Ryugasaki

Opened on 8th November 1958, the course at Ryugasaki Country Club is another high-quality parkland track from the prolific Seiichi Inoue, an architect who has designed literally dozens of Japanese layouts. Located eighty kilometres northeast of downtown Tokyo, the club lies only an hour’s drive from the city centre.

The course is heavily wooded – pine trees line most of the holes – and bunkers are arranged sympathetically, blending in beautifully with the landscape. The club operates two sets of greens at every hole, which can mean a difference in overall length of almost 300 yards, depending on which set are in play.

Distinctive holes include the narrow, short par four 5th, played downhill to a raised green, and the 421-yard 9th, which is routed through a small valley before rising to a well-bunkered putting surface. On the back nine, the most memorable hole is the short par three 12th, where the green is benched into a hillside on the other side of a small ravine.

The club has hosted all the major national championships, most notably the Japan Open (last held here in 1992), the Japan Ladies Open and the Japan Amateur.