Olympic golf in Tokyo 2020

[Frank Pont]

Tokyo won the 2020 Olympic games. So which golf course should be used for the games?

[Jud_T]

Kawana with a Master Plan by Frank Pont?

[Frank Pont]

Maybe Masa can chime in with his thoughts?

[Chris Mavros]

I'm hoping it's Kawana.  That would be cool to watch. 

[Adam Lawrence]

Planned to be Kasumigaseki.

[Tom_Doak]

Kasumigaseki is talking about using a composite of the two courses for the event, so they can add length.  They will probably have to rebuild some holes in order to keep them all in the same style.

[Tom_Doak]

Kasumigaseki is talking about using a composite of the two courses for the event, so they can add length.  They will probably have to rebuild some holes in order to keep them all in the same style.

Seems like overkill for one event?

Have you ever watched The Olympic Games?  

[Frank Pont]

Planned to be Kasumigaseki.

Adam, do you know what would have been the courses for Istanbul and Madrid?

[Alfonso Erhardt]

Frank,

For Madrid it was Javier Arana's Club de Campo. They would have probably made a mess of it in order to "update" it....

[Adam Lawrence]

Planned to be Kasumigaseki.

Adam, do you know what would have been the courses for Istanbul and Madrid?

There's only one course in the Istanbul area afaik... I assume they planned a new course.

[Frank Pont]

Is Tokyo going to go through the same circus as Rio again to select an architect to do the works?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Is Tokyo going to go through the same circus as Rio again to select an architect to do the works?

No, Gil's established himself as the "Olympics Doctor"

[Joel_Stewart]

Maybe Masa can chime in with his thoughts?

Masa wrote his thoughts on Facebook.

京よりも一足早くオリムピックゴルフが開催されるリオデジャネイロについてはこれまで決定までの経緯を皆様にもお伝えしてきました。昨年3月にWGDにて、日本でははじめてでしたが、Gil Hanseから送られてきたそのマスタープラン図をご紹介しました。ご記憶にも新しいことと思います。実は造成中に土地の権利関係から造成が一時ストップしたり、まだ完成にはほど遠い状態のようです。一時は用地変更との噂も流れていた。さて東京が2020年オリムピック開催の時の候補コースとして、JGAは霞ヶ関CCに決定しました。何故か東京都とは関係のない横浜CCがその候補として浮上し、JGAのT氏がBill Cooreに改造を依頼し、マスタープラン図まで描かせていましたが、結局57年のカナダカップ以来、国際試合の経験豊かな霞ヶ関に決定した。しかしこれも埼玉で東京とは無縁。すべての競技場は30キロメートル以内での
開催ポリシーから、ならば若洲リンクスしかないと言われていた。しかしこのコース、とてもオリムピックなどメジャートーナメントに対抗できる器にはなかった。
若洲を大改造するプランがでるまえに、オリムピックコースは36ホール所有を規準とすることで決められた。そこで浮上したのが霞ヶ関と横浜だったわけです。36ホールコースでなければならないその理由は聞いてはいたが、曖昧な答えにそれすら記憶していない。ただリオのコースは18ホールにドライビングレンジと3つのショートの練習ホール。誰が36ホール必要だと決めたのかね? 笑　

PS 川奈の時のように、T氏のことは名指しで非難しないでね。どうも彼の👩スパイがこのアカデミーに入り込んでいたようです。爆笑

[Rob Miller]

Hey from Tokyo.  Generally, the response seems to be subdued for the Olympics and I'm finding it difficult to find someone who is more than moderately excited about it.  Contrast that with two years ago when Korea was awarded the Winter Games.  

I've watched three Summer Games living in Japan and watched more judo and swimming than one man ever needs to see. A full 100% of the coverage focuses on sports where Japanese excel.  I suppose that is not uncommon.  

You can google translate the above post and it gives you a pretty close translation.  All things considered Kasumigaseki is a fine choice, closer and better than Yokohama.  

[Howard Riefs]

Planned to be Kasumigaseki.

Related coverage:

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2013/9/7/tokyo-lands-2020-olympics-kasumigaseki-to-host.html

http://mobile.golfweek.com/news/2013/sep/08/olympic-golf-2020-tokyo-kasumigaseki-country-club/?

http://thegolfnewsnet.com/ryan_ballengee/2013/09/08/2020-tokyo-olympics-golf-kasumigaseki-cc-4374/


Are there really two greens for each hole on the East course, as the last story above reports?

"Perhaps one of the most unique characteristics of the course are that every hole has two greens — old and new. Consider the 18th hole, which plays as a 472-yard par 5 from the tips on the old green, but is a 445-yard par 4 when playing the new green."

[Tom_Doak]

Are there really two greens for each hole on the East course, as the last story above reports?

Howard:

ALL of the older courses in Japan have two greens on each hole, unless they have been renovated in the last 10-20 years [and even then, some of the traditional courses have kept their two-green system, as did Tokyo Golf Club].  All of the top-rated courses in Japan (Hirono, Kasumigaseki, and Kawana) have the two-green system, although Kawana has a few holes where they only use the one green now, I think.

It is a remnant of the days when greenkeeping standards were not so high and greens were frequently lost in the summer (or winter).  Tokyo is a really hard place to grow grass ... think Atlanta.  An August Olympics will be brutally hot and humid.

[Sam Morrow]

Is it for sure that there will be golf in the 2020 games? I didn't know if the IOC meets after 2016 to decide if it's worth it. By that I mean whether they get enough bribes and hookers.

[Howard Riefs]

Howard:

ALL of the older courses in Japan have two greens on each hole, unless they have been renovated in the last 10-20 years [and even then, some of the traditional courses have kept their two-green system, as did Tokyo Golf Club].  All of the top-rated courses in Japan (Hirono, Kasumigaseki, and Kawana) have the two-green system, although Kawana has a few holes where they only use the one green now, I think.

It is a remnant of the days when greenkeeping standards were not so high and greens were frequently lost in the summer (or winter).  Tokyo is a really hard place to grow grass ... think Atlanta.  An August Olympics will be brutally hot and humid.

Thanks for the insight. Very interesting.

[Howard Riefs]

Is it for sure that there will be golf in the 2020 games? I didn't know if the IOC meets after 2016 to decide if it's worth it. By that I mean whether they get enough bribes and hookers.

Done deal. In 2009, the IOC voted to add golf for both 2016 and 2020.

http://m.espn.go.com/extra/olympics/story?storyId=4545111&src=desktop

[Sam Morrow]

Is it for sure that there will be golf in the 2020 games? I didn't know if the IOC meets after 2016 to decide if it's worth it. By that I mean whether they get enough bribes and hookers.

Done deal. In 2009, the IOC voted to add golf for both 2016 and 2020.

http://m.espn.go.com/extra/olympics/story?storyId=4545111&src=desktop

Thanks

[Rob Miller]

Tom,

Not sure about Hirono's history, but I visited a few days ago and they do not have the summer and winter greens - only one.  I assumed it had always been this way, but I'm probably wrong there.  Generally, I see few courses these days in Japan with the dual greens.  Thankfully I suppose most have been renovated.  I understand the historic need for two greens but aesthetically it is awful.  Just awful.

[Wayne_Kozun]

This is maybe slightly off-topic, but...

Many folks here didn't like the format of stroke play for Olympic Golf in 2016.  If you were a TV executive from a network that owns Olympic TV rights, say NBC, then what happened at yesterday's Walker Cup isn't going to make you enamoured of a match play team event.  

Less than five minutes after the Golf Channel came on the air the US clinched the cup.  You can argue that they should have shown more than the last two hours of the event but you would still have two hours of dead air.  That may be less of a risk at the Olympics with other sports to show, but it sure isn't going to help those that want a match play format of some sort.  

The other thing working against a match play event with large teams (more than two per country) is that you really shrink the number of countries able to win a medal down to a handful, probably the US, UK, Aus and SA.  And I don't think the IOC likes that, they would probably prefer that many countries have a shot at winning a medal especially smaller countries that may produce the odd good golfer who could catch fire for the week, like Fiji or Thailand.