Tell us about yourself?
My name is Ryan Cancino and I am the 1st Assistant Golf professional at the Plantation Course. In 2017, I moved from Dallas to Maui to come work for Kapalua Golf. Throughout my 20-year career, I have had the privilege to work at facilities across various locations, such as Denver, Phoenix, El Paso, New Mexico, and Florida.
What is your favorite aspect of working at Kapalua Golf?
You get the opportunity of interacting with an international clientele, thereby enriching your professional experience and cultural awareness. For example, in Japan they split their round of golf into 2 halves, breaking for lunch.
What is your memorable experience you’ve had playing golf?
Not being too excited when I made a hole-in-one. I was playing in a member event as a young golf professional, thinking how am I going to afford the bar tab for 60 members.
When you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing?
I have a little bit of a green thumb side. I currently growing cilantro, tomatoes, Hungarian wax peppers, serrano’s, arugula, dill, watermelon and radish just to name a few items.
If you could play a round of golf with anyone, who would it be and why?
Brad Faxon, so I could pick his brain on his philosophy on putting.
What’s the most valuable golf tip you’ve ever received and who gave it to you?
Lee Trevino – you never have to worry about your ball landing and racing towards the Out of Bounds marker if you play a cut. That was 2-3 years ago at the Kapalua Bay Driving Range.
Do you have any tips for someone who is planning to play here at Kapalua, what would you say?
When playing into the wind or with some elevation change. Look at the GPS screen and play to the back of the green yardage. That usually helps to those middle to front hole locations. If the hole location is in the back, good luck. Another tip is when hitting shots towards Molokai, expect the ball to release on the greens. And when hitting shots towards the West Maui Mountains, you can throw the ball can expect the ball to sit or spin back a little.