Golf Courses Are Barely Avoiding Lava Flows in Hawaii

If you’ve been looking at the news at all lately, you’ll know that the big island of Hawaii is currently being plagued by a volcanic eruption. And since Hawaii is a golfer’s heaven, many are worried about the impact that this is having on courses across the island.

So far, there are no golf courses being affected by the rivers of lava that have started to spew from the Kilauea volcano, one of the island’s five major volcanoes. The lava has started to come to the surface and rush down the island’s hills into residential areas. Luckily no injuries or deaths have been reported thus far and no golf courses have been damaged.

Several courses are close to the action, however, including the ironically named Volcano Golf & Country Club. Volcano G&CC is located north of the eruption of the Pu’o O’o section of the volcano, which has proven to be one of the most unstable craters in the Kilauea volcano. And just because Volcano G&CC isn’t affected this time, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t in danger.

Lava flows from the crater of Kilauea volcano as dozens of…

Lava flows from the crater of Kilauea volcano as dozens of structures, including at least nine homes, have been destroyed by scorching lava flows following a massive volcano eruption on Hawaii’s Big… Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Volcano Golf & Country Club is located just two miles from another one of Kilauea’s craters. And when the volcano erupted back in 2008, that crater was more active than it is right now, forcing an evacuation of the course. No players were injured and the course wasn’t damaged that year but the operations team at the Volcano G&CC are ready for any change in activity.

Sanae Gathwright is the vice president of golf operations at Volcano Golf & Country Club and said that their crater is only smoking at the moment but her team will be on high alert and listening for any news that could affect them. And if there is a change in the activity near their course, everyone will be evacuated within minutes with no one looking back. This is the same procedure in place for other courses in the area.

While cooled off molten rock would be one heck of a hazard to deal with on a course, it is extremely dangerous and something no one should play around with. Hopefully, the craters near Volcano G&CC will remain dormant and no damage will affect anyone else.

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