Asia

Japan

Kinki (Kansai)

Hirono Golf Club was founded in 1932 and an Englishman called Charles Alison, who was responsible for the design of many of Japan’s great courses, laid it out. This intensely private Japanese members club is located about fifteen miles northwest of the city of Kobe, which is Japan’s most important seaport. Sadly, Kobe hit the news headlines in 1995 for the wrong reasons after an earthquake, measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, devastated the area of Hyogo killing more than 5,000 people.

Natural disasters tend to place golf clubs and courses into perspective but Hirono is the most important golf course in Japan and it’s the yardstick for which all other golf courses across the whole of Asia are measured. Charles Alison and Harry Colt fashioned some of Britain’s greatest golf courses and Alison used all of his knowledge and design skill to create the magical Hirono, which would not look out of place along England’s Surrey/Berkshire sand belt.

“Sadly, Hirono was requisitioned by the Imperial Air Force as a runway during the Second World War, destroying much of the course,” wrote Henry Lord & Peter Pugh in 

. “After the conflict a huge restoration project was carried out by Toyohiko Inui and Osamu Ueda (designer of the prestigious Koga golf course) using Alison’s original plans. In many ways this was a great success, but some of Alison’s intentions were lost. For example, a lot of the rugged sandy wasteland was converted into ordered grass-faced bunkering, and aggressive tree planting has since left the course with a distinctly parkland feel. Nevertheless, Hirono still ranks as the best course in Asia and many of its holes provide a truly incredible test of golfing skill.”

Hirono has played host to all the major Japanese championships and, although it measures a mere 6,925 yards from the back tees, it’s a supreme test of golf. It just goes to show that if you employ clever and thoughtful design, you don’t need to fashion a 7,500-yard monster to create challenge and intrigue. We must briefly mention the green sites at Hirono. They are pure magical theatre, with most raised proudly on plateaux, protect jealously by deep bold bunkering.

There are far too many brilliant holes to discuss at length, but we’ll first mention the par three 13th which is rather similar to “Golden Bell” the famous 12th at Augusta National, but we think Hirono’s 13th is more natural and dramatic.

 by author George Peper and the editors of GOLF magazine features the 565-yard par five 15th at Hirono: “As it’s a dogleg left, any attempt to shorten the hole by taking a line across the corner is thwarted by the placement of a fifty-year-old, one-hundred-foot Kuromatsu (black pine) that stands in the left half of the fairway. In the rough to the right side of the landing area, three bunkers punish drives that leak in that direction. This forces all tee shots to the right half of the fairway and ensures that the hole’s 565 yards will be directly confronted and negotiated. From the tee, the first of two natural ravines faintly appears in the distance, defined by characteristically ragged Alison bunkers cut into the facing. The second ravine is gentler and its slope provides the defining front lines to the putting green, as do its two bunkers. Two additional bunkers lend depth perception and guard the rear of the green.”

"The property is the perfect combination of rugged, yet walkable terrain, wrote Tom Doak in 

. “Ravines at the top half of the property set up the driving hazard for many of the longer holes, and then lead to the large ponds at the bottom that serve as punctuation for the short 5th and 13th. However the club has let the trees surrounding the holes encroach too tightly in recent years, and we hope the recently announced restoration by Martin Ebert will be allowed to address this.”

Mackenzie & Ebert commented as follows: “The course he [Alison] routed (the layout plans and green plans have been preserved in the Club records) is regarded as one of the worldwide classics and the bunkering shown in the early photographs of the course is remarkable in its detail and naturalness of appearance.

The opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Charles Hugh Alison in travelling to Japan to provide input to a course which has meant so much to Japanese golf is a real landmark for Mackenzie & Ebert. The focus of the brief is to restore the old features of the course but also to make it a suitable challenge for the best golfers.”

You’ll find it tricky to get a game here at Hirono but they say that all the best things come to those who wait. When you do eventually get a game and you’ve sunk your final putt, remember to take a look at the famous little golfing museum, which is located next to the colonial-styled clubhouse.

Hirono

Hirono Golf Club has played host to all the major Japanese championships and, although it measures a mere 6,925 yards from the back tees, it’s a supreme test of golf.

Naruo Golf Club opened its course in 1920 but in 1931 the club availed itself of the services of itinerant English architect C.H. Alison. In his one sojourn in Japan, Alison worked on the Fuji course at Kawana Hotel, the East course at Kasumigaseki Country Club, Tokyo Golf Club (the Asaka course was destroyed during the war and never rebuilt), Hirono Golf Club near Osaka as well as remodelling projects at Ibaraki Golf Club and here at Naruo Golf Club.

All the courses share some themes, most notably small, round greens which are often elevated and large “welcoming” irregular shaped bunkers with pronounced front lips. Naruo also features some elevation changes but not nearly as much as Kawana where the cliff side landscape is more extreme.

At 6,564 yards from the back tees, Naruo can no longer be considered a long course, but length would never have been the principle defence of par. The greens are small and when the pins are placed close to the edges, it brings the hazards into play. Even if you miss the large bunkers which tend to sit well below the surface of the green, you will find yourself in tangly rough and all the uncertainty of result that comes from playing from it.

Naruo shares all the traditional aspects of Japan’s older clubs. The continuity in tradition here is maintained by the 700 members whose average age is 71. Despite being over 70 years old in its revamped guise, the thoughts behind the design feel fresh and communicate clearly. As with all good Alison designs, the approach shots to the greens have a tremendous sense of occasion that you only find on the world’s greatest courses.

The above passage is an edited extract from 

The Finest Golf Courses of Asia and Australasia

 by James Spence. Reproduced with kind permission.

Naruo

Naruo shares all the traditional aspects of Japan’s older golf clubs. The continuity in tradition here is maintained by the 700 members whose average age is 71.

Influenced by the work that Hugh Alison carried out in Japan during the 1930s, architect Osamu Ueda designed the 18-hole layout at Ono Golf Club in 1961 and it’s often regarded as the sister course to the fabled Hirono Golf Club.

Situated around an hour’s drive from Kobe, the fairways of Ono’s lovely woodland course are set out on rather hilly terrain, especially those on the back nine. Several ponds come into play with holes 7 to 9 wrapped around a lake and there’s further aquatic challenge at the closing two holes.

A number of subtle little attributes are employed at Ono – like the placement of lone specimen trees to define driving options (most notably at the 7th and 11th) and back to front sloped greens which make great demands on putting skills (such as at the 2nd and 16th) – and these features add considerable interest to proceedings.

The par threes are all testing holes, with the 245-yard 5th, which plays over a Japanese Pine garden, being the only one that doesn’t require a water carry from tee to green. The pick of the one-shot holes though is the 200-yard 17th (“Emerald Lake”), where the sand-protected green on the other side of a lovely little pond is a tiny target from the tee.

Influenced by Hugh Alison, Osamu Ueda designed the course at Ono Golf Club in 1961 and it’s often regarded as the sister course to the fabled Hirono Golf Club. Host to the Japan Open in 1969, Ono is a testy track.

The hilly course at Higashi Hirono is a 1989 Yukichi Kobayashi creation which staged the 2012 Panasonic Open, won by the architect’s namesake Masanori Kobayashi. The event returned to the club seven years later, with Toshinori Muto’s 21-under par total giving him a four-stroke victory against the field.

Highlight holes include the right doglegging par five 5th (rated stroke index 1); the par three 7th where the back-to-front sloping green is fronted by a lake; the very long par four 13th with a zelkova tree in the fairway as it approaches the three-tiered green; and the par five closer which has ponds on either side of the fairway as it narrows towards the home green.

Higashi Hirono hosted US Open Sectional Qualifying in 2016, when the upturned saucer-shaped island green on the slightly downhill 3rd hole created all sorts of problems for the professionals.

Higashi Hirono

The hilly course at Higashi Hirono Golf Club is a 1989 Yukichi Kobayashi creation, which staged the 2012 Panasonic Open, won by the architect’s namesake Masanori Kobayashi.

The mountain course at Golden Valley Golf Club is a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design from the late 1980s which was one of the first in the country to employ single greens. Fairways were carved from a pine forest, with holes skirting around stone-lined creeks that run through the property.

Starting and ending with par five holes, the course extends to just over 7,000 yards, playing to a par of 72. The toughest hole on the scorecard arrives early at the par four 2nd, where a water course runs along the length of the fairway on the left side.

Other holes of note include long par threes at the 8th and 15th, while the left doglegging 13th is another monster par four, measuring all of 469 yards from the back markers. The round ends in fine style at the 18th, with ponds in play for both the tee shot and the approach to the home green.

The club hosted the 82nd edition of the Japan PGA Championship in 2014, with Taichi Teshima winning his 7th event on the Japan Tour by one stroke after carding a 4-round total of 279, nine under par.

Golden Valley Golf Club

Opened in the late 1980s and designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., the mountain course at Golden Valley Golf Club was one of the first in Japan to employ single greens.

Situated less than half an hour’s drive from Kobe city centre, Rokko Kokusai Golf Club is home to two 18-hole courses, the par-72 East and the par-71 West. Designed by Fukuichi Kato in the mid-1970s then renovated by Nicklaus Design in 1996, the East is by far the longer and tougher of the two tracks.

Measuring 7,416 yards from the back tees, the West is laid out as two returning nines, with water coming into play on several occasions, most notably at both the par threes on the front nine (#3 and #6) and at the par five 12th and par four 15th on the back nine (where small ponds protect the putting surface on both holes).

The club hosted the 1983 Japan Open championship when national golfing legend Iao Aoki won the first of his two home open titles. The East course then staged the Panasonic Open championship in 2010, with Australian Brendan Jones claiming the ninth of his fifteen tournament victories on the Japan Golf Tour.

Rokko Kokusai (East)

The East course at the 36-hole Rokko Kokusai Golf Club is a Fukuichi Kato design from 1975 that was renovated by Nicklaus Design in 1996.

The city of Ise (once known as Ujiyamada) is located on the eastern tip of Kii Peninsula on Japan’s main island of Honshu and it’s probably best known for the Ise Grand Shrine, comprising a number of Shinto holy places based around the two main shrines of Naiku and Geku, which are dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu and Toyouke-Ōmikami, the goddess of agriculture and industry.

Designed by Seiichi Inoue in the mid-1960s, the course at Ise is set out on gently undulating terrain on the outskirts of the city, where the dual green system favoured by so many clubs in Japan still holds sway. Water comes into play occasionally, most notably at three of the four par three holes, but the main hazards here are the trees lining the fairways which can in places impinge on play.

Feature holes include the right doglegged par four 2nd, the left doglegged 6th, and the par three 9th – probably the signature hole on the course – which is played across a large irrigation pond to a peninsula green complex. On the back nine, the 453-yard 12th is not only the second longest par four on the card, it’s also considered the second toughest hole, rated stroke index 2.

Designed by Seiichi Inoue and opened in 1965, the 18-hole layout at Ise Country Club is one of three golf courses used for Senior Tour Qualifying by the PGA of Japan.

Located about an hour’s drive from Osaka, the course actually lies closer to the city of Wakayama. It’s here, on the cliff tops above Osaka Bay, that holes were routed across a tight parcel of land by Osamu Ueda back in 1937 and the sparkling waters of the bay can be seen from many vantage points on the tree-lined fairways.

The 396-yard 7th is a feature hole on the front nine, where golfers fire their tee shot across a small pond to a fairway which then veers 45 degrees left to a triangular-shaped green. This putting surface, like those at holes 1, 3 and 4 on the front nine, sits close to the edge of the coastline.

On the back nine, the very short 14th hole plays along the boundary of the property, next to the road that separates the course from the sea, and it begins a rather unusual sequence of five holes that conclude a round at Osaka with par values of 3-5-3-5-3. A somewhat bizarre configuration perhaps, but there’s no doubt the holes exactly fit the lie of the land.

Osaka

Osamu Ueda originally designed the course at Osaka Golf Club back in 1937 and it’s routed across high ground where panoramic views of Osaka Bay will be enjoyed from the rolling fairways.

Situated to the north of Akashi, the 18-hole layout at Onotoyo Golf Club bears the architectural mark of Osamu Ueda. Playing corridors have narrowed a lot since the course debuted in 1971, placing a real premium on accuracy off the tee.

Onotoyo

Located an hour’s drive north of Kobe, the 18-hole layout at Pine Lake Golf Club is an impressive 1984 Robert Trent Jones Junior-design, one of more than twenty Japanese projects the American architect has worked on down the years.

Topping out a just over 7,000 yards from the back markers, Pine Lake is a serious test if you’re bold enough to play from the tips. Although hilly, the course is walkable and it’s a glorious ramble through pine-flanked hills and valleys where every hole is compartmentalised from another.

 as follows: “One of the best modern courses I saw in Japan, Pine Lake is set in unspoiled mountain surroundings, and the back nine has some excellent golf holes to boot. Even the sleeper parts of the course are well-shaped to minimize artificial appearance, with the exception of the par-4 3rd, which feels like a giant slalom run.”

Pine Lake

Located an hour’s drive north of Kobe, the 18-hole layout at Pine Lake Golf Club is an impressive mid-1980s Robert Trent Jones Jnr design, one of more than twenty Japanese projects the American architect has worked on down the years.

With the forested mountains of Tamba looming on three sides, the course at The Cypress Golf Club comprises two distinct nines; an outward half routed over hilly terrain while the inward half occupies flatter ground to the east of the property.

The Cypress

Established in 1990, the course at Tsu Country Club is a Masashi Ozaki and Kentaro Sato co-production which lies less than ten kilometres from Ise Bay, where fairways are laid out on hilly, forested terrain to the west of Tsu city centre.

Located in the south-central part of Japan’s main island, Honshu, the Kinki or Kansai region of Japan is considered to be at the heart of the country’s history and culture. Five UNESCO World Heritage Listings put Kansai at the top of any Japanese region. Kansai, specifically the city of Osaka, is the food centre of Japan with popular dishes that include kitsune udon, takoyaki, okonomiyaki and kushikatsu.

In terms of golf courses, the Kinki region boasts around 350 facilities but, without a shadow of doubt, the premier golf course in Kansai is the venerable 

 which was laid out by Englishman Charles H. Alison in 1932. Hirono has headed most Japanese ranking lists since ratings began and it’s unlikely to be knocked off the top spot any time soon. 

 dates back to 1920 and it too was shaped by the intrepid English architect and has occasionally appeared within the World Top 100 rankings.