"Our selection David McLay Kidd to design our course was based on his creativity and his flair for creating outstanding links golf courses, the determination of his entire team to produce the best results, and of course his Scottish brogue."
Charles Schwab & George Roberts, Nanea GC
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Hole 18
Nanea Golf Club
Big Island, Hawaii, USA
Opened 2003
This was a dream come true for a couple of British blokes like Paul Kimber and me. Living on the sun-drenched Big Island of Hawaii was easy; building a links layout amid the lava fields was not.
Our clients, Charles Schwab and George Roberts, demanded a challenging course in the style of their favorite courses in the U.K. and Ireland. They wanted a walking course, one that featured fast, demanding putting greens, intriguing contours, and choices; members of this private club enjoy the option to play low running bump-and-run shots instead of having to reach for a lob wedge, as too many modern American courses too often require.
Set on the slopes of Mount Hualalai, the course incorporates strategies inherent in any fine links course. Add to that firm Paspalum turf grown atop sand and stiff sea breezes, and Nanea plays like a links course, too.
This was the first course in North America to use Paspalum from tee to green across the entire course. Jimmy Kidd had pioneered the use of this grass in the Middle East years earlier, and Nanea offered the perfect opportunity to unveil the benefits of this grass to the droughty parts of North America.
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