The Large W At Waialae – Sony Open In Hawaii

The Large W At Waialae – Sony Open In Hawaii

One of many iconic photographs on the PGA TOUR is of 4 palm bushes forming an enormous “W” at Waialae Nation Membership in Honolulu.

The W ostensibly stands for Waialae, however its origins are literally in a film known as Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

The 1963 film is one in every of my favourite madcap comedies of the period. Others in the identical vein are The Nice Race, These Magnificent Males In Their Flying Machines, The Pink Panther, Hatari and Assist Your Native Sheriff.

Its A Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World facilities round a race to seek out $350,000 in stolen money that has been buried beneath a “Large W.” The plot, nonetheless, was simply an excuse for director Stanley Kramer (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Judgment at Nuremberg, Inherit the Wind) to have a star-studded forged yuk it up on display screen. Showing within the movie, amongst others, are Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney, Phil Silvers, Jonathan Winters, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Jim Backus, Ethel Merman, Edie Adams, Dorothy Provine, Joe Brown, Terry-Thomas, Buster Keaton, Peter Falk, Don Knotts and the Three Stooges.

Within the film, the forged frantically runs across the countryside in a wide range of modes of transportation, making an attempt to be the primary to seek out the buried loot, resulting in all kinds of comedic disasters. In the long run, all of them converge on a park in coastal California, the place the Large W is meant to be situated.

The Large W is in plain sight for the viewers, however for a while nobody within the forged notices.

Then Jonathan Winters spots it, resulting in much more madness and propelling the plot to its ridiculous finish.

Whereas the film is 60 years previous, the Large W at Waialae has solely been round since 2009. The crossed palms sit behind the membership’s seventh inexperienced — the sixteenth for the professionals.

The Waialae Large W was the brainchild of member Ethan Abbott. A fan of the film, Abbott spent a yr making an attempt to persuade the membership it was a good suggestion. He was proper, in fact. It’s exhausting to think about the Sony Open with out repeated views of the scene.

The course superintendent and arborist introduced the bushes in from different areas on the course and planted them in such a approach to trick them into considering they had been rising straight. Current palms had been used for a time to assist them till they may maintain their very own.

Waialae’s Large W is shut sufficient to the one within the film that many suppose the scenes in Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World had been filmed there.

Whereas Waialae’s Large W has solely been round a couple of quick years, the course itself is a golden age traditional. In-built 1927, the course was designed by Seth Raynor and Charles Banks. It initially was a part of The Royal Hawaiian resort.

Waialae has hosted Hawaiian Opens since 1928. The course has been a mainstay on the PGA Tour since 1965.