There are two ways to experience Golf in Japan: Day-tripping from Tokyo or stay at one of Taiheiyo Club’s on course hotels. Or a combination of both.
The concept behind this schedule is to use Tokyo as your base. Travel every day or second day to courses that are close to your hotel. Using Tokyo as your starting and endpoint will make golf an all-day affair, but what an enjoyable affair it is. This plan is the perfect blend of playing great golf courses while having the opportunity to explore the wonderful city of Tokyo.
If you are keen to mix the bright lights of Tokyo and the quiet countryside of Japan then this is the trip that might interest you. It provides the best of both worlds and is the most popular schedule for our overseas guests.
If you prefer to just experience golf in a typical Japanese countryside setting then spending a few days in both Gotemba and Karuizawa will be right for you. This schedule is both peaceful and relaxing as you leave Tokyo behind. There is less traveling on this itinerary as both locations have hotels that house restaurants and 36 hole golf courses that lay virtually at your doorstep.
The Fuji course at Kawana is ranked number 2 in Japan. Its a public course that is considered the Pebble Beach of Japan. I travelled there recently to play and thoroughly enjoyed the experience although not everything is as its seems.
Taiheiyo Clubs Sano Hillcrest course is a fantastic layout and one of my favourite courses in Japan. While doing some recent research on the course I began a deep dive on the course designer, Desmond Muirhead. I must say I have become a Muirhead fan, not only because he designed some great courses but because he was apparently a bit of a hell raiser. Muirheads designs were influenced by art, literature, mother nature and especially marine life which he often integrated into his courses.
If you google the best places to stay in Tokyo you will be given a laundry list of suggestions. Ginza, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno, and Roppongi will be some of the names that will pop up. They are all fabulous places but wading through all the content, trying to figure out the best option can be a difficult proposition. Therefore I have decided to make it easy.
Trees in, or close to fairways are a very popular design element in Japan. Since living in Japan I have played only a handful of courses where a tree did not influence a shot from the fairway or the tee. The Japanese designer’s predilection in using trees as a hazard is interesting, especially considering it flies in the face of what the most influential architects preferred.
What is the best mode of transport to get to golf courses in Japan? It's a question I spend a lot of time answering so I have decided to write a brief about each option. It’s an important question too because traveling is very much part of the adventure of playing in Japan.
Each season in Japan, especially Tokyo, provides a unique golfing experience. Golf is played all year in Japan and in the depths of winter it is not uncommon for booking sheets to be rather busy. If your trip is specifically golf then there are months which are preferable but really whatever month you decide on will be the right choice. Well, sort of …
Golf courses and the shower rooms are places where the skin is shown, especially during the warmer months. If you do have a tattoo you very simply need to cover it up at all times while on the club’s premises.
If you ask those who have played golf in Japan before to describe their experience, two things will likely occur. Firstly a smile will appear. As they delve into the stories of their golfing sojourn you will get a sense of how special their experience was. Endearing and memorable are words that aptly describe what most golfers feel when they recount playing golf in Japan.
As I began to travel more I found the golfing experience in the Kansai region to be more varied and cultured than in Tokyo. I am not saying that Tokyo is not cultured, because it is, but Osaka and Kobe and specifically Kyoto offers much greater cultural diversity.
If you and your friends are considering a destination for your next golf trip then Japan should be at the top of your list. I believe most golfers are intrigued at the idea of playing golf in Japan but the common perception is golf is extraordinarily expensive here. That may have been the case a few decades ago but these days it could not be further from the truth.
It's a bold statement but I firmly believe that Japan has the best caddies in the world. I have been lucky to have played golf all over the world and always made an effort to employ a local caddie if they were available. As wonderful as those caddies were they cannot hold a candle to their Japanese counterparts.
In 2003 `Lost In Translation’ was released and was a movie that I believe spurned a generation, including me, to travel to Japan. There was an added element of intrigue for me as there is a scene in the movie where the lead actor, Bill Murray, plays golf on the most stunning looking course I had ever seen.
