Ko Olina Golf Club has won its second consecutive ranking among the PGA of America’s Top 100 Performers in its "Play Golf America" program.

"It involves several initiatives, such as Women’s Golf Week, Family Golf Month, Take Your Daughter to the Course Day, Patriot Golf Day" and others, said Greg Nichols, PGA general manager and director of golf at Ko Olina. Another aspect is "Get Golf-Ready," an introductory program that offers six hours of lessons for $99.

The idea behind all of it is to bring more people into the game, for different reasons and among different segments of the population, including "lapsed golfers," he said.

Ko Olina ranked fifth in the country for the number of people it brought in for "Get Golf-Ready."

"It’s a nice honor. It really recognizes the efforts of all of our staff," said Nichols. "Our PGA professionals, sales staff, sales and marketing people and retail staff — that’s what’s kind of neat about it: It recognizes the facility."

Ko Olina is the only Hawaii golf facility ranked this year, and it will be recognized Friday with the other 99 winners on the main stage of the PGA Merchandise Show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.

» www.pgashow.com
» www.koolinagolf.com

Freebies net award

Honolulu attorney Paul Alston’s picture appears at the top of an online page of Super Lawyers, as his firm was singled out by the attorney-rating service in its inaugural Pro Bono Awards.

Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing was awarded first-place honors for pro bono legal work on behalf of different client groups. They included low-income immigrants from Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau who were losing out on critical health care benefits; public housing residents including disabled individuals, who were living in substandard conditions; food stamp applicants unable to get benefits in a timely manner; and mentally ill adults seeing drastic cuts in services.

The firm joined with the Hawaii Appleseed Center on Law and Economic Justice (formerly Lawyers for Equal Justice) in taking on the cases.

"Sometimes lawyers can help change people’s lives for the better. When that happens, it affirms our commitment to public justice," Alston said in a statement.

Honolulu wins

Honolulu was far and away the winner of Saturday’s "What do you think?" poll on the home page at msn.com. The topic was fun and healthy getaways in the U.S. with "great eats and outdoor treats," making them the "healthiest places to visit in America."

The question was, "Which of these cities would you like to visit the most?"

By the time 211,738 responses were logged, Honolulu had nabbed 33 percent of the vote, according to a printed screen grab presented to TheBuzz by fellow Star-Advertiser writer John Berger.

The second-place winner wasn’t even a place; it was, "I don’t want to visit any of these," with 16 percent of the vote. Jackson Hole, Wyo., ranked third, with 8 percent.

San Francisco and Seattle tied for fourth place with 7 percent of the vote; San Diego and Boston tied for sixth place with 5 percent; Miami and Santa Fe, N.M., tied for eighth place with 4 percent; and Portland, Ore., and Austin, Texas, tied for 10th place with 3 percent of the vote. Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Ariz., tied for 12th place with 2 percent of the vote. Atlanta was last on the list, having curried favor with only 1 percent of the poll’s respondents.

The nonwinning cities, otherwise regarded as popular, will have to console themselves with the realization that the poll was completely unscientific, only lasted one day and that the results then simply vanished into the ether.

Except of course, for this write-up about Honolulu trouncing them all. To all those mainland cities, no matter how grand, a hearty and resounding nanny-nanny-boo-boo.

Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.