HONOLULU — The City and County of Honolulu has secured a public-private partnership for an overhauled experience at the Ala Wai Golf Course driving range – just not the one many expected a few years ago.

The Hawaii State Junior Golf Association saw an opportunity at the once-popular range and is taking over its operations and that of the pro shop at Ala Wai, the nonprofit and the city said this week. The HSJGA is moving its headquarters to Ala Wai from Kauai and the driving range, which has been closed since Dec. 1, will reopen with upgrades on March 4 and be rebranded the Ala Wai Golf Center.

What You Need To Know

  • Operations of the Ala Wai Golf Course driving range and pro shop have been handed over to the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association and First Tee on an open-ended public-private partnership contract

  • Entertainment chain TopGolf was once in discussions with the city for building a $50 million complex at the driving range, but those talks were put on hold amid the pandemic and environmental assessment requirements in 2020

  • The HSJGA is using the opportunity to move its headquarters from Kauai to Oahu and is branding the renovated driving range area as the Ala Wai Golf Center

  • It is possible that TopGolf could arrive at another spot on Ala Wai Golf Course's 150 acres in the future, according to golf analyst Mark Rolfing, who serves on the HSJGA board of directors

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Prior to the pandemic, the city had been in discussions with Texas-based entertainment chain TopGolf to build a $50 million complex on the driving range’s seven-plus acres, but those talks were paused in 2020 amid financial difficulties for TopGolf as well as concerns over flood plain issues at Ala Wai.

Mark Rolfing, the secretary of the HSJGA and First Tee board of directors, championed the new project as a win-win windfall for both the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which becomes the concessionaire at Ala Wai, and the city, which acts as landlord.

Ala Wai was once known as the busiest golf course in the country, with nearly 200,000 rounds per year in the late 1980s, according to the National Golf Foundation. But that status had waned even before the pandemic.

“I’ve always felt like Ala Wai should be the hub of all of the Hawaii golf industry,” Rolfing told Spectrum News on Wednesday. “I think that’s what’s going to end up happening here.”

Discussions with the city began in March 2021, the well-known golf analyst/ambassador and Hawaii resident said.

Rolfing previously helped with the initial framework of the TopGolf deal. He said he would like to see TopGolf – a combination of a futuristic driving range, food and drink and entertainment – still arrive elsewhere on the golf course’s 150-acre footprint someday.

The HSJGA contract is revocable and not for any fixed length of time, Jordan Abe, administrator for the city’s Golf Courses Division, told Spectrum News. The previous concessionaire had a five-year contract that expired Nov. 30.

“The HSJGA (and its partner) First Tee, they’re going to quickly mobilize operations to reopen the driving range and pro shop at Ala Wai Golf Course, and continue services to our golfers while we work on a solicitation for a long-term driving range contract here at Ala Wai,” Abe told Spectrum News.

The HSJGA and First Tee will set up a trailer near the driving range as their new headquarters.

“Long term, I think this is what’s going to make the organization sustainable,” Rolfing said. “Especially in the last couple years, fundraising and donations … have become questionable, and difficult at best. Now, with a properly run operation … there will be maximum revenues compared to what it’s been. The facility’s been pretty underutilized, especially in the last few years.”

Ala Wai is still the breadwinner among Oahu’s six municipal courses. A city spokesperson told Spectrum News that the driving range and pro shop at Ala Wai generate an average of approximately $450,000 annually. The pro shop offers club and pull cart rentals and sells Ala Wai-branded apparel.

But the facility, with its 40 closely-packed lanes at the range, was showing its age. Both the city and HSJGA invested unspecified sums – Rolfing termed it “significant” – to renovate the area in time for the opening. Besides the range, there is a new putting green and short game area.

Rolfing said the range balls, which had lost dimples for distance, have been replaced by the HSJGA, as has the range picker machine. The city said it conducted “in-house repairs to the driving range building and irrigation, and re-grassed the outfield.”

“I think the whole atmosphere is going to be different,” Rolfing said. “You’ll see younger customers and more families. It’ll be a different kind of an experience.”

Approximately 14 people will staff the range. The number of operational range lanes will be reduced for the initial reopening while the new operators get settled in.

TopTracer ball-tracking technology, which is owned by TopGolf and exists at driving ranges like Bay View in Kaneohe, is a possible future investment, Rolfing said. He also envisions making the range a home for the University of Hawaii men’s and women’s golf teams and UH students.

But mainly, it will be a home for junior golf, which the HSJGA pledges to provide to youths at minimal cost as part of its mission. First Tee, a nonprofit which has ties to the PGA, plans to put on classroom-like learning opportunities in the trailer.

Rolfing credited Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, Department of Enterprise Services Director Jerry Pupillo and Abe for having the vision to see the unusual, if not unprecedented, partnership get done.

“Everybody warned me and said, ‘oh, it’ll never happen, you’re going to get shafted in the end’ or whatever. ‘Beware, beware,’” Rolfing said. “And it’s been a great experience watching it come together. I wasn’t sure it would, and it did, and those guys made it (happen).”