Taiheiyo Club (Gotemba)

Taiheiyo Club operates 18 golf courses in Japan and its flagship Gotemba course hosted the World Cup in 2001, an event won by the South African team of Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

Originally designed by Shunsuke Kato, the Gotemba was completely remodelled by Rees Jones and Bryce Swanson in consultation with Hideki Matsuyama in 2018.

Rees Jones was quoted as saying:

“The Gotemba course is a beautiful, tree-lined parkland golf course with many views of Mount Fuji. It was well laid out by Japanese architect Shunsuke Kato in 1976. We left the green surfaces mostly intact, except for the par three 7th hole, where the green was rebuilt because the contours were too severe.

All tees were rebuilt. Some were added in order to increase length [and] improve angles. All the bunkers were reconceived and rebuilt in light of the character and demands of the modern game. Fairway lines were changed to provide fairer targets and reward properly-executed shots. Many closely-mown areas around the greens were created.

Most of the greenside ponds were reconfigured to allow for increased shot options and to create additional challenging hole locations adjacent to them. Trees and gardens are revered in Japan, so we were very selective in our tree removal… to allow for more sunlight to improve turf conditions on greens.”