I’d just like to say, KIF Golf, KIF Shmolf. I could compete in this league, no problem. Just give me Lehue Wise’s driver, Justin Thomas’ stance, Terra Bell’s irons, Abraham Akutagawa’s swing, Bret Netzer’s strategy, and Mason Kojete’s guts, and
I’d just like to say, KIF Golf, KIF Shmolf. I could compete in this league, no problem.
Just give me Lehue Wise’s driver, Justin Thomas’ stance, Terra Bell’s irons, Abraham Akutagawa’s swing, Bret Netzer’s strategy, and Mason Kojete’s guts, and maybe I can bring my handicap down to 20.
Add in a “Golf for dummies” book and 4,000 one-on-one lessons from Phil Mickelson, I may even break into the top 20 list of the KIF’s golfing elite.
Although I doubt it.
I shot a rousing 54 on the front nine of one of my finest outings at Mokihana Golf Course on Sunday. The winds were howling (there wasn’t the slightest breeze), it was raining (maybe at the top of Waialeale) and night was falling (it was noon) on the course that day, but I managed to pull out a score somewhere between 100 and 145 (I stopped counting after 100 – just after the 13 hole).
Not bad, right?
Wrong.
Kaua’i High School boys golf coach Winston Ogata sent me the scores for the KIF tournament held at Mokihana a day before my “finest outing,” and all I could do was weep, and weep, and weep some more.
Wise, a 17-year-old Kaua’i High School Junior, shot a 38 front nine and 36 back nine to notch a tourney leading total 74. That was about as good as any of the boy’s scores, except for Kapa’a’s Justin Thomas, whose 35 front-and-back left him with a mind-boggling 70 that day. Kaua’i’s Bret Netzer shot a 71, and Alan Baab and Erick Wong each shot a 72. Not too shabby when you consider it takes some people 30 years and their luckiest day to shoot those kind of numbers.
“Practice, practice, practice,” was TGI Photographer Dennis Fujimoto’s advice for me. “That’s what makes these kids so good.”
“Thanks Dennis, that’s great advice,” I said, hiding the 100 times I’ve played the last month in the back of my mind.
Who knows, maybe it’s my bad back (which feels fine) or my sore finger (actually, it’s my toe that hurts) that is messing up my swing?
I should consult Red Raider links slugger Kiilani Matsuyoshi, who joins Wise as one of the top 10 junior golfers in the state. She played Mokihana with an injured hand and still shot an 86. Ex-Rams quarterback Jim Everett has been playing golf for 15-years and can’t shoot that low.
Did I mention she’s 15?
What is it about these kids? Did the golf gods use these Kauaian specimins for the purpose of belittling a poor muni-hacker like myself? Do they have laser-light vision, or is their some sort of heat-seeking golf ball they use to track down the greens?
“Tell you the truth, it’s just talent,” said Kellie Pleas,” Kaua’i girls golf coach and golf pro at Puakea’s Course. “They just pick the club up, whack it with no fear, and look to get it in the hole.”
For a golf pro, you’d think Pleas would have a better tip for a links hazard like myself. But I guess she has a point.
Red Raider Shelcie Takenouchi, only a freshman, finishes among the top four in girls KIF golf tourneys this season. She shot an 86 at Mokihana, and an 81 at Wailua, and she’s only 14.
Nissan Hall of Honor Rachel Kyono is enjoying her scholarship at Pepperdine University. She may have been one of the best high school golfers in Kaua’i history.
And we all know Michelle Wie, the 13-year-old from Oahu who can drive 270, beat Anikka Sorenstam a few holes a round and make two-time SuperBowl champ and links nut John Elway sob like a little girl at a Bambie screening. Heck, I could barely tie my shoes, ride a bike, or chew gum at 13 and this girl is beating LPGA professionals.
If these girls aren’t naturals, than Roger Clemens’ first game with the Yanks was a rousing success.
Now the question is, what will they do with it?
“We had members of the UH Wahine Golf team come down and hold a clinic for us last year,” said Pleas. “We found out one of their recruits got a scholarship for shooting 83. Imagine what kind of scholarships our KIF golfers can get.”
With five KIF boys shooting in the lower 70’s (including Waimea’s Ashford Rita, who shot 75 at Mokihana), and four KIF girls shooting in the upper 70’s, lower-to-mid 80’s, there should be alot of NCAA scholarships to hand out to Kaua’i kids.
And I sure hope so.
At least than I can be the hack that got whooped by a bunch college studs, not 17 and under high school kids.
