HONOLULU (AP) — High on the slopes of the West Maui Mountains, Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course offers golfers sweeping ocean views. The course is so famous that The Sentry, the $20 million signature event for the PGA Tour, was held there almost every year for more than a quarter century.
“You have to see it to believe it,” said Ann Miller, a former Honolulu newspaper golf writer. “You’re seeing other islands, you’re whale watching. … Every scene is beautiful.”
Its world-class status also depends on keeping the course green.
But with water problems in West Maui — dealing with a drought and still reeling from the deadly 2023 wildfires that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina — keeping the course green enough for The Sentry has been difficult.
Eventually, as the plantation’s fairways and greens grew gray, the PGA Tour canceled the season opener, a blow that officials estimated would have a $50 million economic impact on the region.
A two-month closure and some rain helped get the course in good condition to reopen the 17 holes earlier this month to everyday golfers who pay upwards of $469 to play a round. The 18th hole is set to reopen Monday, but the debate is far from over what its future looks like amid the water resources used to keep the course green and climate change.
Questions about Hawaii’s golf future
There is concern that other high-profile tournaments will also pull out, taking with them financial benefits, such as money for charities, Miller said.
“It can literally change the face of it,” she said, “and it can change the popularity, obviously.”
The company that owns the course, along with Kapalua homeowners and Hua Momona Farms, filed a lawsuit in August accusing Maui Land and Pineapple, which operates century-old ditches that provide irrigation water to Kapalua and its residents, for failing to repair them.
The MLP protested and the two sides have been exchanging accusations ever since.
As the water distribution dispute plays out in court, EarthJustice, a nonprofit environmental legal group, is drawing attention to a separate case involving the use of potable water for golf course irrigation, particularly of concern to residents struggling with water restrictions amid the drought, including Native Hawaiians who consider the water a sacred resource.
“Drinking ground water needs to be used for potable uses,” West Maui taro farmer Lauren Palakiko told the Hawaii Commission on Water Resources Management at a recent meeting. “I can’t stress enough that it should never be pumped for golf courses or empty mansion swimming pools, hurting our aquifers.”
‘We can drink this water’
Kapalua’s plantation and bay courses, owned by TY Management Corp., have historically been irrigated with surface water under contracts with Maui Land and Pineapple, but have been using millions of gallons of potable groundwater since at least the summer, according to Earth Justice attorneys who pointed to the correspondence.
Chang said her letter did not grant any authority, but merely acknowledged the “verbal representation” that using groundwater is an “existing use” when there is not enough surface water. She is asking for supporting documents from MLP and Hawaii Water Service to confirm that explanation.
In emails to The Associated Press, MLP said it does not believe groundwater can be used for golf course irrigation and that Hawaii Water Service has not communicated to the commission that using groundwater to irrigate courses is an existing use.
MLP’s two wells provide drinking water to the course.
“It’s water we can drink. It’s a more precious resource within the sacred springs of the Wai,” said Earth Justice attorney Drew Hara, using the Hawaiian word for water.
Recycled water solution
TY, owned by Japanese billionaire and founder of clothing brand Uniqlo Tadashi Yanai, does not control what kind of water they have in the reservoir for irrigation, TY General Manager Kenji Yui said in a statement. They are also exploring ways to bring recycled water to Kapalua for irrigation.
Former Commissioner Kaman McLaney Beamer said he was concerned by allegations that Justice did not follow proper procedures.
The controversy over water for golf shows that Hawaii’s courses need to change their relationship with water, Beamer said: “I think there should be a time soon that all golf courses are using minimally recycled water.”
