Celebrating 50 years of junior golf

It began with a conversation between Bob Tom and Ted Makalena, shortly after Makalena’s shocking victory in the PGA Tour’s 1966 Hawaiian Open. The Hawaii Junior Golf Association quickly organized and held a Christmas tournament at Ala Wai. Tournaments and clinics filled Mondays and Fridays the next summer on courses all over Oahu.

The neighbor islands joined in and Charley Barenaba, a 100-pound Kahuku freshman, won at the inaugural Junior World Championships in 1968.

“Charley was the Michelle Wie and Tadd Fujikawa of his time,” says Wendell Tom, Bob’s son. “A raw athletic talent.”

Chipper Garriss set the record for youngest Manoa Cup champion in 1967, and Billy Casper provided a scholarship for him at BYU after Garriss kept blowing drives by him when they played together. Lance Suzuki became an All-American at BYU and Larry Stubblefield headed to Ohio State on a scholarship. In 1977 Stan Souza, who also golfed for BYU, became the first from Hawaii to play in The Masters.

David Ishii, Wendell Tom, Marga Stubblefield, Jim Iams, Guy Yamamoto, Parker McLachlin, Curtis Kono, Mark Sousa, Dean Wilson, Jay Hinazumi, Greg Meyer and Jonathan Ota would lead the flood of young talent to follow, along with the Rego, Castillo and Kop ohanas.

Mike Kawate, now one of the state’s finest senior golfers, played with Nick Price at Junior World. Scott Simpson first learned pidgin from his Hawaii buddies at the same tournament.

Ralden Chang, Jan Kotoshirodo, Mariel Galdiano, Eimi Koga, Elisha Au, Kristel Kakugawa, Mari Chun, Eric Fong, Jamie Yoshimure, Allisen Corpuz, Jill Hamasaki, Damien Jamila, Lauie Chinen and Kristll Caldeira all claimed Junior World titles — Chang and Kotoshirodo more than once.

Charley and Randy Barenaba, Althea Tome, Lori Castillo and Donald Hurter won USGA national championships in the 1970s, decades before Wie, Casey Watabu and Kimberly Kim broke through.

Hawaii’s burst into big-time junior golf can be traced back 50 years and last Sunday at Olomana Golf Links, 84 alumni and current Oahu Junior Golf Association members got together to celebrate the anniversary.

In those years, the HJGA has expanded to every major island. It inspired the creation of the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association nearly 20 years ago — OJGA President Norman Asao was an HSJGA founder — to oversee all islands in what has become an internationally recognized baby golf boom in Hawaii.

But leave it to a child in her pink OJGA shirt to break the organization’s mission statement down into what matters.

“Just have fun, right?,” she said, grinning at her adult partner Sunday.

That’s always been the point. Even in a time when Hawaii junior golfers are winning national championships and collecting six-figure college scholarships.

Makalena knew that back in 1966, when his casual conversation with Bob Tom turned serious. There was a need for organized junior golf in Hawaii, particularly now that one of our own had just beaten the best players on the planet.

In that first year, about 100 kids signed up. Within five years, the number grew to nearly 500. The Hawaiian Open donated money and so did parents. They also invited kids from other islands into their homes so they could play in those precious Monday tournaments.

“David Ishii was from Kauai and there were not many tournaments there,” Wendell Tom, 60, recalled. “Because of his potential and how good he was my dad told his dad David needed to spend his summers on Oahu, playing with better competition.”

That happened all over Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the island of Hawaii, making for memorable summers, enduring friendships that came with free coaching and more than a few dings in ceilings.

“Everybody had their own dent up there,” remembers Yamamoto, 55, now the OJGA vice president and tournament director. “Mostly from clubs and one head print — David (Ishii) jumped on a trampoline and bounced into the ceiling.”

Bob Tom, who died in January at 88, brought back the Hawaii State Open in 1974 to raise money for juniors. He named it for Ted Makalena, who died in a swimming accident 18 months after he won that 1966 Hawaiian Open.

He never got to see the generations of junior golfers he helped inspire, or the impact of Title IX on girls golf.

Or the thank you cards junior players faithfully write after each event at the urging of Sue Asao, Norman’s wife and the organizational guru of OJGA.

“We just want a good caliber of kid,” says Norman Asao, who took over in 1988 when his three kids started playing. “We hold them to a higher standard, we try to instill that.”

Role models are abundant. Many, many of those early HJGA golfers are still involved in the game.

Hinazumi is an ideal example. He runs Golf Concepts, is an OJGA secretary and president of the Hawaii State Golf Association — formerly Public Links, which was co-founder of HJGA along with Aloha Section PGA.

“The Asaos are still here like I’m still involved in amateur golf,” says Hinazumi, 60, “because we have a hard line about integrity. I don’t have kids and he doesn’t have kids in the program anymore. We just care.”