Naruo Golf Club

The final round of the tour is at another highly rated course, Naruo.

The commencement at the first is quite intimidating.  A sizable carry over water to a narrow fairway.

Naruo is another Japanese course that CH Alison had some influence over.  The club commenced in 1920, and moved to the current location in 1930, where the layout was designed by the Crane Brothers.

Alison visited in 1931, and Harry Crane, who had long sought validation of his course by a famous designer, invited Alison to survey the course and offer recommendations.  Alison spent a full week at the site.

In his report he wrote "The skeletal construction uses the site's features well, and no changes are required."  This would have pleased Harry Crane no end.  Alison did however submit detailed recommendations to improve 16 of the 18 holes.

The initial version of the current layout was completed in time for Naruo's first big event, the Japan Open, in 1936.

Like many Japanese courses, the grass is Korai.  Fairways and greens are the same grass. The main difference here is that the grass on the greens plays a lot faster than those of the other Korai ones we have played.

Michael Merrett is pictured here preparing to drive on the par four 9th hole.

The highly acclaimed 10th hole.  A very strong par four, that requires, in Alison fashion, a semi lay up drive to avoid a large gully, and then requires a long approach to the elevated green.

The greens are very small and very firm.  It makes Woodlands look like it has massive targets! 

The green at the par five 14th, looking past the leaning pine tree that interrupts your approach to the miniscule green.

The par three 15th.  Another intimidating tee shot for nearly all golfers.

The approach shot into the par four 16th hole.  A great showcase for the elevation changes here, and the need to put your ball in the correct place off the tee.

Jenny Jones firing away down the par four 18th hole.

The view into the final green, from alongside the fairway bunker.

Naruo is a really strong test of golf.  The requirement for straight, well positioned drives, and the ability to hold the small firm greens make it a challenge.  Throw in the undulation, and elevation changes, you know you have played a round of golf.  I was really impressed.

A great way to conclude the golf element of the tour.
Tomorrow is the final day, during which we will take a tour of Kyoto's sights, and have our final dinner.

Hirono Golf Club

The pinnacle of our tour, today we were at Japan's number one ranked, and one of the most exclusive clubs, Hirono Golf Club, near Kobe.

Designed in 1931 by, you guessed it, CH Alison, the course opened for play in June 1932.

Originally Alison agreed to produce a "simple routing" for Mr Seichi Takahata, the man who approached him about assisting with his project near Kobe.

The site, 12 miles inland from the seaport, Kobe, was part of a large estate owned by former feudal worlord, Viscount Kuki.  Viscount Kuki was a keen golfer.  Upon arrival at the site, Alison was inspired. The terrain was perfect.

"Beautiful lakes and pretty ponds, natural valleys and ravines, good and gentle undulations all around, rivulets, mountains, hillocks and woodlands, a real setting for an ideal golf course, all arranged by nature."  Alisons idea of a "simple routing" changed, and on agreement with the club, was engaged to create a full design. Alison declared that the course would be the best in Japan, and one of the finest in existence.

He was correct. The golf course here is brilliant. It is challenging, picturesque, and in magnificent condition.  Above all it is a very playable course for all golfers, and one that could be a course that you could play every day as a member.

This is the brilliant par three 5th hole.  Unfortunately the recent typhoons and heavy rain have eroded part of the embankment in front of the green, hence the blue tarp seen in the photos.  Nothing a bit of photoshop can't fix.

Sharon Marks preparing to successfully negotiate the long carry to the green.

All of the par threes here are superb.  The 5th shown before, and here the 7th (also called the devil's divot) are truly impressive, along with the 13th and 17th on the inward nine.

Alison's Pine Valley experience was really evident here. Photographs of the course from the 1930's, show more rugged bunker structures, and more sandy waste areas.  As with all courses, these have been softened and contoured over time.  The club is set to embark on a full "Alison" restoration, with MacKenzie & Ebert getting the contract.

Above is the par five 12th hole.  This is a double dogleg with water and OOB down the left side.  It is a very good hole, but has some big opposition to the title of best hole on the nine.

Gary Jones firing into the par three 13th hole.  This hole is one of the challengers to the 12th hole.

It is called Loch Lomond, and was originally played from a tee position 90 degrees to the right, meaning you would be shooting from over the bridge.  Part of the restoration is to recreate that original teeing ground as a playable option.

The tee shot at the par four 14th.  This hole looks simple enough when standing on the tee, and it has a super wide fairway.  That fairway however, only has about 20 yards of usable driving space, until you get past 230 or so metres.  Anything on the left 3/4 of the fairway before this runs straight left into the rough.

Some of the trees that interfere with your shot on the par five 15th.  A real three shotter, as you are forced into a shot of less than 250 metres from the tee to remain safely on the fairway.  This first gully greets you if you are longer than this, as do the trees.  The second shot also forces a lay up or carry over another gully.  A really good par five.

The long par three 17th.  It played about 190 metres, with a water carry.  A really strong test to keep your round going late in the day.

The view up the fairway of the par four 18th hole.  It will be really interesting to see the outcome of the restoration, because this place is brilliant as it is.  If it is improved, which I think it will be, then it will be unbelievably good.  Watch this space!!

Next up is Naruo Golf Club.

Hakone Country Club

Our next stop was Hakone Country Club.

Hakone was built in a spectacular location, that has you constantly looking around at the surrounding mountain ranges.  It is very tranquil, with the only noise aside from the wildlife, being a small burst of activity at the nearby Fuji Speedway, one of Japan's major motor racing tracks.

The area the club is built is in actually a National Park.  The Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, which is an area that covers 1227 square kilometres. Eight golf courses are situated in the National Park.

Mt Kamiyama is the dominant mountain the nearby landscape, and it is from this mountain that the valley was formed.  An active volcano, Mt Kamiyama partially collapsed approx 3000 years ago and formed Lake Ashinoko, and the Owakudani Valley where the golf course sits.  Volcanic gases have been spewing from the area ever since.  In certain sections of the course, the sulphur smell of the volcanic gases are quite strong.  It has also meant that there are quite a few hot springs in the area.

The course itself was not built until the 1950's, designed by Shiro Akahoshi in 1954, as his first course designed as a professional architect after World War 2.  Shiro had worked with CH Allison (there he is again) when he was contracted for Tokyo GC in 1930.

Akahoshi's design theory was to utilise the natural terrain as much as possible, offering multiple shot options to every green, require the golfer to choose one of many options depending upon their skill.  He certainly achieved that here.

 A tough start to the back nine, the 10th is a strong par three, especially when you are trying to get moving again after lunch.

The tee shot at the par five 12th hole.

The bunkers both in the fairway, and greenside also at the 12th.

Jeff Faure is pictured attempting to "kick a goal" between the trees on the fairway of the par four 13th hole.  He scored a behind by the way.

Elizabeth Knight setting up to her approach, also into the 13th hole.

 The view back from the green of the par five 15th hole, a great hole set along the highest portion of the course.

The bunker complexes at the short par four 16th hole.

The Koi that live in the stream behind the 17th green, are well trained.  When someone claps whilst standing on the bridge, they swim quickly, like a cat running for treats, because they think they are going to be fed.

A very impressive course.  Today was a long day, (well most golf days seem quite long anyway in Japan with the lunch break in between nines, and the onsen baths after) but we also had to move from Hakone to Kobe.  An hour in the bus, and then a 2.5 hour Shinkansen (bullet train) ride got us to the hotel at approximately 9pm.

It will be worthwhile, as our next stop is Japan's number one golf course, Hirono.

Lakewood Golf Club (West Course)

Today we played the West Course at the Lakewood Golf Club.

Lakewood is set in the mountainous forest near Hakone, and has Mt Fuji, Mt Hakone and the Tanazawa Mountain range all in close proximity.

Designed by Ted Robinson in 1970, the course follows his philosophies to the letter. Firstly, he was dubbed the king of waterscapes, He endorsed the use of water as a defining hazard, and believed that waterscapes gave putting greens maximum character.  This is clearly seen here with the waterfalls on the par three 4th hole.

Robinson also believed in the ability for the average golfer to have fun.  He believed "that the greatest challenge in design is to balance the strategic elements of the game in such a way as to maximise the rewards of playing, for the greatest number of people". You can definitely see this shine through at Lakewood.

Not only was the course very scenic, but it did provide a great mixture of challenge and enjoyment for all in the group, which lead to some good scoring.

The 36 greens are all bent grass, which made things feel a little more like home.

Jenny Jones preparing to approach the green on the par four 8th hole.

You will have noticed that I mentioned 36 greens a little earlier.  No I did not mean all greens at the 36 hole facility, I meant the 36 greens on this course alone.  Many Japanese course have a dual green system, where each hole has a secondary green.  Originally these greens would have been different grasses, allowing one to be played in summer, the other in winter.  Now with better agronomy, the greens are all bent grass, and can be interchanged to give better wear.  The system does not look out of place here, and the holes works with both greens, as they are similar in nature.  You can see how both greens fit above on the 8th.

The view from behind the green on the par five 12th.

The green of the par four 13th.

One of the most impressive things here today were the caddy carts.  Next level technology compared to those on previous days.  Here the carts run on cart paths and tracks, but they are not manned. They hold all four bags, and are operated remotely by the caddy as they walk with you.  They are guided along the paths via a system that does not require any manual steering, it is very cool.

It was also a very traditional Japanese day of golf.  You arrive in a shirt and jacket, and then change into your golf clothes.  A 10.20am tee off got us through 9 holes by just after midday.  We then stopped for a hour for lunch, before moving to the 10th tee for our second tee time of 1.20pm.  After golf you have a shower, and then take the onsen bath, before changing and heading into the clubhouse.  The whole process takes approximately 6.5 hours.  Playing golf here really is a day out.

The view from the back tee on the par four 15th.

Looking back down the par three 17th.

Greg Gilson firing one safely down the par four 18th, avoiding all the water down the left.  A really enjoyable day, and a great experience.
The scoring was very strong today, Wendy Pullar was clearly the best score, her 42 points (after 25 going out) helped her claim the women's prize, whilst Jeff Faure held off a group of strong scores from the men, winning with 38 points.
Tomorrow we play Hakone Country Club, before taking the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) south west to Kobe.