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Kokua Line
Question: As a first step to improving the automated system of scheduling tee times at city golf courses, can't they simply print an extra copy of the daily tee times and post it outside the check-in window? Golfers are pretty akamai and will certainly know if a group is being squeezed in. Also, the no-show rule should be strictly enforced -- the rule now reads that the person making the reservation MUST BE THERE to be checked in. Tee sheets posted
daily at city linksAnswer: Tee sheets are printed and posted daily at all courses and the city's no-show policy is a "proactive" one, according to Alvin Au, director of the Department of Enterprise Services, which oversees the municipal courses.
The posting of tee sheets has been going on for about a year, said Dave Mills, the city's golf course system administrator.
"On every tee sheet, every hour, there is one vacant spot, which we call a starter's time. The guys on the standby list watch that time" to see if they can get it, Mills said. The only reason the sheets may not be posted is if the computer is on the blink, he said.
A no-show is defined as someone who does not cancel a reservation by calling by midnight of the day before or, having a tee time reservation, is not present with the rest of the group.
Mills said people may think there is no penalty for a no-show reservationist because the rest of the group gets to play. The reason is not to penalize the group just because one guy doesn't show up for whatever reason, he said.
However, the no-show doesn't get away scot-free.
You are allowed three or more no-shows within one calendar month. Three times and you're sent a warning letter. If you get two more no-shows the next month or any subsequent month, you get a 60-day "suspension of reservations."
Failure to show up two more times in another month results in a year's suspension of reservations.
"It's not a suspension of play. Someone else can make a reservation and you can still play," Mills said, acknowledging the policy has been criticized as being hardly a penalty.
"The thing we're hearing from every group we talk to is that it's too liberal," he said. "If you don't show up five times, you get penalized and the penalty is not that severe -- that what we ought to do is take you out of the system."
But Mills pointed out that before any penalty was set, "we were getting 3,000 no-shows a month. That's a lot."
Now, it's down to around 900, "so we cut it significantly even though the penalty is not that much."
Mahalo
My husband and I were returning from the airport when we began having problems with our car. We pulled off the freeway onto the Middle Street exit, where the car stalled in the middle of a busy road, with traffic zooming by. We must have sat there over half an hour. Frank and Ann Silva (brother and sister) and their friend, Diana Kendrick, were passing by and helped push us safely into a parking lot. We left the car there and they drove us to Waikiki, where we had a doctor's appointment. We are in our late 70s and were badly frightened. We shall always remember their kindness in coming to our rescue. -- Margaret Lambertson
Mahalo
To the honest person who placed my electric bill payment in my mailbox, after I inadvertently left it atop my car before driving off. This person's thoughtful act saved me the trouble of putting a stop payment on the check and writing a new one.-- E.L.
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