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Hirono Golf Club is the best course in Japan according to various rankings.
The course, built on a flattish woodland area, is hand-made, not machine-made.
Most holes are isolated from the others by dense, fully-grown pines, and
each hole has different characteristics. The front 9 holes are flat with
many demanding par 4s. The back 9 holes have some moderate ups and downs
with many beautiful & strategic holes. “Alison” bunkers, named after
their designer, are as deep as your height and the bunkers surround all
greens. If your ball is in such a bunker, it will be extremely difficult
to save par, so you need to have good course management to avoid them.
All the relatively small greens are elevated and approach shots from
off the greens are difficult. Even if you hit the greens in regulation,
your putting is tough due to fast and undulated greens. Hirono Golf Club
has all the key elements present of a championship course: strategically
placed deep bunkers, many doglegs, long carries over natural hazards and
small elevated greens.
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A long & demanding, dogleg to the left par 4. A carry ball of 250
yards is needed off the tee to clear a large fairway bunker on the right.
With the longer than 260-yard drive, the narrower the landing area becomes
as the trees on the right are jutting out. You must hit an accurate second
shot on this long par 4. The right half of the green borders the lake
and if you hit the left side to avoid the water, a deep bunker awaits
your shot. The green is elevated and circular, 30 yards deep and wide.
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A slight dogleg to the left. Wee positioned bunkers on both sides of
the fairway come into play off the tee. Watch out the OB line on the left,
which is close to the fairway. The closer to the green, the narrower the
hole becomes with big pines and hazards on both sides. The green is protected
by a bunker on the back left and 4 bunkers in a row on the right half
of the green. There is a steep slope in front of the green and if your
shot is just short of the green, the ball will roll down the slope, so
you had better hit the center of the green.
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A short par 3 over a lake. The green, sloping from back to front, is surround
by 4 deep bunkers.
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A challenging par 3 over a ravine. The highly elevated, small green surrounded
by 4 deep bunkers may intimidate you. The green is only 20 yards deep.
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A slight dogleg to the left. Long hitters can hit the green in two shots
but need to avoid 3 fairways bunkers left and right on the tee shot first.
The trees are jutting out onto the fairways from both sides, which gives
players visual pressures off the tee. The green is highly elevated and
guarded by deep bunkers on the left and right. The
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A dogleg to the right, a long par 5 with a lake on the left which is
OB. The tee shot is over the lake and a cleek. The pines hanging over
the fairways on left and right make the landing areas narrow on both the
tee and second shots. The green, sloping form right to left, is surrounded
by 4 deep bunkers.
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A downhill, beautiful par 3 over a lake. The deep bunkers are positioned
on both sides of and at the rear of the green that slopes from left to
right.
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A steep uphill dogleg to the left. The fairway slopes sharply from left
to right, and the second shot will be from strong uphill lie and players
tend to hook the ball. There is an OB zone on the left of the green, so
the players will need to hit a precise shot considering how much the ball
curves to the left. The green is protected by 6 bunkers.
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This slightly bending dogleg to the left was selected as one of the best
500 holes in the world by US Golf Magazine.in 2000. A splendid pine is
well positioned on the left turning point of the dogleg and it will be
a factor on your second shot. There is a 50 yard long hollow right behind
the tree, and if you hit into the hollow, the rough is deep. There is
another hollow in front of the green, which makes the slope of the elevated
green steeper. The green, sloping sharply from back to front, is surrounded
by 4 deep bunkers.
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Not only long but demanding par 3 over a lake. If you don’t hit the green,
deep bunkers guarding on the left and the front right might catch your ball
or trees might hinder your approach shot
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A dogleg to the left. The tee shot is over 4 cross bunkers. The second
shot is over swale. The green is elevated with big bunkers on both sides.
The green, sloping sharply from back to front, is circular and 30 yards
wide.
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It takes 30 minutes from Kobe by car and 40 minutes from
Sannomiya Station, Kobe by train. There is a Hirono Golf Jo Mae Station
just if front of the golf club.
You need to be accompanied by a member. A Japanese curry at lunch was
delicious. The golf museum at the course has many valuable displays
and makes you understand the history of Japanese golf.
Regarding the great hanging pine on the left of the fairway on the
signature 15th hole, it is not an exaggeration to say the hole wouldn’t
have been selected as one of the top 500 holes in the world without
that tree. Too many players have hit balls into the tree trunk, so it
is now covered by wire nets to protect it. The club has insured this
tree for about 5 million Japanese Yen (equivalent to 50,000 dollars).
I imagine that this is the tree with the highest insurance coverage
of any tree at any course in the world
GOLF Magazine ranked Hirono Golf Club the 42nd best course in the world
in 2015. The other selected courses in Asia are The
Club at Nine Bridges (Korea, 43rd), Shanqin
Bay GC (China, 47th), Kawana
Fuji Course (Japan, 68th), Ayodhya
Links (Thailand, 76th) and Tokyo
GC (Japan, 96th).
Bunkers as deep as your height are often called “Alison bunkers” only
in Japan. They are called deep bunkers elsewhere.
I stayed at Kobe Bay Sheraton, which takes 50 minutes to go to Hirono
Golf Club by car. The view from the room is nice, and the night view of
Kobe is special. The natural hot spring in the hotel is relaxing. When
you like to stay at traditional Japanese inn with full-scale hot spring,
Arima-Onsen is near the golf club. It is a 40-minute drive.
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Hole 3 Par 4 461 yards (3)