Hokkaido occupies Japan's northernmost island with approximately 5.5 million residents, including two million in Sapporo, the nation's fourth-largest city. The island's distinctive cooler climate profoundly influences its golf culture, offering comfortable summer conditions unmatched elsewhere in Japan.
Hokkaido, Japan
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.
Hokkaido, Japan
Hokkaido, Japan
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.
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.
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.
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, Japan
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.
