Parents: School starts early this year. Do you know where your kids are?

For many of Hawai'i's 182,000 public school students and teachers, classes begin today with the new unified system that has shortened summer vacation for them.

Its impact has been felt by many of the local junior golfers who are still on the Mainland competing in tournaments.

Suddenly, these young golfers aren't just playing a hook. They're playing hooky.

That is, unless they've informed school principals and counselors ahead of time that they're going to miss from a couple of days to a couple of weeks of classes.

That's what Tadd Fujikawa's parents, Lori and Derrick, told Moanalua High School officials as the 15-year-old sophomore is winding up a busy summer of golf.

"They already know Tadd's going to miss the start of school," said Lori Fujikawa, who is in Orlando, Fla., watching Tadd in the Hewlett-Packard Junior Boys Championship. The event is being held at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club & Lodge, site of the PGA Tour's Bay Hill Invitational, which will be renamed in Palmer's honor beginning next year.

"We notified them before we left," said Lori, adding that the new school calendar will make it more difficult to play in summer events nationally. "It's a lot harder. Everything is scheduled for July and August."

Fujikawa, who is on his third trip to the Mainland this summer, will play in the Canon Cup next week in Lake Forest, Ill. The event features the top 10 boys and girls west of the Mississippi against their eastern counterparts. Stephanie Kono and Kimberly Kim will be the representatives from Hawai'i in the girls' division.

And Fujikawa, who earlier in the summer became the youngest to play in the U.S. Open, isn't done with his traveling after he returns home Aug. 4. He will also miss some school time when he plays in the U.S. Amateur at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., Aug. 21 to 27.

It's a "can't-miss" tournament, Fujikawa said. But his concern for missing too many days of school is the main reason why he's passing up the Westfield Junior PGA Championships, Aug. 10 to 13.

"I know I'm going to miss more school, especially during the summer," Fujikawa said. "But it's (the new school schedule) all right. We'll be getting more breaks in between during the year, so that's good."

Chan Kim, the state high school boys' champion, will miss one day of school starting his junior year at Kaimuki High because he's playing this week in the Boys' Junior America's Cup in Utah. But he'll miss a lot more because he plans on going to the Westfield Junior PGA in Ohio, where he finished tied for seventh last year. Kim will try to qualify for the U.S. Amateur on a school day (Aug. 2) at the Pearl Country Club and, if he makes it, it will mean more days away from the classrooms.

His mom, Kyung Ok, isn't particularly worried. He's a good student but she has to keep after him to study, she said.

Fujikawa feels his grades are OK, although he didn't have time to pick up his last report card because of a very busy summer.

Kimberly Kim, a Big Island native who lives in Mesa, Ariz., said she started two weeks late last year and probably will do so again this year at Queen Creek High School. But she's not worried.

"I still passed anyway," said Kim, 14, the youngest to play in this year's U.S. Women's Open after finishing runner-up in the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links championship the week before.

As a rule, school officials have been understanding about youngsters missing classes as long as they catch up with their school work. The thinking is, the kids are undergoing a learning experience of sorts. So what if they're reading greens instead of books? They're reading.

Students aren't the only ones impacted by the new school schedule.

Its early start also caused Bobbi Kokx, a third-grade teacher at Kihei Elementary School, to miss the Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association Stroke Play Championship this week at the Mid-Pacific Country Club. It's one major title that has eluded the two-time winner of the HSWGA Match Play Championship and the Jennie K. Invitational.

"It's unfortunate this year with school starting so early," Kokx said. "The first week for the teacher, and the students, is crucial."

Still, Kokx isn't overly concerned about golfers missing a lot of classes, especially the opening bell.

"From my coaching experience, I have noticed that golfers seem to be good students," said Kokx, a former University of Hawai'i golfer and women's coach.

She feels, perhaps, it's because golf is such a disciplined sport to begin with.

"Typically, the students are very disciplined in golf and in their studies," Kokx said.

So, regarding the question that opened today's subject, at least many parents know where their kids are — on a golf course somewhere.