There is a pond in front of the green and bunkers behind it. It will become extremely difficult if the flag position is on the right side since there is only 15 yards from the pond to the bunker.

When you stand on the tee, you stare at a huge bunker, which guards the left side of the green. The variety of curves around the green is just like works of art. 2 trees on the center of the fairway are your targets on the first shot. You need to carefully consider how to hit the ball out of bad lies due to the heavy slope of the fairway on the long second shot. One great tactics to avoid the bunkers front and back is to carry the fairway on the right side of the green, and to bet on the approach shot.

A dogleg to the right with a beautiful big pond facing the right side of the fairway. To make a shortcut, you need to carry the ball 230 yards. There is a big white sand beach bunker between the pond and the green. The beach bunker helps players to relax their minds. A great second shot is required because both sides of the green are well guarded by bunkers.

It is not long but the fairway is narrow. A creek, facing the right side of the green, is running from the back of the green through the left side of the fairway. This creek helps enhance the difficulty and creates exquisite scenery. It is possible to hit the green in two but players need to prepare for bogeys if it fails. This hole reminds me of the 13th hole of the Augusta National.

A dogleg to the right. The tee shot is over the pond and to clear it, 240 yards is needed. There is another route to carry a ball on the fairway, left of the pond with a 4 wood or so. There is a big pond stretching from the front of the green to the right side of the fairway. It is impressive to see the beautiful contrast among the ponds at the right front, the beach sand bunker on the back of the pond and an elegant clubhouse in the background.

It is a 1 hour drive from Central Tokyo and a 30minutes drive from Narita Airport. Vistitors can play though internet booking agencies. I played here 12 years ago as just as the course was opening. This was my second time. It was my first time to play a links-type course, which has great degree of undulations on greens as well as fairways, so it was a delightful surprise to me. I have played more than 150 great golf courses in Asia and I think that I have accumulated in depth knowledge of golf courses compared to 12 years ago. Nonetheless, I felt that this course combines challenges with beauty, just as it did years ago.

The course is awarded the 86th place out of 2400 courses in 2002’s Japanese golf courses rankings by the Japan Golf Classic Magazine.

The other J. Michael Poellot designed courses in Asia are Tomisato GC, Nasu Chifuriko CC, GlenOaks CC, Prestige GC, Iwate Numakunai GC, Golden Palm CC, Green Hill Seki GC in Japan, Agile (雅居楽長江) G&CC - A Course, Long Island (長安) G&CC, Sun Valley (紅峡谷) GC, Beijing (北京) GC in China, Royal Kuan-His (老翁関西) GC in Taiwan, Rajpruek C, Lakewood CC in Thailand, Mount Malarayat R&GC in Philippine and Rainbow Hills G&HR in Indonesia.