I, and 91 other ASGA members from all over the U.S., arrived at the fabulous Ritz Carlton, Kapalua, Maui on February 2nd for the seven day ASGA national event. And what a Wowee in Maui time it was!

Tom Alsop, the man behind the ASGA curtain, organized this glorious trip and followed through on every minute detail… and we all know, the devil is in the details!

On the day of arrival, Tom hosted an open “meet and greet” in his fabulous suite overlooking The Bay course, and gifted us with Mai Tai’s, bottled water and a box of chocolate macadamia nuts. Right then I knew I had signed on for one fun-filled week! That evening in the Ritz Carlton ballroom, all 91 of us - bedraggled and tired from the long airplane travel, but still eager and happy golfers! -congregated for cocktails and light fare while Tom reviewed the week’s itinerary. As I know some of you are VERY interested: the ratio of men to women was probably 1:4 and the average age was in the mid-50’s and 60’s.

On Sunday, amid torrential rain, we all gathered at the Pineapple Grill –a restaurant on the Ritz property – for a Superbowl party. That Tom Alsop has a bit of Vegas in him … he sold Superbowl boxes for $25 a head so the winner of each quarter won huge bucks! I, however, won zero.

We began our first day of golf on a sunny, 70 degree, Monday, and what a memorable day it was! We were all shuttled to an open-air little restaurant for breakfast at the port and then boarded a boat to Lanai to play a Jack Nicklaus signature course, “The Challenge At Manele.” (Bill Gates got married on the green of the 17th hole!) The course runs on red lava fields along a breathtaking coastline (you could even see the humpback whales breaching and lunging in the distance!) and offers a golfer every challenge: drives over cliffs and gorges, deep bunkers, and flags very close to the cliff’s edge. And, the greens were very very tricky, I learned early on that a ball will always roll toward the ocean… even if it has to roll uphill. Imagine that!

I was in a great foursome and played with “Joe from Ohio” who had golfed with our very own Tom Maniscalco at Pinehurst last year!

All 91 of us had so much fun golfing that day and we shared lots of stories on the boat ride back to Maui and then at the group dinner afterward at the Maui Hard Rock Café!

For our two non-golf days there were some fun excursion offerings: a whale watch, a day of scuba or sailing, a day of shopping in town, or a trip to the volcanoes. Or, you could veg on the beach or by the pool. Some folks opted to golf every single day and went on their own to local golf courses.

There were two other scheduled golf days at the Ritz Carlton’s magnificently maintained Kapalua courses. We played a round at “The Bay” course – an Arnold Palmer and Francis Duane design - the first 9 holes in what I consider to be tsunami like weather. It was a driving horizontal rain and the winds so high that golf balls were literally falling off the tees! We got drenched to the bone on the front 9 but the sun was shining on the back 9! The course features a spectacular hole – a par 3 with the tee on one side of a Pacific inlet and the green on the other!

And for dinner that evening, the ASGA got gussied up and shuttled into town to dine at Ruth’s Chris. You can always count on a great steak there!

On the last day before departure we played the world famous “Plantation” course at Kapalua (home of the PGA Tour Mercedes Championship every January). The course is long and difficult and unfurls across natural geographic formations and pineapple plantation fields. I have a renewed level of respect for pro golfers who shoot in the 60’s and 70’s on this course! Following a fabulous day of golf, the whole group dined together for our farewell dinner at Sensei at Kapalua, a grand Asian fusion restaurant with the best sushi I’ve ever tasted! We all said our “good-bye’s” and “see you at another ASGA event”.

This was the first ASGA national or regional trip I participated in and I’d highly recommend the experience. The only thing missing was sharing the experience and golfing with you, my friends in the Fairfield County Chapter!

Aloha and Mahalo!
Micheline Shola