Sagamihara (East)

Situated an hour’s drive south east of downtown Tokyo, Sagamihara Golf Club’s 36-hole facility first opened for play in 1955, when Seiichi Inoue set out the fairways on a site that’s now completely surrounded on all sides by suburban buildings.

Both the West and the East courses are tight, tree-lined tracks with fairways playing to dual greens. The longer East course extends to 6,629 yards and it plays to a par of 74, thanks to a course configuration that has three par fives on both the front and back nine.

The outward and inward half each conclude with par fives that dogleg slightly left as they head towards the clubhouse but the scorecard highlights are the par threes at the 8th and 11th, where the greens at these short holes sit behind small lakes.

The Japan Open has been held at the club three times, with Toru Taniguchi winning the most recently hosted 72nd edition of the event in 2007 by two shots. Only four players were under par for the four rounds, with Toru’s 283 total translating to five under par for the tournament.