Kevin Ralbovsky heads Golf Digest’s 2015-2016 list of Hawaii’s Best Teachers. The lists for each state, and the top teachers nationally, are in the magazine’s October edition. Teachers are "ranked by their peers."
Ralbovsky is head of the KMR School of Golf. Among others, he has worked with Lorens Chan (UCLA) and Brittany Fan (Colorado), along with current Punahou player Andrew Chin.
Hawaii’s list also includes Ben Hongo (Kapalua), Claude Brousseau (Ko Olina), Greg Fields (Kapalua Academy) and Eddie Lee (Leadbetter Academy Wailea).
Hawaii’s Don Hurter is listed second among the 13 Colorado teachers honored. Hurter works out of Castle Pines, in Castle Rock, Colo.
Nevada’s Butch Harmon, who charges $1,000 an hour, topped the national list for the eighth time in nine rankings.
Minor League guarantees payouts
A 40 percent payout is guaranteed at Hawaii’s two upcoming Minor League Golf Tour events, at Pearl Country Club and Makaha Valley.
The tour, which made its debut at Pearl in April, is back for the Pearl Country Club Classic Dec. 21. Cost is $200 to enter, or $175 for an active tour member. Play begins just before noon and the field is capped at 15.
After Christmas, the Hawaii Holiday 2-Day will be played Dec. 27-28 at Makaha East, beginning at 11 a.m. the first day and 7 a.m. for the final round. The cost is $250 ($225 for active tour members) and the maximum field is 18.
Women are welcome to play both events. They play in the same division but from tees that measure approximately 94 percent of the men’s yardage.
For more information, contact Nicole Sakamoto at sakamonk08@gmail.com or 808-383-2930.
Coaches attend local combine
Coaches from most of the 16 teams in this week’s Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational came out early Sunday to watch a group of Hawaii State Junior Golf Association boys at a college combine.
The 34 golfers, between the ages of 11-17, flew to Kauai Sunday morning. The HSJGA set up four skills stations — putting, chipping/pitching, irons/woods and bunkers. After each golfer played from each station, the juniors played six holes on the Woods course with the coaches following.
"It is one of our goals to showcase all the talented young players in Hawaii, and this was a great opportunity," said HSJGA president Mary Bea Porter-King. "I was thrilled with not only the junior participation, but the fact that almost all the coaches took the time to watch and evaluate our juniors."
The HSJGA provided coaches with bio and contact information for each participant. Pepperdine coach Michael Beard and Colorado State’s Christian Newton answered questions at the end of the Combine.
Hawaii struggles at home tourney
The University of Hawaii golf team finished 16th out of 17 teams at the Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational at the Makai Golf Club which ended Wednesday.
The Rainbow Warriors finished 34-over-par in the three day tournament, two strokes behind San Diego.
Skye Inakoshi led Hawaii, going four over par for the school’s ‘B’ team, which was the only group to finish below Hawaii’s ‘A’ team.
Alabama won the tournament at 40-under par. Cameron Young of Wake Forest was the medalist at 15-under, two strokes better than Tom Lovelady of the Crimson Tide.
