Raising the white flag, I called my friend George Reilly (A Japanese American) who lived in Tokyo and he handled the arrangements. Despite repeated attempts and speaking english as slow as possible I was unable to obtain neither a room nor a time to play golf. So I decided to play here and then took the arduous task of trying to book a tee time and hotel stay as it is mandatory. Conversely, Kawana is known as the Pebble Beach of Japan and is open for play to the public. ![]() ![]() Kobe is a 4 hour train ride by bullet train from Tokyo and is not a public course. The two best courses in Japan are Hirono (in Kobe) and Kawana, which is located approximately 2 hours south of Tokyo’s center. Having played at Swinley Forest and Sunningdale New (both Colt gems) two months prior to my Japan trip my expectations were heightened. The architect responsible for Japan’s best two courses were H.S. That did not matter to me as the most important part was seeing the best course I could while staying in Japan. Most people thought this incredulous as golf is widely known to be prohibitively expensive there. When I told people I was going to Japan to work for a week they inevitably asked what I would do for fun over there. Then the granddaddy of them all came when I told by my company to shuffle off to Tokyo to work for a week. I went on pilgrimages to Scotland, Ireland, England and to Oregon and Nebraska here at home. The year 2001 was the year I devoted myself to playing as many of the world’s great courses as my schedule allowed.
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