Waiwai at Martis Camp 3rd Hole
On the 3rd hole, from a variety of elevated tee boxes, you are rewarded with a view of the green, framed by mature pine trees to line up your tee shot. You must contemplate this shot shape into the redan-like, high-centered green. It typically plays much shorter than its yardage, especially if the pin is placed in the back of the green. When the wind is at your back, as it often is, you best pick your club wisely. All six tee boxes are perched in the top right of the image, within the edge of trees lining the pond. The tees are set off to the side, so the player has to decide how difficult, or severe, of an angle they are willing to take. Of course, as you know, if you come up short, the penalty can lead to a less-than-satisfying outcome. By the way, the large iconic Jeffery Pine tree, seen here as a sentry in the front of the green, had to be removed a few years after this shot due to invasive beetles and is now in tree heaven. This intimate lake was exquisitely created by Tom Fazio, shown here in the early dawn Gothic light. This is one of my favorite settings of the Martis Camp Golf Course. This view was captured in June 2012, at 6:23am. It is a 180-degree, three-image triptych taken with a 10mm wide-angle lens. I was whisking raindrops off my camera lens as an opportune morning rain was passing-by, revealing the transcendent rainbow in the top right corner of the image. As such, a brief morning or afternoon rain shower (with no lightning) is analogous to the traditional blessing, and a good omen, in Hawaiian lore. In fact, the Hawaiian word for wealth is ‘Waiwai,’ which means ‘lots of water.’ Water, whether as a lake, raindrop, river, or rainbow, never fails to amuse and beguile us.
