Sale and re-branding of public Olomana Golf Links in works

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / 2012

The recently formed company that is purchasing Olomana Golf Links plans to re-brand the 18-hole course with Virginia-based Billy Casper Golf. The sale, for an undisclosed price, is scheduled to be completed in March. Above, the Olomana clubhouse.

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The public golf course on state land in Waimanalo is teed up to be traded between two companies involved with the golf industry in Asia.

A recently formed company, JNC USA Inc., plans to buy Olomana Golf Links from Pacific Links Hawaii and re-brand the 18-hole course with Virginia-based Billy Casper Golf.

Melissa Dupuis, regional marketing manager for Billy Casper Golf, announced the tentative sale, expected to be completed in March.

A purchase price was not disclosed.

Pacific Links bought Olomana Golf Links in 2012 from the local Mizuno family in a deal that involved Pacific Links acquiring the Mizunos’ company that leased the 130-acre course from the state. No price was disclosed for that transaction.

When Pacific Links bought the lease to the Waimanalo golf course, it said it planned to renovate the property over the next two to three years while keeping the course open.

JNC has retained Ed Kageyama, Billy Casper Golf’s regional manager for Hawaii and the Asia-Pacific area, to manage the property.

“I have been waiting for this opportunity for several years now and I am excited to be a part of this new venture with Olomana Golf Links,” Kageyama said in a statement.

JNC is headed by Jim Hwang, a golf industry veteran who founded a firm called Dunes Golf and has been involved in the development of golf clubs in South Korea, Vietnam and Japan.

Pacific Links is owned by Chinese entrepreneur and Canadian citizen Du Sha, founder of the 97-store Home World Group, based in China.

Pacific Links operates a small collection of golf courses for members and also offers discounts or privileges at a network of close to 100 clubs around the world.

The company, previously known as Hawaiian Golf Properties, owns four courses on the mainland and acquired its first Hawaii golf course in 2010, buying Kapolei Golf Course for $31 million. Last year Pacific Links sold the Kapolei course for $31.9 million to Daito U.S. Inc.

Pacific Links owns two golf courses in Makaha — Makaha Golf Course West and Makaha Valley Country Club — and manages the former Luana Hills course in Kailua, now known as Royal Hawaiian Golf Club.