Pilgramage to the Orient - Kawana Fuji Course

[Andrew Bertram]

I am happy to admit that I do have a goal of playing the top 100 courses from Golf Magazine 2005 by the time I reach the age of 50 and with 10 years to go I can say I have 28 to achieve. This has been done generally on the back of business trips or escorting member groups on golf trips.
Last Saturday I returned to Melbourne from a week in Japan having experienced the beauty and challenge of Japanese golf at Kawana, Kasumgaseki, Naruo and Hirono over the course of 5 days as well as taking in some Japanese Culture.
Playing golf in Japan is made difficult by the privacy of the private clubs but if this can be overcome it is one of the most enjoyable experiences you will undertake in the golfing world. I was accompanied by Greg Gilson from Yarra Yarra and The National who is the principal of www.personalisedgolfadventures.com.au and we have many people to thank for assisting us make our arrangements. They will be mentioned as we go through our journey.
We arrived in Tokyo on Saturday night the 22nd and spent the late evening enjoying dinner and drinks in Ginzo before collapsing in bed. Waking Sunday morning we were met by constant rain, it was constant rain rather than pouring so I took a walk to the Imperial palace and took in the gardens surrounding it. At lunch time we took the train to Ito, the Shinkansen is certainly a highlight of any trip to Japan and makes travel very easy. Tatsuo Kato met us at Oti station and drove us to Kawana Hotel about 15 minutes away. This was greatly appreciated as it was simply pouring with rain. Tatsuo went out of his way to make our stay a good one and we are certainly grateful for his efforts.
Kawana Hotel is a Spanish Mission building and we had heard it was somewhat tired, compared to western hotels it may well be but in my view adds to the enjoyment and experience as it is still reminiscent of what would have been a magnificent building in the 1930’s. Do not get me wrong the Hotel is very comfortable and amenities very good, we certainly had time to discover what was available to hotel guests as it poured rain all afternoon. We had planned to play 9 holes on the Oshima course, we did not consider it for a second.
At dinner that evening we were introduced to Masa Nishijima who was escorting the President of the Indian Golf Association who is on the Golf Magazine ranking panel. After dinner Masa invited us to drinks and we were taken through a history of Japanese courses as we enjoyed many Asahi Super Dry’s.
Monday morning dawned and we watched the end of the PGA Tour event as we got ready for our 8.00am tee time on the FUJI course. It was still raining but not heavily. Following breakfast we headed for the Club house and hopefully a driver I could borrow. (Upon opening my bag that morning my brand new Cleveland Launcher DST Tour Driver was in 2 pieces! Thanks jetstar)
We met our caddy with her motorised buggy carrying both our clubs and walked to the first tee about 5 minutes away. As we were walking a bus with about 20 golfers passed us on the way, it did surprise me that they could not make the 5 minute walk to the 1st tee.
We were second group off following Masa and his guests. After one of his guests really struggled to walk down the first hole I thought we would be waiting for ever all day but after the 1st hole a cart arrived to take them the rest of the round.


Hole 1 Fuji Course from the tee        Hole 1 par 4  415 yards

Hole 1 Fuji Course from halfway down hill
The first impressions are that there is very little fairway to hit down there, when you do get down the fairway past the bunker it is surprisingly wide and the rough that looks very fierce is very playable.
Any tee shots played down the right can be blocked by the corner trees and the second shot is certainly more uphill than you give credit when you stand on the tee. The view from the tee is no doubt stunning on a clear day. Even with hazy rain it is still wonderful. 

Hole 1 green from short of right hand green side trap
As mentioned the green is slightly elevated from the fairway and the green also has a slight rise at the front that only allows well struck shots to finish on the surface. The green is quite small and slopes gently from back to front.

2nd hole tee shot         Hole 2 par 4   411 Yards
The second hold has a semi blind tee shot over a fairway bunker that sits across the right half of the hole which then bends to the left with a slight dog leg after this bunker. The bunker’s far edge is only 205 yards from the back tee so really does not come into play.
The second shot will be played form a fairly even lie to another smallish green that is well framed by the 2 front bunkers and has a good amount of break from left to right towards the water.  At 411 yards from the back the second shot is not going to be overly long.
 

The 3rd hole is the first of 2 back to back par 5’s and at 450 yards it does not appear overly long on paper. Sorry no photos as it was pouring rain.
There is a cluster of bunkers between 170 and 230 yards from the back tee on the right side again they are positioned on the angle pushing tee shots to the left hand side. The 3rd is also your introduction to the many uphill approach shots that you will encounter.
The green site is 39 yards above the tee with the last 100 yards to the green being quite steep. The fairway also narrows as you get closer to the green making the second shot quite challenging. The green is again quite small and has gentle slope from back to front.


4th hole from mid fairway      par 5    482 yards
The 4th hole runs parallel to the 3dr but back down the hill you have just come up. The tee shot is to a bunkerless fairway that is framed by a lone pine on the left edge at 256 yards from the back tee and you do need to be along the left hand side off the tee.
The second shot is played either to the green or into a blind area 50 yards short in a hollow short of the green. The approach from this hollow is played to a blind putting surface making distance judgement difficult.

4th hole approach from 100 yards
The photo from 100 yards out shows the change in elevation as you approach the green and also how the bunkers on the left protect the green from the long approach.

4th green

To get from the 4th green to the 5th tee you need to use the conveyer belt shown in the above photo that is turned on by pressing a button at the bottom and goes straight up the hill to the 5th tee.

5th hole from tee      par 3      181 yards
The 5th tee is the first place where get a great idea of the changes in elevation that occur on the golf course. It is also intimidating seeing a green sitting 25 yards below you from 181 yards in an expanse of open surrounds. One bunker protecting the front left of a green that slopes away from its centre in all directions although the movement is quite subtle.

5th Hole looking back to tee from behind green
The 6th hole could be described as a brute, 434 yards uphill and plays more like 475 yards with the green 23 yards above the tee.
The hole is bunkerless and the challenges from the tee are well placed pines on either side that narrow the driving area. The challenge heading towards the green is OOB all along the left hand side of the hole. The green is the biggest on the course and is also quite wide which fits the challenges of the hole very well.

6th hole approach to green   par 4   434 yards
The 7th hole is one out of the box, simply stunning. A short downhill par 4 of 393 yards with a semi blind tee shot over bunkers to a split 2 level fairway with a beautifully framed green to finish the hole.

7th hole from tee   par 4      393 yards
There is a choice of the tee with 2 fairways to aim at. The left hand fairway is lower than the right and also very narrow. It is over the left hand edge of the right hand fairway bunker.  The right hand fairway is the same level as the green and is over the mound on the right edge of the right bunker.

7th hole from adjacent to fairway bunkers

7th green from upper fairway

7th green from lower fairway
The way the bunkers frame this hole from the tee makes this hole. It is visually stunning as well as providing 2 distinct options of play. The trees that frame the back of the green have been cleared and the view to and beyond the green are stunning even on what was a murky day. The green is elevated from the left fairway and over the back of the green it drops away dramatically and makes for a very challenging save for any ball is over the back.


8th hole       par 3       150 yards
The 8th is a good shorter par 3 with a heavily bunkered green to a green that sits just below you on the tee.

9th hole approach    par 367 yards
The 9th is a mid range par 4 again with 2 distinct fairways and in this case 2 greens. The tradition of 2 greens is changing it appears with the majority of clubs gradually removing the 2nd greens. At Kawana Fuji only 4 remain, the 1st, 9th, 10th and 12th and they do have a 19th hole.
The upper fairway takes a bold tee shot over trees of approximately 245 yards uphill to reach the surface. It will provide a better angle at the same level as the green. The left hand fairway leaves you with a shot to an elevated green with the left hand bunker providing excellent protection.
As with traditional Japanese Golf I will now take a break and return later in the weekend with the rest of Kawana Fuji.

[Ron Csigo]

Wonderful pictures Andrew.  Thank you for posting.

Of the courses that you've already played in your top 100 quest, would you say that the Kawana Fuji course is accurately ranked?  Would you rank it ahead of any of those 'higher ranked' courses?

[C. Sturges]

Great pictures!  Hope you post more from your trip.
Chris

[Mac Plumart]

+1

I would love to hear and see more concerning this trip. 

I love the look of the fairways and bunkers.

[Brent Hutto]

That gray, wet day puts a whole different vibe on the pictures than other photos I've seen. I think it made for very intriguing sense of the contours and textures of the course.

[Rob Miller]

Great photos.  Looks like the weather wasn't so kind. 

Favorite holes?

Did you play the Oshima course?

How would you compare Kawana with the other top 100 courses in Japan?

[Ian Andrew]

Andrew,

I'm enjoying this very much.

Could you talk a little about the differences in turf, playing conditions, speed of play, or anything else that provides some additional flavour.

Many thanks,

Ian

[Scott Warren]

Looks like a great land, Andrew. Thanks for posting.

[Andrew Bertram]

Thanks for the comments guys


I will be posting all courses in next couple of weeks and will be passing comment on all courses and their positions in golf.

Hirono was clearly the best ahead of kawana, Naruo and Kasumigaseki. The land for kawana and Naruo is stunnig land to build on. How on earth they built kawana in the 30's is amazing.

It was just scrub and forest.

My favorite holes at Kawana are 1, 7, 12 and 16. 16 tee shot on a clear day would be just stunning.

We had planned to play the Oshima co0urse Sundfay afternoon but it simply poured all afternoon so the bar was a good place to be.
Oshima is on slighlty less undulating land than Fuji but still looks like it would be quite enjoyable.

ian

All 4 courses had Korai grsss covering the course for fairway and rough. It is about halfway between couch and kykuyu. At Kawana it was wet due to the rain, see 1st hole, but it was still very playable. The ball sat up very well in the rough even though it was quite long and was easy to play from.
The green surrounds were Korai and about 2 inches long but again the ball sat up and was easy to play from.

At Kasumigaseki the fairways had been aerated as the winter was very cold. Where the fairways were good they were very tight and excellent to play from. naruo had excellent tight fairways and again it was wall to wall Korai.

Hirono was unbeliveabley good. The fairways were tight, firm and almost crunchy to walk on. the rough was lush and consistant all over the course and good to play from. Hirono was every bit as good condition as any sand belt when in good shape.

Kawana and naruo had Korai greens.  The Kawana greens were quite grainy but very good to putt on, they ran at about 8 - 9. They looked as though would move a lot but did not move too much.

Kasumigaseki has bent on all 36 holes, they kept a sign up showing the east was running at 10 and the west at 12. The "old" greens on the eats were pure, the "new" greens not quite as good.  The Club alternates from Old to new greens on a daily basis. The west has one set of greens and they were excellent.

naruo has Korai greens and we played there 3 weeks after spring renovations and they were patchy. Again no problem putting on them, struggled getting the ball to the hole. Again a cold wet winter meant the course was not at it's best.

Hirono had a set of the purst bent greens i have seen, as good as metropol;itan when they are pure. No othe grass leaking in and very true and a good speed.

Golf is played at a good pace, at naruo we played with the Club Captain behind other groups and we never waited all day and moved very well. We did stop for 40m minutes for a "full" lunch. Following golf we did the full japanese bath at each course, the lady attendants in the locker room at naruo were a surprise i must say. The bath at the end was a real treat and afterwards we felt very refreshed.

I will post more photos tonight time permitting

Andrew   

 

[Andrew Bertram]

10th hole       par 3      143 yards
The start to the back nine is a short par 3 that plays slightly uphill and is surrounded by bunkers.
The green surface slopes away from the edges so only a shot played to the central part of the green will hold and not roll off into the deepish bunkers protecting it.

10th hole

10th green from behind showing the mist against the hills
The 11th is where the course changes quite dramatically and the next few holes are wide open after playing through what is somewhat like a botanical garden.
The 11th is 619 yard par 5 that has no bunkers until you get to the green and is framed by palm trees on both sides of the fairway that is quite narrow and gets narrower the further you get down the hole.
 
 11th hole from drive zone   par 5      619 yards
The green and green setting is the heroes of this hole with the green set back against the light house. The green is over 40 yards deep with a significant step that runs across the green half way up the green.

 11th hole approach
The 12th hole is one of my favourite holes at Kawana along with the 1st, 7th and 15th. The tee shot plays uphill to a dog leg left 404 yard par 4. The hole is wide open off the tee with a single tree in the middle of the fairway on the dogleg. The best angle to come into the green is form the right half of the fairway right of the tree.

12th hole from the tee      par 4      404yards
The shot to the green is to another elevated green with a deep bunker protecting the front. The shot from the left half of the fairway can be blocked off slightly be the left hand tree line and also has an angle to the shallowest part of the green.

12th hole approach

 12th green front bunker

12th hole from behind green
I have no doubt the views along the coastline from the 12th hole would be spectacular and would add to the enjoyment that you experience while playing Kawana.
The 13th hole is another good mid range par 4 of 395 yards playing slightly uphill and doglegs to the left. Well positioned fairway bunkers on the left centre of the fairway which takes 203 yards to carry from the back tee with another 20 yards to reach the fairway on this line. Play right of the trap and the fairway bends at the point where you can run out of fairway easily if the ball stays straight.

13th hole as seen from just short of left centre fairway bunker
The approach to the green is dominated by a magnificent cherry blossom tree on the left of the green and a large bunker on the left side that is well below the surface of the green. The front right hand bunker also hides half of the putting surface so visually the target is quite small.


13th green from left hand side bunker

13th green – left hand bunker

Over drinks with Masa on the previous evening he was keen for us to look out for the original tees for the 14th hole that plays across the 13th fairway. When we were in the middle of the 13th Masa was on the 14th tee and was waving his arms around pointing to what were obviously tees at some point of time in the hillside and the current 14th tee certainly looks like an afterthought.
More can be read about 14 at Kawana in the interview with Masa Nishijima in the interview section from August 2007.
The 14th is a dogleg right par 4 of 416 yards with the dog leg bending about 250 yards from the tee, into the breeze we were both left with blind second shots from the middle of the fairway and in my case a 5 iron. Again there are 2 significant trees that frame this hole, the first on the hill near the right hand fairway trap and the second in the middle of the fairway 100 yards from the green.

Approach to the 14th green    par 4      416 yards
The green sits up slightly from the surrounding area and again is out in the open. It drops away from all side, in particular the left hand side and over the back of the green.

 14th Green
The 15th is one of the most visually stunning holes you will come across. A par 5 of 470 yards playing along the ocean edge with the tee about 35 yards above the fairway level. The real puzzlement I had was that the back tees have been taken away from near the top of the “cliffs” to the right and removing the “bend” out of the hole and the visual treat that you experience standing on the normal tee.

15th hole    par 5      470 yards
The photo is taken from the normal tee, the back tee is located to the right of the trees on the right of the photo. There is plenty of fairway to play to but the ever present trees and ocean to the left make it appear far narrower than it is.
The day we played the ocean was load and was a presence all the way along the whole, i certainly believe the opportunity to remove some of the tree line along the left to open up the view could only enhance a wonderful hole.
The second shot is uphill to a wide shallow green with a tier than runs the direction of the hole from front to back. Not a long hole by any stretch but one of my favourites in Japan.

15th hole from behind the green
At all of the course we played we came across long tough par 3’s and the 16th at Kawana fits the bill.  185 yards up hill to a green that drops away severely on the front and right sides it certainly plays a lot harder than most holes of 185 length.
The green sits 10 yards above tee level so getting the height into your shot to stop on the green is a real challenge.

  16th hole       par 3       185 yards
A small green adds to the challenge with bunkers over the back, and on both sides that are below green surface that assist players in stopping their balls from running to far down the slope.

16th hole from behind green
The 17th is another hole of mid range length of 410 yards that plays well uphill making it play closer to 450 – 460 yards. The green is again 30 yards above the tee.
A large bunker on the left that takes a 220 shot to cover it and reach the fairway to give you best angle into the green.
The green is also raised from the area around it and very well protected with bunkers.

17th hole from the tee      par 4       410 yards
The photo show significant movement in the terrain of the hole with the easier play down the right side leaving a shot from the lowest portion of the hole.

17th hole from left hand fairway bunker

17th hole from greenside short bunker
The green is a kidney shaped green on the angle with the surface area quite shallow from front to back. The majority of players will approach this green with a long iron / wood which makes it a very challenging hole.

18th hole form tee      par 4      366 yards
The finishing hole is an excellent short par 4 where the fairway narrows the further you travel, the fairway bunkers that frame the hole are really not in play with the right hand bunkers protecting the player from the deeper rough and trees. From these bunkers you have to hit a good fade to be able to hit the green.
The green is again elevated and is again quite shallow in depth providing a target that a good shot needs to be played to. As with the majority of greens the sides fall away and are covered with good length rough.

18th hole from mid fairway
We are about 2 hours south of Tokyo in the middle of rural Japan and the building on the right of the green just happens to be an “Italian Restaurant”, classic!
The green is protected by bunkers that are again below the green surface providing challenging recovery shots.

18th green from short left

18th hole front bunker

Kawana is a most enjoyable place to stay and play golf and if the facility was in the US it would be extremely busy. As with previous trips to Japan is saw very few Westerners during the week I was there.
If Kawana was promoted through the golf media as a user friendly facility to visit and play golf it I have no doubt patronage would be up substantially from overseas visitors.
We were told that nobody spoke English other than Tatsuo Kato. We had no problems at any time getting our point across with very limited Japanese as we found that over half the people we interacted with had some English.
The resort is an excellent hotel and they could not have done any more to make us feel comfortable.
I will advise you, avoid the pickled squid. Greg had it form dinner and I have never seen anything so gross. Whenever we told anyone he had pickled squid they just laughed.

 Kawana Hotel
A number of years ago the company running Kawana went broke and they were taking over. During the changeover they did a stocktake and found the original Allison drawings in a safe.  These are now on display in the Golf Clubhouse and make a nice addition to the feel.


Kawana Fuji Original Drawings

Kawana Hotel Guests Lounge

Walkway to Golf Club House
Following 24 hours of good steady rain the course stood up very well and was exceptionally playable, the contours of the land and the routing through the landscape is exceptional. The elevation changes are used to dramatic effect and with the use of bunkers cut into drop aways at the side of greens makes for dramatic effect.
I do hope you have enjoyed this and I will return later in the week with Kasumigaseki.
 

[John Mayhugh]

Kawana certainly looks like it belongs in Japan - if that makes any sense.

I really enjoyed the supplemental pics of the clubhouse and especially the conveyor belt.  Those sometimes give a better feel for the overall experience than the ones of the golf course do. 

[Christoph Meister]

Andrew,

Great pictures and looking forward to your next postings
...and also thank you for the scorecards you got for me
from Japan....

Greetings from Germany

Christoph

[Andrew Bertram]

Thanks Christoph

The cards are in the post


Andrew

[Ron Farris]

Thanks for the picture tour.  Honestly that is what I like about this site.
Kawana takes me way back.  I first played it with Perry Dye in the late 1980's.
Other than the standing water it doesn't look like it changed much.  
Well done.  I can't wait to see your Hirono pictures, I loved that place as well.

[Carl Nichols]

Kawana certainly looks like it belongs in Japan - if that makes any sense.

I really enjoyed the supplemental pics of the clubhouse and especially the conveyor belt.  Those sometimes give a better feel for the overall experience than the ones of the golf course do. 

I had exactly the same reactions. 

Thanks for the pictures.

[Philip Gawith]

Andrew - lucky you, what a trip! Can't wait to see your pictures. I played Kawana in February a few years ago and the course looked very different. Here is the link to the pictures. I hope it  works.

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,28120.0/

[Andrew Bertram]

Phillip

dramatic photos

he colours make the movement in the terrain so much more dramatic.

Thanks for the link much appreciated

Andrew

[Richard Hetzel]

That is an absolutely STUNNING golf course. Wow, it really draws you in and grabs your attention. Great pics, thanks!