[Ran Morrissett]

An instant GolfClubAtlas classic, this month’s Feature Interview is direct from the Land of the Rising Sun.
 
Having played over 1800 courses in 45 countries (I can’t even name 45 countries  ), Masa truly offers a global perspective. Based on the best modern courses that he has seen (Old Sandwich/Pacific Dunes/Ballyneal to name but a few), it is quite telling to gain his thoughts on the direction of modern architecture within his own country. Just as interesting is learning more about Alison’s brief three month stay in Japan and being introduced to his Japanese disciples who actually built several of his courses. (Tom MacWood’s Gliding Past Fuji found at http://www.golfclubatlas.com/alison1.html makes for an excellent read in conjunction with this Feature Interview).
 
There is much information to be learned in reading this month's Feature Interview – the pros and cons of Alison’s work relative to Asian designers (almost all pros!), the huge (if unexciting) growth of golf in China, Vietnam as a future hotbed of quality golf, mistakes made by owners of courses, climate changes and how that impacts the correct grasses in Asia and Japan going forward, trees and the Japanese culture, double greens, the list goes on and on.
 
As a GOLF Magazine World Top 100 panelist, many in North America enjoyed reading Masa’s thoughts in this month’s GOLF magazine re: their new rankings. So it is a great honor to introduce more of his thoughts and writing in further detail. One thing is for sure: I am sorting out ordering his 2005 book entitled Analysis of a Golf Course right now.

Cheers,

[Chris_Clouser]

How do we acquire a copy of Masa's book?

[SPDB]

A fascinating intereview, particularly in Masa's discussion of the history (both personal and otherwise) of Alison's Japanese treasures. Why is Masa not a member/contributor to GCA?

[Larry_Keltto]

Thank you for the splendid interview. His comment regarding coast land in Vietnam is intriguing:

"You may be surprised, but there are dunes and links land equal to Bandon Dunes in Oregon. If Doak, Coore/Crenshaw, or Kidd design a course there, an Asian Bandon Dunes may be born. It is the land of dreams."

[Joel_Stewart]

Fantastic picture of the 5th at Hirono.  I believe this is what it looks like today.

[Ron Farris]

Wow, what a great interview.  

While I was in Japan a dear friend of mine, Isamu Seikiguchi (member of Hirono) often talked of the Original Hirono greens and how they were destroyed.  

I always enjoy seeing the old photos of Hirono.

[Tom_Doak]

Chris:

I have a copy of Masa's book, but since it is only written in Japanese text and not translated, it's more of a collector's piece than a book you can learn from, unfortunately.  I really do wish I could read it.

Masa speaks fairly good English but there are at least a couple of concepts he has about the scale of golf courses which he has not been able to explain to me in English, somehow they just don't translate well.

[Ron Farris]

Tom,
I have a book on Hirono which is also printed in Japanese.
Collector item for me, but the photo and drawings are fabulous and make me long for some sashimi.  Well, perhaps some Kobe beef and some udon soba.

[Mike Sweeney]

Nishijima-san,

Arigato Gozaimas. Nanitozo setsuzoku Golf Club Atlas.com.

Banzai.

[Adam Clayman]

Domo

[B. Mogg]

As stated by Masa in the interview there is incredible links land along the coastline of Vietnam, whether it will ever yeild a great links course is debatable. Its not really a climate thing (although 30% celcius almost year round cannot help with grass types) but more a cultural/business issue.

I really don't think you would get a client in Vietnam (or Asia for that matter) to trust an architect to the level required to build a course in the manner of pacific Dunes, Ballyneal etc., hiring Doak/C&C/Hanse etc would be the easy part.  One of the most important factors in the success of these designs (IMO) is the trust placed in the architects by the owners to build/shape the courses for them (leaving aside design skill for the time being) on a cost plus sort of basis.

In Asia, that sort of trust is very rare, the suspicion of being ripped off or taken advantage of runs high here. And with good reason since plenty of the staff/manager/contractors are taking percentages/kickbacks from everything that moves. Corruption is a hige problem in this part of the world, particularly Vietnam.

A second problem is that this sort of golf is not really understood here, lakes ,flowers, waterfalls and trees are still the ultimate landscape. The wild natural look is not as popular as in the US, perhaps because an 16 foot python is likely to crawl out of that wild looking landscape and drag your child off for breakfast or a 8 foot cobra will crawl out while you are looking for your ball and kill you. So there is no appreciation for the fantastic natural land and landscapes they have.

I once went with a high ranking Vietnamese tourism official to scope out golf course land at a beach/linbks type area. We drove past about 30 kilometres of gorgeous links land (which had all been subdivided into 1 acre lots for local tourist operators and would be flattened in due course to make crappy $20/night resorts) to the land that had been allocated for golf - 200 acres of prime marine clay fishpond with no views. Enough to make you cry.

[Matt_Sullivan]

Mr Mogg has it right, at least from my perspective as a golfer in Asia. There is a lot of unexciting golf course design and development that goes on here in Asia, especially in developing golf markets like China and Vietnam. There are some very nice destinations, and resorts, but few truly outstanding courses, aspecially in the emerging markets.

Nishijima-san's analysis of golf in China is pretty spot on. His selection of world class courses in China is also good (or at least mostly in acordance with my views!). However, in my opinion Pine Valley (the Beijing one that is!) is world class due mostly to the high quality of its construction and maintenance, rather than for being an outstanding design (it is really only a very solid Nicklaus course). Spring City, the RTJ course in particular, is the pinnacle of China golf at the moment. Let's hope there is better to come

[JMorgan]

Masa Nishijima, thank you for your illuminating account of golf course architecture in Asia and for telling us about your grandfather's important role in preserving two of Japan's great golf courses.  

I have always wondered about the use of alternate greens and grasses in Japan.  Thank you for your explanation.  

I also hope that you are able to convince Tom to restore Kawana and Hirono to their original states.

Perhaps Ran can convince you to profile some of your favorite courses?  I have always wanted to know more about Hakone GC.

Finally, we would all benefit from an English edition of your book.  Maybe someone here can help you with the rights and an American or British publisher willing to publish it.  I don't think you'd have a problem convincing an editor to promote such a valuable resource.  

[Ben Cowan-Dewar]

Masa's passion shines through in his interview and it is wonderful to have some light shed golf in Asia!

[Bill_McBride]

I think I met Masa at Alwoodley in July 2005 when we were both on our way to St Andrews for the Open.  Does anyone know if he was indeed there as a journalist?  There were two Japanese guys there at Alwoodley and we all had lunch on the terrace after golf - they played in their own group with a member, we played with the current historian of the club.

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