Wailua Golf Course, the County of Kauai's municipal course on the island's east shore near Lihue, traces its start to 1920, when Garden Island newspaper editor Charlie Fern and others founded golf at the site. The first nine holes followed in the 1930s. Toyo Shirai, Wailua's head professional and superintendent from 1946 to 1965, designed the back nine and redid the front, and Wailua became an 18-hole course in the early 1960s. Shirai entered the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame in 1989. Wailua has hosted the USGA's Amateur Public Links championship three times and has been ranked among the best municipal courses in America.