“Subarashi shotto,” or “great shot” in Japanese – it was music to the ears of 24 Golfweek’s Best panelists on a recent first-ever outing to the Land of the Rising Sun.
On the docket during the 11-day trip were seven of the top-ranked courses in Japan along with a few non-golf days to relax, enjoy the Eastern culture and take in some sights.
First on the agenda for the travel-weary crew was bed and a good night’s rest. Rumor has it a few even enjoyed a sake or two before turning in.
The first full day in Japan was devoted to a bus tour of Tokyo, highlighting several of the more famous landmarks. First stop was the Asakusa Senso-ji Temple – the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan at over 1,300 years old. The current shrine was rebuilt in 1946 after being destroyed in World War II.
Raters enjoyed the fragrant incense from the temple’s communal urn while they bargained for kimonos, traditional sweets, ceremonial fans and fine chopsticks at the many shops on the temple grounds. Some even paid the 100 yen (about 75 cents) at the o-mikuji stalls to consult the oracle and find divine answers to life’s questions. Sadly, requests for lower handicaps were not answered.
Next tour stop was Tokyo Skytree. At 2,080 feet high, the Skytree, completed in 2011, is the tallest tower in the world and third tallest building. Skytree is not just visually stunning, it is also an engineering marvel, containing one of the fastest elevators in the world. To calm the overly nervous visitor, Skytree has one of the most elaborate cushioning and seismic damping systems of earthquake proofing anywhere. The Golfweek’s Best raters dutifully oohed and aahed at the forever views from the lofty observation deck.
Returning to the hotel to freshen up, many raters were soon out again to take in the downtown sights and enjoy a sushi dinner.
But back to business.
First on the golfing docket was Toyko Golf Club. This venerable club dates back more than a century, although the current course – designed by Komei Otani – opened in 1940 and occupies the club’s third location. Once more common but rarer now, each of Toyko’s eighteen holes has two greens. The double greens, one set with winter and the other with summer grasses, allow the club to play the course year-round, even during the sometimes extreme seasons common in Japan.
The raters enjoyed a gently rolling walking course boasting stern bunkering and demanding approach shots to near perfect greens. It’s easily a club at which you would be proud to hang your hat and enjoy a different set of golf customs than found in most of the world.
“Scotland may be the home of golf, but in Japan the game is revered,” said veteran rater Jim Simmons. “It’s not simply a round of golf, but the polite, wonderful customs and idiosyncrasies which make for a unique day of golf in Japan.”
Gone from today’s Japan is the once-strong caste system, in which you were either a warrior, farmer, craftsman or artisan. What remains is a society where the traditions of order and status are recognized, honored and respected without the strict social segregations of the past.
The act of bowing is called ojigi, originated from the samurai and a is fundamental part of daily Japanese salutations and etiquette. One bows from the waist with a straight back; a slight bow or head nod may be interpreted as being lazy or showing disrespect.
In ojigi, the angles of inclination of one’s body and the positions of one’s hands are important components conveying respect to the status of both the person bowing and the person being bowed to. Proper bowing is taught at a young age. Some modern Japanese companies even teach bowing techniques to new employees.
Next up on the tour was another top Japanese club. Yokohama Country Club includes a pair of golf courses, one with limited public play (East) and the other open largely to members only (West). The West Course, originally laid out in 1960 by Takeo Aiyama, was reworked in 2016 by the American architecture team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. A rolling – hilly in places – piece of property (escalators are required at several holes), the West Course features pastoral vistas, stern approaches to smaller greens and an excellent set of par 3s. The East Course was left for a future visit.
Into the mountains
Golf in Japan is extremely popular. Six million of Japan’s 126 million total population play about 80 million rounds a year.
According to the R&A’s 2021 World Golf Report, Japan is somewhat surprisingly second only to the United States in total number of golf courses (roughly 16,000 for the U.S. compared to 3,000 for Japan). The big difference is that about 80 percent of U.S. courses (and the world’s for that matter) are accessible to the general public, whereas only 10 percent of courses in Japan welcome the public.
Saying goodbye to Tokyo/Yokohama, the raters settled into a coach for a relaxing 2-hour ride down the coast to the mountain resort at Hakone.
For centuries, Hakone in Japan’s Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park has been a getaway for royalty and common folks alike. Hakone Valley’s major attractions are the 17 hillside hot springs overlooking a beautiful hidden plateau 4,700 feet above sea level and under the shadow of Mount Fuji. Additional activities abound, as the park has numerous hotels and spas, hiking, fishing, ropeways and museums.
But duty called, so the raters teed it up at Hakone Country Club, one of the Valley’s eight golf courses. Hakone offered an easier and surprisingly flatter course, surrounded by hot springs and pastoral vistas of the forested hillsides. After the Tokyo pair of courses, Hakone was less taxing, giving the raters a chance to enjoy a wonderful layout and also to score a little better.
The caddies of Japan, as in many Asian countries, are mostly female. Often the caddie is a one-woman show, providing a foursome yardages, reading greens, filling divots, raking bunkers and carting around four bags in an decked-out cart in which you may find, well, just about anything under the sun. Most carts are manual, but some are motorized. Some are even remote-controlled, driving and stopping along a hole’s guided and programmed cart path.
I guess this shouldn’t be surprising in high-tech Japan, where automation and robotics touch all walks, including golf. In addition to automatic carts, raters were surprised to find automatic bag carriers shuttling bags from the bag drop to the starting area and even range robots dutifully collecting range balls.
The Pebble Beach of Japan
A golfing highlight on a trip of highlights was the next stop: Kawana’s Fuji Course.
Among a number of golf course setting classifications are seaside (coastal and usually flatter) and mountain (inland and hillier). Kawana is somewhat unusual as it is both – a seaside and a mountain course.
The views from just about anywhere on the course are to die for. Often compared to Pebble Beach in California, the Fuji course explores a rugged site with stern rises and falls, some even severe.
Highly memorable holes include the stunning seventh, a short par 4 that tumbles from an elevated inland shoot to a narrow, well-bunkered peninsula with an infinity green. Go a little long here and your next spot of land may be Hawaii. Also notable was the much-photographed par-5 15th that starts at a clifftop tee before plunging to a sweeping valley below, then back uphill to a stingy green.
Do you love a quick 4-hour round? Golf in Japan may not be for you. A standard round includes registering, changing in the locker room, warming up on the practice range, all before a front-nine round. Then back into the locker room to change into “street” clothes (including blazers), lunch, back into the locker room to change into golf gear, out to play the second nine, back into the locker room to shower, then a communal bath, street clothes with blazer, the clubhouse for post-round drinks, a visit to the pro shop for souvenirs and, finally, paying your bill and checking out. Whew. A six- or even seven-hour “round” of golf is not uncommon at a Japanese club.
A bullet train to Kyoto
Leaving the mountain resort the next morning, the raters were summoned by calls to “All-aboard the Shinkansen” for a high-speed (175 mph) bullet train ride south to Kyoto. Arriving in a brisk two hours, a little afternoon touring was in order. There was plenty to see, as this ancient city was the emperor’s seat of government and capital of Japan for eleven centuries.
The Golfweek’s Best raters toured the Zen Buddhist gold-leafed Kinkaku-ji temple and the surrounding spiritual gardens. It’s easy to see why the temple is one of the most photographed attractions in Japan.
Next, the crew was shuttled over to Fushimi Inari Taisha, a 1,300-year-old Shinto shrine where the mythical deity Inari – the god of rice, sake and prosperity and patron of business, merchants and manufacturers – is honored. The shrine’s elaborate gateways were particularly striking.
The end to a full day was an hour-long coach ride to Kobe and the final destination of the trip.
Because of guest limitations, the Golfweek crew had to split up over the last three days, playing Ibaraki’s West Course, Naruo and Hirono in tag-team fashion. Each were treats.
The raters found the West at Ibaraki more of an American layout in a rolling parkland setting with subdued bunkering, well-varied approaches and greens with more gentle contouring – clearly a course you would enjoy playing regularly.
Naruo, a 1930 C.H. Alison classic, was at the other end of the spectrum. The raters found a world-class design, well-routed over a compact but highly memorable, scenic and at times hilly piece of property. The holes were well varied, challenging the player to not just use a wide assortment of clubs but an assortment of shots to find the often smaller, dicey greens. It’s easy to see how Naruo is regularly considered among the top courses on many world lists.
And then Hirono – the icing on the cake. If you’re lucky enough to have played Pine Valley and Augusta, Hirono is a little of both – Pine Valley’s waste areas and Augusta’s lightning-fast, undulating greens.
Bucolic and sublime, Hirono demands your shotmaking attention but rewards you with pleasing harmony and aesthetic beauty. As for design, a greater collection of par 3s may not be found anywhere in golf. All this over a world-class routing, a wonderful and not-too-taxing walk, with challenging shotmaking problems to solve. Add the stately clubhouse and Hirono simply has it all. Here are a few comments from the raters about their day at Hirono.
“Greens were as good as any I have ever played,” – Matt Lyons.
“I would put it in a personal ranking around number 25 on the planet,” – Dave Edwards.
“Very well designed and balanced,” – Jade West.
“Exceptional golf course architecture executed to near perfection,” – David Shimp.
But the golf wasn’t the only thing garnering rave reviews from the raters. A trip to Kobe wouldn’t be complete without sampling a little of its world-famous fare.
The final evening in Japan, a group of raters caught cabs to the Sannomiya district of downtown Kobe, known for narrow streets, bright lights, international nightclubs and certified Kobe beef restaurants. At Kobe restaurants, personal chefs cook on spotless stainless steel grill tops right in front of you. The chefs bow and honor the beef before starting the cooking and serving process.
Eat here and you know where Benihana got its idea. But the well-marbled, certified wagyu beef is light years away from what most of your upscale steakhouses serve. If you are a steak lover, a Kobe dinner may be truly a Mount Olympus – okay, Mount Fuji – dining experience.
“Taking our Golfweek Raters to Japan was one of the most unique golf adventures we’ve ever put together. Having the opportunity to play some of the best golf courses in the world in such an amazing country was very special and memorable,” said Golfweek’s Best rater director Armand Cimaroli.
Truer words! The next morning the raters caught trains to the airports and boarded flights home, but not before bidding “Sayonara Nihon.”
