An e-mailer is curious about "large holes being dug on each side of the road ... right outside the Ewa Gate to Barbers Point." They're so deep, noted the e-mailer, that water is leaking in because they're below sea level. So off we scrambled to Geiger Road, expecting to see something like a manhole. Huge water holes part
of golfing landscape
Ow, contraire! We're talking lakes, pal. Bright blue and glistening next to cliffs of gleaming limestone and coral. They're so big you could barely whack a golf ball across one with a one-wood driver.
And that's the idea. These manmade lakes are the water hazards of the new Coral Creek course being constructed in Ewa. Designed by Robin Nelson of Nelson and Haworth (offices in Hawaii, Singapore and Seattle), the water does indeed dip down into sea level.
But the water's somewhat fresh, which isn't all that surprising, since fresh water floats on top of salt water. "There's also going to be a fresh-water waterfall feeding it," said engineer Arthur Lambert of Goodfellow Bros., the construction firm.
"Robin is really going to do interesting things with rocks in the design," said George Fuller of Nelson and Haworth. "And there's going to be some elevation changes as well."
Like many golf courses, said Fuller, Coral Creek is being designed to channel a catastrophic "100-year flood" if one sweeps through the area. "It will act as a cachement area, keeping the flood away from homes. It's another reason golf courses are good for neighborhoods."
At the site, we found a golf ball in the freshly milled earth.
"Yep, people are whacking balls around here already. They sneak in in the night," laughed Lambert.
Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin.
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