Higashi Hirono

The hilly course at Higashi Hirono is a 1989 Yukichi Kobayashi creation which staged the 2012 Panasonic Open, won by the architect’s namesake Masanori Kobayashi. The event returned to the club seven years later, with Toshinori Muto’s 21-under par total giving him a four-stroke victory against the field.

Highlight holes include the right doglegging par five 5th (rated stroke index 1); the par three 7th where the back-to-front sloping green is fronted by a lake; the very long par four 13th with a zelkova tree in the fairway as it approaches the three-tiered green; and the par five closer which has ponds on either side of the fairway as it narrows towards the home green.

Higashi Hirono hosted US Open Sectional Qualifying in 2016, when the upturned saucer-shaped island green on the slightly downhill 3rd hole created all sorts of problems for the professionals.