Getting a Hawaii resident discount on county courses on Oahu is more difficult than getting that same discount on resort courses like Turtle Bay and Ko’olina. In order to get the resident discount on county courses like the Ala Wai Golf Course and the Pali Golf Course you need to obtain a Hawaii Golf ID Card.

To get your Hawaii Golf ID, you can’t just show up with your drivers license or you resident card and get it, nor do you just need 1 form of ID and your social security card like you do when getting your Hawaii State ID for Kama’aina discounts. Instead you need your picture ID and at least one of the following…

• Last year’s Hawaii State income tax return with W-2 form.
• Filed current year Hawaii State income tax return with W-2 form.
• Hawaii voter registration certificate.
• Current real estate property tax assessment document for your Hawaii residential property.
• Homeowner’s insurance policy for your Hawaii residence.
• An approved Hawaii State Tax Clearance Certificate (Form A-6) from the Hawaii State Department of Taxation (Applies to those individuals who don’t have a copy of their Hawaii State Tax return or are new filers)

Better yet you can only get them at one of three locations and only on specific days. The Ala Wai Golf Course on Tuesdays from 10 am to 2 pm, and Saturdays from 8 am to noon. The Pali Golf Course on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8 am to Noon. And at the Ted Makalena Golf Course on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 8 am to Noon.

Make sure to call the starters offices at those locations before you go to make sure they’ll be issuing them. Somedays they might decide it’s too busy to issue them and you’ll have made the trip for nothing. Numbers and maps can be found at the golf course links in our directory under Oahu Golf Courses.

Although some may have their opinions on what makes a person kama’aina, for the sake of local discounts in Hawaii, you need to be a Hawaii Resident. Which means you need a state identification card of some sort. Either a Hawaii drivers license or a Hawaii State ID will do the trick. With this identification you can get tons of discounts from hotel rooms to discount golf rates, the kama’aina discount is there to show appreciation for local residents.

Where and how to get a state ID card:

The easier of the two is a state ID card because you don’t have to take a written test to get it. Depdenting on which island you live on you can get your Hawaii state ID card at the following locations Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Island of Oahu
Kekuanao’a Building
465 S. King Street, Rm. 102
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813

Island of Hawaii
Hilo
75 Aupuni St.
Hilo, HI. 96720
Phone: (808) 974-6265

Kona
75-5722 Kuakini Highway
Kuakini Tower, #215
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740
Phone: (808) 327-4953

Island of Maui
2264 Aupuni St., Ste. #1
Wailuku, Hawaii 96793
Phone: (808) 243-5798

Island of Kauai
3060 Eiwa St., Rm. 106
Lihue, Hawaii 96766
Phone: (808) 274-3100

What you need to bring with you

1. A certified birth certificate issued by the state repository in the state where you were born;
2. A certificate of citizenship or naturalization;
3. A document for a child born abroad of American parents.;
4. A valid United States Passport if issued in your legal name.

And of course, your Hawaii residential address.

What can you get with your Kama’aina discount.

Golf. Golf courses are probably the place you get the biggest discount for being a resident. Island golf courses have reputation of being expensive. If you’re a tourist visiting Hawaii for only a week, you may only have this one time to play. But if you’re a resident it would be impossible for a lot of people to play regularly. With the Kama’aina discount, you can. Places like Turtle Bay and Luana Hills give you a round for almost a third of the regular price. Just show your state identification or drivers license.

For discounts on Honolulu county courses like the Ala Wai Golf Course and The Pali Golf Course see our section on obtaining a Hawaii Resident Golf ID Card.

Rentals. You can discounts on most rentals like kayaks, surf boards, snorkeling, scuba, and the like. Without a lot of room to stash your toys this can be a big help. Being able to rent a surfboard for a little cheaper down in Waikiki after you get done with work just makes you feel a little better about cutting out early to enjoy the waves.

Hotels. Hotels around the islands offer huge Kama’aina discounts. You can stay at a four star resort on Lanai for half price. A room that’s regularly $500 now costs you $250. It’s a great deal! Even Waikiki hotels offer a discount. This should definitely be utilized if you’re going to be traveling to other islands. It can be your excuse to finally go to that resort you never thought you could afford.

Golfing in Hawaii can be expensive, unless of course you’re Kama’aina (resident), then you can always find deals. Weekend, weekday, and twilight deals are at almost all the golf courses  in Hawaii, especially on Oahu.

The deals I like best on Oahu are the twilight deals at the nicer courses. Of course there are the county course deals where you can play twilight for like $5 or $6 but courses like Ko’olau, Luana Hills, and Olomana all have twilight deals that should allow you to fit in between 10 and 18 holes depending on what time of year you go and how crowded it is when you go.

Ko’olau is probably my favorite out of the bunch. Although it’s got one of the highest ratings and slope in the world, and you’ll loose at least 5 balls when you go, it’s beautiful and if you don’t care how you shoot, you’ll have a great time. Plus the Kama’aina rate for twilight is $29 at 2:00 pm and $22 at 3:00 pm. (I think those are the times, they shift a little throughout the year). The crowds here vary greatly. Some days there can be 5 people on the course, and others 100. Most of the time though it’s slow.

The next course is Luana Hills. Right across the way from Ko’olau  it’s just as tough and you’ll loose just as many balls. The prices are a little higher but the times are the same. This course sees a few more people than Ko’olau but you should be able to fit at least 10 holes in.

Last is Olomana. You won’t lose as many balls here but you won’t take as many shots during twilight either. This course is usually packed and they tend to send them out quite frequently after twilight hours. The cost is actually more expensive than Ko’olau and Luana Hills if you’re riding at $36. Sometimes I’ve fit in 18 holes but the last two are always dangerous as you’ll be playing in blackness.

Overall on the southeast sides of the island of Oahu these are the best Kama’aina deals I’ve found for Twilight. Let us know if you find more.

It all started for Michelle Wie this week when Annika Sorenstam decided to remove herself from the Samsung World Championship. Michelle Wie, playing on a sponsors exemption was getting media pressure to back out of the tournament as well which is reserved for the top 20 money winners on the tour, Natalie Gulbis being the one bumped by Michelle’s presence.

It then continued for Michelle as she finished the first round 7-over-par, then more of same in the second round, and third round.

She finally found some sort of groove in the final round and managed to play her way out of last place but still left many wondering if she should be playing at all when she finishes 37 behind the leaders.

To top it all off, Michelle Wie lost another agent when Greg Nared resigned from the William Morris Agency. Let’s hope she’s able to regroup for next year where she’s bound to have to play some qualifying tournaments.

Both Tadd Fujikawa and Michelle Wie struggled today in their respective tournament first rounds.

Michelle Wie shot a 7 over par at the Samsung World Championship placing her in dead last of the 20 person field which includes the 19 top money earners for 2007.

Tadd Fujikawa was doing well all day playing even par and looking towards dropping under par when he recorded a double bogey on 17 to slip to 2 over for the day at the Frys.com Open in Las Vegas.

Michelle will have 3 more days to make up for the poor start while Tadd will have to climb a steep hill tomorrow to make his cut.

Michelle Wie tees it off at 8:50 am HST tomorrow at the Samsung World Championship in Palm Desert California. The Samsung is only 20 players, the leaders on the LPGA money list.

The exception is Michelle Wie who got in via her famous sponsor exemptions and bumped Natlie Gulbis from the tournament. That stirred a little controversy among some sports writers.

Also teeing it off tomorrow is 16 year old Tadd Fujikawa who will be 5:20 am HST in his event at the Frys.com open in Las Vegas. Tadd will try to make this his first made cut as a professional in 5 tries.

Good luck to both young golfers, we’ll be looking for great things.

Hawaii golfers continue to make the newsKane’ohes Dean Wilson finished up the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio shooting a 4 under 66 to end up tied for 6th with 5 others in the final tournament standings. This was his second highest tournament placing of the year behind a 5th place at the Stanford St. Jude Championship.

Justin Leonard ended up beating Jesper Parnevik in a playoff late today. Top 10 standings are below.

1. Justin Leonard
2. Jesper Parnevik
T3 Daniel Chopra
T3. Mathias Gronberg
5. Heath Slocum
T6. J.J. Henry
T6. Dean Wilson
T6. Dan Forsman
T6. Chris Stroud
T6. Ryan Armour

Tadd Fujikawa was playing in the Albertsons Boise Open this week in his fourth tournament since turning pro this year. He started out the tournament with a round that included several birdies, a hole in one, a few bogeys and an end result of 1 under par.

He needed what looked like a 2 under second round to make the weekend but was unsuccessful even with a late rally.

Check out a recap of Tadd Fujikawa’s week here.

A 16-year-old golf phenom just turned pro today. You know who. Yes, Tadd Fujikawa announced today that he is turning pro. Remember that 5-foot-1 guy who sent the gallery into a frenzy with his eagle on the 18th hole to make the cut at the Sony Open? There he was the youngest player to make the cut on the PGA Tour in 50 years. The youngest player ever to make the cut on the PGA Tour was Bob Panasik who was 4 months younger than Tadd when he did it at the Canadian Open in 1957. Anyway, Tadd finished in 20th place at the Sony Open that year, which would have given him $70,000 if he were pro. In case you didn’t know, he was also the youngest player ever played in the U.S. Open in its 106 years of history.

As for the first tournament of his career, Tadd is making his pro debut in three weeks at the Reno-Tahoe Open where he already received a sponsor’s exemption. He actually made his professional debut today at the Mililani Golf Club in a friendly tournament, which his team won. His first professional earning was whopping $25.

However, he does have a tough road ahead. He will be constant compared to another Hawaii phenom, Michelle Wie, who is having a bit of slump lately. By the way, what is up with all the haters of Michelle Wie? Can’t they just give her a break until she gets healthy and brings her game back? I do agree, however, Tadd does seem to have more humility in him that fits his age than Michelle Wie, and he does seem to be enjoying more on the course. Maybe Michelle should seek some advice from him? Who knows… Going back to Tadd, he has to rely on sponsor’s exemptions or keep trying to qualifying for events (PGA, Nationwide, or Japanese Tour) since he can’t even go to the qualifying school until he turns 18.

I am not quite sure why he didn’t wait longer to go pro. I wish he played more as an amateur and build his game up and maybe try to win the U.S. Amateur first to build his legitimacy. I wish I knew what his motive was to turn pro… No matter what, we will be behind him cheering him on though. I just love the little guy whacking the ball like any other big name professional golfers.

Go, Tadd; show them what you got!

They call it the most challenging golf course in the world, from the black tees that is and “they” might be right. The Ko’olau Golf Course on the island of Oahu in the great state of Hawaii is a tough course.

From the black tees the Ko’olau Golf Course plays to 7,310 yards with a rating of 76.4 and a slope of 162. The holes are literally cut out of jungle leaving you only the fairway to shoot for on most of them. On some holes there is absolutely no margin for error as the fairway meets the jungle without a trace of rough to stop your ball from rolling in.

Some people I’ve played with here say that it’s not a true test of golf. But I love it. I do tend to loose a lot of balls if I haven’t played in a while as errant shots will result in a walk through the jungle if you want to recover the golf ball.

Although the course is said to be the toughest in the world it is definitely managable. At Ko’olau, you can tell who hasn’t played the course before because they’ll pull out their driver on almost every hole. To play the course properly you really should only play your driver on a few holes. Instead play spot golf by hitting to a spot in the fairway.

The sites are great as most holes overlook the waters of Kailua and Kaneohe while the Ko’olau mountain ranges looms in the background. It’s a great time that I suggest everyone try at least once if you are traveling to the island of Oahu.