Kahuku Golf Course featured in ESPN’s “Where It Lies”
Kahuku Golf Course, a 114-acre property protected through the City and County of Honolulu’s Clean Water and Natural Lands (CWNL) Fund, is receiving national attention as part of ESPN’s Where It Lies Original Series.
Located along the coastline in the North Shore community of Kahuku, the sporty, seaside links course offers a unique public golf experience — and can be a real challenge when the trade winds pick up.
The four-part Where It Lies series explores public golf courses across the country and the people, communities and stories that give them their character. Kahuku Golf Course and the surrounding North Shore community are featured in the series’ fourth episode, which also features Bree Fong with the City’s Clean Water and Natural Lands program, discussing the importance of protecting the property and its natural resources.
Kahuku Golf Course offers much more than a round of golf. The 114.05-acre property is home to one of the largest ʻuaʻu kani (native wedge-tailed shearwater) colonies on Oʻahu, with an estimated 500–700 birds at a given time, as well as mōlī (Laysan albatross).
The City and County of Honolulu acquired the property in 2017 to preserve public access to outdoor recreation and open space while protecting significant coastal habitats and ecosystems.
The coastline provides important habitat for a variety of native wildlife. Sea turtles begin nesting in the area in April and are monitored by Hawaiʻi Marine Animal Response, Mālama i nā Honu volunteers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages and stewards the adjacent James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge.
Other native species found at the property include nalo meli maoli (Native Hawaiian yellow-faced bees) and ʻīlioholoikauaua (Hawaiian monk seals), which are also known to use the beach.
Today, Kahuku Golf Course represents the many benefits of protecting open space — providing a place for public recreation while helping conserve important coastal habitat and native wildlife for generations to come.
Learn more about Kahuku Golf Course and explore the City’s CWNL conservation portfolio: cwnl.org/conservation-sites/kahuku-golf-course
Video courtesy of BLUEFOOT Entertainment and ESPN. Used with permission.