Kasumigaseki (East)
The Kasumigaseki Country Club , located in Saitama, Japan, offers two golf courses: the West Course and the more famous East Course .
History of the course
He Kasumigaseki Country Club was formed in 1929. The course was also opened the same year after being designed by local golfer Kinya Fujita. However, his design was not liked by the members so Charles Alison was brought in to modify the course. The changes made by Alison were liked by all and they respected him for this.
While setting out to make the course more challenging, Alison introduced cavernous bunkers. This change had a thrilling effect on the golfers and they loved him for this. The East Course employs the dual grass system, i.e., one for the summer and another for the winter.
Course Trivia
- The East Course at Kasumigaseki Country Club has probably the best par-three hole in Japan. The par-three 1oth hole originally had a 180-yard one-shotter over a water hazard to a small green. But Alison converted it into a beauty. He made a deep bunker in front of the green to make the hole more challenging.
- As it is a private club you need to be invited by a member to play here.
The Kasumigaseki (East) Golf Course ranks amongst the top five courses in Japan . According to Golf Digest magazine's list of top 100 golf courses outside the US in 2005, it is the 44 th best course. As we continue on this tour we will learn about the other top-100 golf courses in the world.
