKR) and Charles Schwab (of Charles Schwab) in 2003.  Located high above the Pacific on the west coast of Hawaii’s Big Island, the course was designed by David McLay Kidd (think Bandon Dunes).  It stretches to about 7500 yards.  As you might expect, it is in wonderful condition.  What you might not expect is the difficulty associated with reading its greens, which are heavily influenced by the slope from Mauna Kae down to the Pacific Ocean.   The course is one of the very few that is both challenging and fun to play.  If you get the opportunity, do not let it pass.

Nanea earned a spot on the Golf Magazine World Top 100 in 2007-2011, peaking at #75 in 2009.  It also was #98 in the World on www.top100courses.co.uk in 2006.  In terms of USA Top 100 ratings, Nanea peaked at #44 in 2007 on the GM listing (having appeared in all GM listings in 2007 and after…and is currently #71).  It was #70 on Links Magazine’s final listing dated 12/31/14 and it has appeared in all www.top100courses.co.uk listings from 2006-16 except 2010.  It has never appeared in any Golf Digest or Golfweek Top 100…probably due to an insufficient number of ratings.

Mauna Kea Golf Course and Resort, March 7, 2016:  The Mauna Kea Resort was the dream of Laurance Rockefeller and the flagship of his Rock Resorts chain.  It opened in 1964 to rave reviews and was generally recognized and the most expensive and beautiful vacation resort in the world at that time.   The golf course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., the most dominant and recognized name in golf course architecture of the 1950’s -1960’s era.  It was the first course built on black lava rock (which turns out to be very fertile when crushed).  I well remember venturing into the lava rock off the fairways when I played it in 1974 searching for errant drives…and hoping I would not break an ankle trying to navigate the terrain. 

The course was renovated by Jones’ son, Rees Jones in 2008 and now stretches to 7370 yards par 72 (76.6 rating/144 slope).  In terms of Top 100’s. it has never been on a World 100 list.  On USA Top 100 lists, the following highlights its history:

            --has been on 20 of 63 USA Top 100 Lists…most recent being Golf Magazine as #100 in 2009;

            --of the 20 lists it has appeared on, 15 were in Golf Digest and 5 in Golf Magazine

            --highest rating ever was in the 31-40 bracket in GD in 1969 and 1971.

Playing Nanea and Mauna Kea on consecutive days shows an interesting contrast between penal golf design (Mauna Kea) and strategic golf design (Nanea).  Mauna Kea is iconic, interesting to play once or twice, but rarely has the word “fun” been attached to it.  Nanea is the type of course that one could play every day without being bored…or feel beaten up regularly…yet it is a very demanding test.  To put it simply, give me strategic design over penal design any day of the week.

Wrap-Up

We made it home on March 8…and it is good to be home.  Courses played and Bucket List status:

            --lifetime to date…822 courses in 44 countries and 42 states;

            --World Top 100 Courses EVER (7 sources)—total of 284 courses, played 277 and seven to go;

            --Tom MacWood Spoof 1939 Top 100…101 courses of which 5 no longer exist, played 85 and 11 to go;

            --US Open Venues…54 courses, 52 played and two to go

Overall Evaluation…Australia and New Zealand:

This is a tough one.  We played the following courses on this trip in Aus/NZ (listed alphabetically):

Arrowtown

Barnbougle Dunes

Barnbougle Lost Farm

Cape Kidnappers

Cape Wickham Golf Club

Commonwealth Golf Club

Huntingdale Golf Club

Kingston Heath Golf Club

Kinloch Golf Club

National Golf Club—Moonah

National Golf Club—Old

Ocean Dunes Golf Club

Royal Melbourne GC—West

Tara Iti Golf Club

Victoria Golf Club

Among other courses I have played in Australia and New Zealand, I would throw Metropolitan, New South Wales, Royal Adelaide, Royal Melbourne—East, and Paraparamumu and into any list of great courses (RMGC—Composite excluded due to being a Composite course as per explanation from several posts ago).

My Top 10 in this region are:

1.  Royal Melbourne--West

2.  Kingston Heath

3.  Barnbougle Dunes

4.  Cape Wickham

5.  Tara Iti

6.  Cape Kidnappers

7.  New South Wales

8.  Barnbougle Lost Farm

9.  Metropolitan

10.  Victoria

I should point out that the top 5 above are, in my always humble opinion, very tightly bunched.  I consciously “tapped down” my enthusiasm for Cape Wickham and Tara Iti to guard against the “infatuation factor” and recognizing that courses change more in their initial years than later on.  To the degree that changes in the next few years on these two courses add to their brilliance, the ones listed higher need to watch their backs.  In any case, as a result of this trip, my personal World Top 100 needs careful reviewing.

One final point…note that of the above ten, 50% were built in the last 20 years…further proof of the new golden age.