Golf in the Kingdom (Territory)

      There is golf in the territory! Saturday I went out with Joe, our investigator Tua, and another palagi, Ryan, to play a round at beautiful Iliili Country Club. It has to be beautiful, it's the only course within a few hundred miles.  I'll refer you to a previous post for photos of the entrance and clubhouse. Despite some rain, we got 18 holes in. The verdict: not bad.

      The course starts with a par 3. Overall its Par 72 and about 6300 yards or so. I don't know for sure, the hole distances on the card seem to be only approximations of the length of the hole, and in any event don't add up to the stated length for each of the nines. There is a lot of OB, usually the adjacent fairway is OB, so that is a bit odd. It helps to hit straight. There's no rough as such, it's indistinguishable from the fairway. The whole course has this very tough, wide bladed tropical grass that is very hard to hit through; I tried to photo it to give you a hint. They play winter rules on anything that could be fairway as compensation. “Winter rules” in Samoa, that's an oxymoron if ever there was one. Here's a glimpse of the action:

The views are pretty nice

Hole # 2

Joe teeing off

Tee # 1, Par 3.  I 3- putted it. Bummer.

Hole #9 in a rain squall

Tua in the fairway

Ball in the fairway

Hole 15, Par 3, from the tee box hit over the bushes

Ball down in the grass - this is fairway

Typical grass on teebox

     Knocking a ball under a tree has compensations; this has to be the prettiest tree I've ever had the pleasure to hit with a golf ball:

Nice lie here

      There are no tee times, just show up & play. They allow up to 6 in a group, but aren't strict about that. The group behind caught up despite them having 6 players (7 actually, but the 7^th was just there to ride along & drink) and played through – they were quick, tee up, hit, take off. Often the Samoans will have but one to a cart. They looked like a Chinese fire drill, all those carts weaving around the fairway ahead of us:

Six-some on Green 17

Cruising down the fairway; 1 more cart is out of sight

     Carts are a problem; they have only so many, and due to the heat you really want to use one. But after a round, the Samoan players like to sit in their cart and drink awhile, sometimes quite awhile. You will see many carts, with one Samoan apiece, sitting around with beers, talking. No one will kick them out until they get good and ready to leave – these are judges, and other high up mucky-mucks so everyone let's them do precisely as they please. Hence a cart shortage at times.

     The greens aren't much to brag about. I'm sure they can't get bent grass to grow here, so they have some mix of stuff, mainly the broad leaved grass that is in the fairway, which they cut low down. We figured they run about 2 on the stimpmeter.  You must hit your putt solidly, and hope it finds the cup. Barring a big downhill, too long is rarely an issue. Sand traps are rare, and no rakes, but I did get a sandy par and almost another one. Here's a green:

Green 13, typical

Tua on practice green

     The last photos are on 18, looking back from the green.   Notice 2 balls on the green; that's Joe & I both on in regulation, we both barely missed our birdie but ended with satisfying pars:

Hole 18, 2 on in 2

I can say that the views are extraordinary, at times you look down over the plain area around the airport to the ocean; but there are many views up at the mountain ridge above and down to the sea:

Matafeo, highest on island

Toward the ocean in a rain squall

      Venue for a US Open? Hardly. But a place to play an enjoyable, friendly 18 holes? Yes indeed. We think Sunday mornings will be best, as that's when Samoans do church and rest, so we can likely get on & off quickly. Then on to Tisa's – next posting.