Ibaraki Country Club

About the club

The East Course Scotsman David Hood created the original design for Ibaraki Country Club’s East Course in 1925, and it is one of only two courses from that early period that remains operational anywhere in the Kansai region. Hood's layout attracted Japan's inaugural professional event, the first Japan Open Championship, in 1929, and the venue has returned to Ibaraki four times since. In modern times the newer West Course attracts the tournament play owing to its greater capacity to house all of the fanfare that attends a professional championship. The East, however, is the real gem here, occupying a site on an undulating slope where the plant and wildlife are abundant, especially in the spring. Each of the holes is uniquely unforgettable; standouts include the 5th and 6th, which in the proper season are immersed in blooming cherry trees (as is the charming clubhouse). Lengthening has brought the distance off the tips to 6400 meters.