Local golf moving, shaking

By Bill Kwon

Waikoloa gets new director; Turtle Bay to reopen Fazio Course

The Fazio Course at Turtle Bay, which has been redesigned from the resort’s original layout, is scheduled to be open for play next month. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

First, there is the news that Dave Pritchett, the former head golf professional at Kapalua's Plantation Course, has been named the director of golf at the Waikoloa Beach Resort on the Big Island where he will manage the golf operations of the resort's 18-hole championship Beach and Kings' courses.

Then there is Dennis Rose, former Waikoloa director of golf, now holding the same position with the Turtle Bay Resort. Rose is overseeing the long-awaited reopening of the original course, a favorite with local golfers and visitors when it opened in 1972.

Now called the Fazio Course after its late architect, George Fazio, Turtle Bay's original layout had its back nine shut down when the new Links Course opened in 1992. Two of the holes on the original course — 13 and 14, both par-4s — became part of the Arnold Palmer-designed Links Course, while the 10th, 11th and 12th holes were closed because it proved a hazard to golfers driving carts out to the new course.

With a new cart path along the ocean, that problem has been resolved.

The Fazio Course has a revamped back nine that will include new par-4 holes at 13 and 14 and a slightly shorter but more difficult finishing 18th hole requiring a 160-yard carry over a wetland to the fairway that could be unnerving. The course will be open for play by the middle of next month, according to Rose.

And in a bit of irony, the Palmer Course will be closed for four months once the Fazio Course is open for play. It will be closed so that every green at the course, once called Links at Kuilima, will be resurfaced with a hardier, salt-tolerant new grass called Sea Isle 2000 paspalum in order to be ready in time for the Senior PGA Tour's Turtle Bay Championship in October.

According to Rose, the Palmer Course will be the only one in Hawai'i, other than the Charles Schwab layout now being built on the Big Island's Kona Coast, to have the latest version of the paspalum grass for its greens.

Rates for the reopened 18-hole Fazio Course will be $50 for weekdays, $60 for weekends and $5 less each time period for club play or group reservations. The first major event at the reopened course will be the Western Athletic Conference men's golf championships April 24-26.

The Turtle Bay Resort is no stranger to the pro tour. It was the site of the first Senior Skins Game in 1988 and the original course — the only one designed in Hawai'i by the elder Fazio — also having played host to the first three LPGA Hawaiian Ladies Open tournaments beginning in 1987.

Speaking of what goes around, comes around, guess where the only LPGA Tour event in Hawai'i this year will be held? At the Waikoloa Beach Course next week.

Talk about starting off with a bang for Pritchett, whose first task as Waikoloa's director of golf will be the LPGA Takefuji Classic that will tee off the 2002 season for the women.

It is a challenge the personable, 35-year-old Texan is eagerly awaiting. As the Plantation Course's former head professional, he is more than used to high-profile events. There is none bigger than the Mercedes Championships, which has been held at the Plantation Course since 1999.

"He's done a great job. I'm happy for him," said Marty Keiter, Kapalua's director of golf, who will announce Pritchett's successor at the Plantation Course shortly.

Kapalua had been home for Pritchett, a native of Midland, Texas, since 1989 when he first arrived in Hawai'i. He was a teaching pro at the Bay Course until 1991, left for a year and returned in 1993 to work at the resort's Village Course as golf shop pro and then head pro. He moved over to the Plantation Course in 1997 as its head professional.

Pritchett, his wife Pam and 5-year-old daughter Taylor are now looking for a home on the Kohala Coast.

"I thought I'd be at Kapalua forever. But there aren't too many director-of-golf openings. I had to go for it. In this profession, you've got to keep going, you've got to keep growing," Pritchett said. "I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited, my family's excited."

The hiring of Pritchett, a member of the Aloha Section PGA board of directors, restores Waikoloa's golf operations with a "local" touch. It had been under the management of Troon Golf since June 2000, before the partnership ended amicably earlier this year.

"We are extremely pleased to have Dave join the Waikoloa management team," said Thos Rohr, Waikoloa Land Company president. "Dave is a seasoned PGA veteran with an impressive knowledge of resort golf operations. His experience in managing professional golf tournaments and satisfying the resort guest make him a valuable asset to our award-winning golf program."

Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.