Maui’s Waiehu municipal course at risk for closure

Municipal golf courses are like mutts. They have their flaws, but they are yours. And they are adorable, especially in a world of country clubs and triple-digit green fees.

Every golfer should have one and, after 87 years, Maui’s golfers might be losing theirs.

In last month’s State of the County Address, Mayor Alan Arakawa proposed shutting down Waiehu Municipal Golf Course. Arakawa said the course, which spans 174 acres next to Waihe’e Beach Park in Waihe’e-Waiehu, has lost $16.3 million the plast 10 years.

Many Maui golfers question the numbers and are incensed — and shocked — at the possibility of losing what some call one of the most scenic and playable courses in a state that is home to some of the most stunning views in the world.

“It was a shocker for me,” says Art Rego, who has run the concession (pro shop, carts and driving range) for all but five of the past 32 years at Waiehu, and does the same at Wailua. “When I found out, I thought the person that told me was joking with me. I talked to several people and no one knew. I don’t think the council knew anything at all about it.”

There are 65,000 rounds a year played at the course, most by Maui residents, who pay from $2 (students weekdays) to $18 (adults on weekends). It’s less than half of pretty much any other course on the island.

It is a great deal, and has been since Waiehu opened in 1930. According to Ralph Miyamoto, Maui’s representative on the Hawaii State Golf Association board of directors, it is enough to cover operational expenses, but not to pay the $1.2 million annual administration fee, which includes salaries and improvements.

Miyamoto says that fee is nearly three times what it was four years ago, and much more than the Oahu fee that covers its six municipal courses.

What the figure includes is supposed to be clarified by Tuesday, when the finance budget committee has its final meeting before the council votes on the Mayor’s budget.

“That’s the last day of testimony for everything in the county budget,” says Rego, the eldest of a legendary Hawaii golf family who has two siblings (Clyde and Brenda) in the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame. “We are budgeted until Dec. 31 of this year. … The impression I get from the council is yes, they want to keep the course. They don’t want to privatize it.

“I’m hopeful the council can do something to keep the golf course open. All I can say is I feel a little better today than three weeks ago. When something like this happened here five or six years ago golfers never said anything. This time they are speaking up and emailing and calling the council. I heard the mayor got a lot of emails and calls. I feel sorry for the seniors and kids.”

Even Lt. Gov. Shan Tsutsui, who is from Maui, got in on the noise. In a March 23 Maui News editorial, Tsutsui wrote that Honolulu’s six muni courses are self-sufficient. He called Waiehu a “valuable asset” worth keeping by considering “all options.”

Maui golf broadcaster Mark Rolfing, who did a Waiehu study six years ago for the county, agreed.

“It was nothing like what I’m hearing now,” Rolfing said. “I have no idea where some of these costs are coming from and why somebody would say it’s not feasible. It is.”

Miyamoto grew up playing Hilo Muni, which underwent major renovations the past two years. He has been playing Waiehu since 1985 and says the golf community has collected more than 5,000 signatures opposing the closure.

His daughter, Kimberlie, is on Eastern Washington’s golf team, along with fellow Baldwin graduate Kirsten Ishikawa. Ralph says that wouldn’t have been possible without Waiehu, home base of the Maui Junior Golf Association.

“My daughter was interested in golf in 2003 at the age of 7,” he recalls. “We were a struggling family, paying our mortgage and just dealing with the cost of living on Maui. If it was not for having a municipal course on Maui my daughter’s opportunities to learn and play golf would have been limited or even non-existent. We would have not been able to afford this game.”

Miyamoto adds that players are “reluctant but willing” to pay higher green fees to keep the course. He also said people are upbeat about the impact Waiehu Superintendent Todd Allen has had in his two years at the course.

Rego, who has coached Maui High’s team and helps with junior golf, also is high on Allen’s work and encouraged by his ideas for course improvements.

Off the course, Rego wants to allow golfers to use credit cards, make tee times more than two days in advance and have the ability to do it online. They can’t do any of that now.

“I enjoy it here because the people are so nice,” he says. “One of the reasons I’m telling them not to get rid of the course is for the kids and seniors and regular locals, but we also need the visitors. That’s a problem. … A lot of visitors book other places before they get here.”

And a lot of Maui golfers — Rego estimates half of Waiehu’s regulars — probably won’t be able to golf anymore if the course closes or is privatized.

“In the winter months most resorts cost $75-$90,” he says, “and most guys here are on fixed incomes, especially if they retired from pineapple and sugar.

“We are not making money definitely, but a municipal golf course was never supposed to make money.”

Same with municipal pools, parks or tennis courts … all available as a public service to tax payers and usually without any fee involved.

“It would be a travesty if this course closed,” Rolfing says. “It’s not necessary.”