Asia

Japan

Hokkaido

Hokkaido Classic is one of nearly thirty courses to bear the Nicklaus stamp of approval in Japan. Located less than half an hour’s drive from the port city of Tomakomai, it’s a Jack Nicklaus Signature design that first opened for play in 1991.

One of seven Japanese golf facilities operated by the Classic Group, the course at Hokkaido Classic can be stretched to 7,059 yards from the championship tees, with tree-lined fairways fanning out from the clubhouse in two returning loops of nine holes.

Highlight holes include the par four 6th, where the green sits behind a small pond, the short par four 9th, with a deep bunker protecting the front of the green, and the par five 10th, which requires sound strategic play to avoid the meandering creek that runs through the fairway.

Hokkaido Classic

One of seven golf facilities operated by the same management company in Japan, the course at Hokkaido Classic Golf Club is a Jack Nicklaus Signature design that debuted in 1991.

Named after the Cercidiphyllum Japonicum, the elegant Katsura tree, the course at Katsura Golf Club is a 1993 Robert Trent Jones Jr. design and it’s one of the very best layouts to be found near Sapporo city.

According to the architect, the Katsura build was very unusual for Japan in that less than 200,000 cubic meters of earth were moved during construction. The result is that the course sits naturally within the landscape, even though the fairways were carved through a pine forest.

Trees naturally border the fairways, providing an amphitheatre for each hole with none of the playing corridors routed in parallel. A few exciting forced carries are required here and there in order to traverse large ravines.

RTJ2 commented as follows: “Greens here are fairly open and receptive but spill off into tight chipping areas. We designed the large, soft bunkering to subtly blend with the forest, thereby adding to the natural, parkland look of the entire layout.

The 9th hole actually features the largest known Katsura tree in Japan. This 230-year-old behemoth reposes along the right side of the fairway just before it doglegs left. A fade that lands beneath the tree will leave a player with no shot at the green.”

Katsura

Named after the Cercidiphyllum Japonicum, the elegant Katsura tree, the course at Katsura Golf Club is a 1993 Robert Trent Jones Junior-design and it’s one of the very best layouts to be found near Sapporo city.

The town of Otaru sits in the Ishikari Bay of the Sea of Japan, a half hour’s drive from Sapporo City. The town really flourished as a port between the late 1860s and 1920s and it was toward the end of this period in 1928 that the golf club was established.

Kokichi Yasuda designed a new 18-hole course at Otaru in 1974 and the layout was selected to host the Japan PGA Championship four years later. Further prestigious tournaments followed when the course was used for the Japan Open in 1990 (won by Tommy Nakajima) and 1999 (when Joe Ozaki triumphed).

Parkland in nature, the holes at Otaru are routed over predominantly level terrain with fairways bounded by stands of implanted trees. The toughest hole on the card is the par four 16th which measures 484 yards from the championship tees and this monster doglegs right to a green protected by a small pond to the front right hand side of the putting surface.

Otaru

Kokichi Yasuda designed a new 18-hole golf course at Otaru Country Club in 1974 and the layout was selected to host the Japan PGA Championship four years later.

The Mashu and Akan nines form the preferred 18-hole layout at Eniwa Country Club, where tree-lined holes designed by Hirochika Tomisawa are set out on the flood plain of the Izari River, making this an easy-walking place to play.

Eniwa (Mashu & Akan)

Sapporo Golf Club operates two 18-hole layouts at separate locations outside the city of Sapporo, with the Wattsu course located 20 kilometres southeast of the city centre and the Yuni course situated a further 30 kilometres to the east.

Prolific architect Seiichi Inoue designed both of these parkland tracks in the late 1950s and they’ve been the venue for the ANA Open since it was established in 1973. All but three of these competitions have been held on the Wattsu course.

According to tournament statistics, two of the toughest holes for professionals are the left doglegged par fours at the 435-yard 2nd and 440-yard 6th, with the par fives at the 5th and 12th rated the easiest, playing 0.53 and 0.37 strokes under par on average.

The most difficult hole is actually the long par three 12th, measuring 234 yards from the championship tees, which plays slightly downhill to a green that’s circled by bunkers with a white birch tree offering further protection to the front right of the putting surface.

Sapporo (Wattsu)

Venue for the ANA Open on the Japan Golf Tour, Sapporo Golf Club has all but three times annually hosted this professional event on its Wattsu course.

Not to be confused with the Wattsu course which annually hosts the ANA Open on the Japan Golf Tour, Sapporo Golf Club’s other 18-hole design, the Yuni course, is also a 1950s Seichi Inoue design located thirty kilometres further east.

Sapporo (Yuni)

Designed by Taizo Kawata and Ed Sneed (who had a 3-shot lead with three holes to play in 1979 Masters but lost the playoff), Hokkaido Brooks Country Club (formerly Tomakomai CC) opened in 1992 and it’s a tough 7,312-yard layout that pitches and rolls over the hillside setting.

Hokkaido Brooks

The second largest of Japan’s islands, Hokkaido is the also the most northerly of the nation’s forty-seven prefectures. The island is connected to Honshu by the Seikan Tunnel, which allows trains to run under the Tsugaru Strait. Around two million of Hokkaido’s five and a half million people live in Sapporo, the fourth largest city in Japan.

 was founded in 1934 with just six member clubs. Since then the governing body of amateur golf in Hokkaido has grown its federation membership to approximately one hundred golf clubs.


We currently feature just five courses from Japan's second largest island and the country's largest prefecture, but we intend to increase our Hokkaido coverage in the future. Meanwhile, 

 is located in the Ishikari Bay of the Sea of Japan, half an hour’s drive from downtown Sapporo. It's a modern design from Kokichi Yasuda, which opened for play in 1974 and has since hosted the Japan Open a couple of times.