Latest news with #JackNicklaus
Forbes
3 days ago
- Sport
- Forbes
Private Golf In Paradise
The golf course at Hokuli'a If you've ever dreamt of joining an exclusive private golf club, as many golfers have, then you probably imagined some pristine course in an amazing setting. And I think I just found it in real life. Hokuli'a, a Jack Nicklaus-designed course on the Big Island of Hawaii, seems like a members-only paradise. Situated on a hillside just above the Pacific, it's about a half-hour drive south of the Kona airport. The views are breathtaking as you drive into the property, and the long and winding road meandering down toward the clubhouse offers beautiful panoramas. The par-3 13th hole That only sets you up for what's to come on the course itself. The day I played there last weekend, I was greeted with a slice of fresh banana bread as I stepped up to the starter's desk. 'It was baked by one of our members,' says one of the staffers. 'Everyone who owns property here has some type of farming on their lot – it's part of the sustainability and agricultural requirements.' The banana bread was outstanding, by the way. As I make my way from the secluded driving range to the first tee, the view opens up. I can see that the course is in amazing condition – something that stays vibrant right through to the 18th green. The fairways are generously wide. The rough and bunkers aren't too penal. And as much as the terrain features slopes and elevation changes, the greens are relatively flat and roll true. Many holes here require tee shots that may start on a downhill slope, but go into an uphill slope. So therefore, I felt like my driving distances were slightly shorter than usual on those holes. But then on the flat holes, the ball seemed to really fly. All of the holes had a really nice flow to them, as well as a consistent feel – with the possible exception of No. 18 that's a short dogleg right in which the second shot is severely uphill. But by that time, I was so mesmerized by the beautiful scenery that golf almost seemed secondary. Speaking of, I commonly saw lush greenery to one side and the ocean to the other. At some point, I felt like I was on the set of Jurassic Park because of the beautiful green surroundings with black lava rock accents. Even glimpsed a rainbow over the Pacific. If you ever get to play here, you will fire shots over lava rocks and canyons, and back onto the lush green fairways. And you'll know right away that this is indeed a very special place and golf course. While you'll have views of the Pacific from every hole, the only water you'll encounter on the course are hazards at holes No. 2 and 4. No hole plays right down alongside the ocean either, but 16 gets within about 100 yards of it. I see some similarities between this course and the Nicklaus-designed Manele Bay on Lana'i. There's a definite emphasis here on hitting your short shots well. And while a small detail, this matters a lot for aesthetics: On the par-fours and fives, the cart paths disappear as you get off the tee area and don't pick up again until around the green. Why can't every course adapt this approach? Also a nice touch, every person I encountered – staff or member – was incredibly nice and helpful. Pristine conditions Currently there are 260 members of the club, but only 90 golf members. Maybe that sparseness contributed to me playing 18 in about two hours – just the way I like it. As you might imagine, many of the golf members also belong to other high-end courses around the world. Hokuli'a, which opened in 1999 and spans 1,260 acres, has nearly 450 available home lots of the 500 total around it – each with a sweeping panorama and a minimum size of one acre. Real estate company Hawaii Life handles all of the sales and inquiries. Each lot has an agricultural easement, which is why nearly everyone grows some sort of produce or coffee on their lot. No hotels or rentals will ever be built on property. Representatives say the advantages to living here along the Kona Coast – as opposed to other private clubs on the Big Island – include the views, less wind because of where it's situated, and the sustainable farm-centric aspect. 'What distinguishes Hokuli'a from other private club communities on the Big Island is its rare sense of space, privacy, and unparalleled, unobstructed ocean and coastline views that are coveted,' says Leslie Oxley-Friedrich, Director of Sales & Marketing at Hokuli'a. 'Each home site spans at least one acre within this world-class, low-density residential and private club setting. Hokuli'a is a place to exhale, blending luxury resort-style living with a vibrant, sustainable 'agrihood' lifestyle—and with three miles of Kona's Gold Coast as your playground, it's a haven to celebrate nature and Hawaii's unspoiled splendor.' And even if you can't afford multi-million-dollar properties or private golf memberships on the Big Island, you may well consider mimicking what we did for this trip. We reserved an upscale, well-appointed villa in resort-area Waikoloa Beach through Hawaii Life. I can definitely see the advantages to doing this over hotels, Vrbo or Airbnb. Hawaii Life's rentals are spacious and private homes that are all locally owned and operated. The company offers more concierge services and more personal contact than the other options. There's always someone available to personally talk with, if you need to. Our three-bedroom place was perfect for a golf buddy trip. The location was central to a handful of nice courses – even walkable to two of them. It had everything I could imagine needing – from kitchen to washer and dryer, air conditioning, nice furniture, extremely comfortable beds, parking, an ocean club just steps from our front door, and plenty of space. And in the event we needed to access hotel restaurants, there was a Hilton just a 10-minute walk away. In Hawaii, where food can be extremely pricey, having the option to make some quiet meals at home with a bottle of wine is really appealing to me after going to restaurants two or three nights in a row. When I'm going on a relaxing trip to a nice place, I don't want to worry about anything. I just want to chill, play golf and enjoy. And I feel that's exactly what Hawaii Life provides. The only thing that frustrated me our entire stay: my putting.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Shirtless Travis Kelce Slathered in Honey by Bad Bunny, Attacked by a Bear in ‘Happy Gilmore 2'
If you thought you knew what Travis Kelce's Happy Gilmore 2 cameo might entail — guess again. Warning: Spoilers below for Happy Gilmore 2. Kelce, 35, makes a brief but memorable appearance in the highly-anticipated sequel — which hit Netflix on Friday, July 25 — as a seemingly normal hotel server who is first seen politely fetching an Arnold Palmer for former pro golfer Jack Nicklaus. His true personality, however, breaks through when bus boy Oscar (played by Bad Bunny) lets him know a guest requested Bombay, not Tanquaray gin, for his drink. 'You told [him] that was on me, man? You threw me under the bus? Why, so you could be the hero? You took the knife and stabbed me in my back,' Kelce aggressively says to Oscar, who swears he meant no harm. Travis Kelce Gives Bad Bunny a Scare in 'Happy Gilmore 2' Trailer: Watch 'I can't work like this,' Kelce's character continues. 'Watching my six. You mess around, you find out,' he threatens. 'I just meant to help,' Oscar desperately replies, but Kelce doesn't buy it: 'You're fired,' he tells Oscar before barking in his face and walking away. Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) witnesses the tense exchange by a nearby table, and questions Kelce on being a little 'harsh' on Oscar for his mistake. 'Sorry you had to hear that, Mr. Gilmore,' Kelce says, 'but you don't know the backstory.' Later in the night, when the golfers decide to enter a tournament against a new evil league of players, Kelce loses his cool again, this time in excitement. When he chest bumps two players so hard they're thrown through a table, the entire crowd erupts in cheers. Later, however, Kelce's temper comes back to haunt him. He makes his final appearance in one of Oscar's dream sequences after Happy asks him to visualize his own 'happy place.' The former bus boy, now a caddy to Happy, begins to fantasize about tying up Kelce, now only wearing an apron around his lower region, up to a pole inside a beautiful garden and slathering him in honey. 'What is this? Is this about the job? Come on,' Kelce asks as Oscar continues to paint honey all over his body. After Oscar seductively covers him in the thick liquid, a bear appears and attacks the athlete as he screams for help. 'I'm happy now,' Oscar says after coming out of the dream. 'You were thinking about a bear eating that waiter, weren't you? Was there honey involved?' Happy asks with a smile, to which Oscar replies, 'Un poquito,' meaning, 'a little.' Happy Gilmore 2 serves as a sequel to Sandler's 1996 comedy hit, catching back up with the amateur golfer nearly 30 years after the events of the first film. Now retired and the parent of five kids with wife Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen), the retired pro is looking to return to the game, hoping to win enough money to send daughter Vienna (Sunny Sandler) to a prestigious European ballet school. Kelce opened up about getting a chance to cameo in the sports comedy during a January episode of The Pat McAfee Show, calling the opportunity a 'dream come true.' 'I thought SNL was going to be the peak of my acting and showman or entertainment career," Travis quipped. "Working with Happy Gilmore himself, the Sandman and Happy Productions, it was off the chain." Adam Sandler Wanted Travis Kelce to Play His Son in 'Happy Gilmore 2' Sandler, for his part, joked during an August 2024 episode of Travis and brother Jason Kelce's 'New Heights' podcast that he greenlit a Happy Gilmore sequel just for a chance to work with the NFL star. Sandler noted that he originally had a special role in mind for Travis but they ultimately decided to go in a different direction. 'We were talking about you playing my son while we were writing it, literally, like, six months ago,' Sandler continued during the August episode. 'We were like, 'Imagine if Travis was my first baby, how funny that would be. Just a badass.'' Happy Gilmore 2 is on Netflix now.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Travis Kelce posts unseen photos from behind the scenes of Happy Gilmore 2 after 'surreal' Netflix cameo
Travis Kelce has given fans a glimpse behind the camera of Happy Gilmore 2, with the NFL legend posting several pictures from the set of the Netflix film. Kelce enjoys a cameo in the golf comedy, which was released on Friday - three decade after Adam Sandler starred in the original classic. To mark the release, Kelce shared a photo dump from his time working on the film. He is seen on set alongside Sandler, his father Ed and even golf legend Jack Nicklaus. 'Man this life is crazy!! Still so surreal I got this opportunity,' Kelce wrote alongside the photos on Instagram. 'SANDMAN!! Thank you brotha, for the opportunity and for giving us all Happy Gilmore 2! Everybody go check it out right now.' Kelce is preparing for his 13th season in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs but the 35-year-old has already taken his first steps into acting. The tight end has hosted a gameshow - 'Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?' - and appeared in horror series 'Grotesquerie'. Now the three-time Super Bowl champion plays the role of a server in Happy Gilmore 2. He is one of many athletes to appear in the film, with Nicklaus, John Daly, Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy among the golf stars to make cameos. Kelce is not a prolific user of social media but this was the tight end's second photo dump in as many ways. On Thursday, he went Instagram official with Taylor Swift, sharing a number of pictures from their 'offseason adventures'. They are seen enjoying dinner, clowning around in the snow and skating on an ice rink. Kelce's older brother Jason, mom Donna and dad Ed also feature in the Instagram dump, as does Swift's younger brother Austin.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Who's on Jack Nicklaus' golf Mount Rushmore? Sorry, Arnold Palmer
Whose faces would be carved into gold's Mount Rushmore if Jack Nicklaus made the final call? Well, obviously, his own likeness would be among the four. The other three, according to a recently resurfaced video on Twitter, would belong to Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods. Sorry, Arnie. More: How did Memorial Tournament, Muirfield Village get their names? Jack Nicklaus explains Arnold Palmer, Nicklaus' longtime friend and rival, didn't make the legendary golfer's personal cut. The video was originally shot for Golf Digest in August 2024 and was recently repurposed by a popular Twitter account called Official Tour Pro. Nicklaus, 85, became close friends with Palmer, his rival, while they and Gary Player dominated the sport in the 1960s to help golf gain popularity in the U.S. Palmer, who died in 2016 at age 87, won 62 PGA Tour titles and still ranks fifth in all-time victories behind Sam Snead, Woods, Nicklaus and Hogan. Jones, who co-founded the Masters Tournament and Augusta National Golf Club where it's played, played only as an amateur while making his living as an attorney. He's considered the greatest amateur player who's ever lived. Nicklaus, meanwhile, won 117 professional tournaments, including 73 PGA wins plus a record 18 major championships. That's three more majors than Woods, who's still playing. Nicklaus also fronts one of the world's leading golf course design and construction firms, Nicklaus Design, and has designed numerous courses – including Muirfield Village in Dublin that hosts the annual Memorial Tournament. Nicklaus has also inspired a line of ice cream flavors plus Golden Bear Lemonade, but neither has a spot on the Mount Rushmore of golf-inspired food/beverage items next to the tasty half lemonade/half iced tea mixture known as an Arnold Palmer. Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@ and @ This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Tiger Woods makes Jack Nicklaus' golf Mount Rushmore. Who made the cut?
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tiger Woods' Former Coach Show Ultimate Respect To Scottie Scheffler
Tiger Woods' Former Coach Show Ultimate Respect To Scottie Scheffler originally appeared on The Spun. Scottie Scheffler has competed in 25 majors and has now won four of them and he's now just one U.S. Open win from completing the vaunted career Grand Slam. Scheffler has received - and deserves - endless praise for his accomplishments on the golf greens. But for Tiger Woods' former coach, there's an even higher level of praise he's earned. Appearing on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio, Woods' former coach Butch Harmon had some of the highest possible praise for Scheffler. Amid a discussion comparing Scheffler to his iconic pupil, Harmon declared that Scheffler is the closest thing he's seen to the golf GOAT himself, Jack Nicklaus. "I got to tell you that the only reason I called in, I was listening to you talk about him and all the comparisons and stuff to Tiger and this and that," Harmon said. "I think his greatest attribute that he has is he's the closest thing to Jack Nicklaus I've ever seen mentally. He makes no mental mistakes. He dumps the ball in the middle of the green when he has to. His iron control is beautiful. "He reminds me more of Jack than he does of Tiger, Tiger in the winning ways, but Jack in the way he plays golf. I've never quite seen a guy that can mimic Nicklaus the way he does." To call that high praise is a bit of an understatement. Nicklaus still holds nearly every record there is for golf's biggest events, particularly with his record for major wins. Whether or not Scheffler can continue his winning ways and someday challenge Woods, let alone Nicklaus, for the all-time major crown is a very different conversation though. Age alone might factor into the occasion. Case in point, Woods had already won eight majors by the time he reached Scheffler's age. He managed to win another six between 2005 and 2008, coming agonizingly close to winning another five between 2005 and 2009. Then the injuries started to pick up. For now, Scheffler is about 25-percent of the way towards challenging the marks set by Woods and Nicklaus. Unless someone else emerges as a true rival over the next few years, he may be even closer by the end of Woods' Former Coach Show Ultimate Respect To Scottie Scheffler first appeared on The Spun on Jul 23, 2025 This story was originally reported by The Spun on Jul 23, 2025, where it first appeared.
