Koga Golf Club

About the club

Designed by Osamu Ueda in the Fifties, the course at the members-only Koga Golf Club makes full use of a fairly tight location on the shore, and exemplifies nicely the kinds of courses that were being built in Japan prior to the golf boom that was sparked by the country's 1957 Canada Cup win. The challenges here come from the abundant trees, sharp inclines, daunting bunkers and raised and carefully defended greens. Standouts among the superb holes are the evergreen-framed 2nd, the par 4 3rd, which demands a long tee shot in order to storm the fiercely defended green, and on the back nine the par 5 12th, where the rolling landscape can help to shorten up the approach and the 16th, with a yard-deep bunker on the left side of the green. With all of that and a fine 18th, Koga is one of the best oceanside courses in the country.