Hi everyone, I just want to share my experience playing golf here in Japan. I figured maybe it could help somebody in the future.
– we booked the round at Hakone-en golf course through our Visa Infinite concierge. Though I thinks phone call with google translate handy would be fine too. No online booking at most of the places we looked at.
– upon arrival we checked in and the front desk gave us a card thing and explained that we’ll charge everything to the account and pay at the end. He then let us pick out our rental clubs
– the rentals were very basic but in good shape. Ironically they were in beautiful staff bags which I think are more popular here.
– the golf carts are 4 person golf carts with 2 rows of seats. The crazy thing though is that they drive themselves. There’s a cable under the cart path that the cart follows. It took a few tries for the starter to convey this to us. The cart also had gps and would tell us how far away the next cart was. Much needed because the course was full of blind shots.
– the course itself was pretty cool. Really incredible views including some of Mount Fuji and lots of elevation change. On the shorter side, only 5500 yards for a par 71.
– after 9 holes the starter asked us if we’d like to stop for lunch. We did and it was lovely. Except I accidentally ordered Italian style pasta. It was ok but my wife’s curry was much better.
– the course had vending machines and bathrooms spread through our which was much appreciated.
– the biggest drawback was the pace of play. We had to wait 5-10 minutes on every tee box. Both before and after lunch. Not to mention the automatic cart would sometimes move unreasonably slow.
– it worked out to about $250 for the two of us to play, rent clubs and have lunch. Not cheap but still reasonable.
Overall we had a great time and everyone was so accommodating just as they’ve been everywhere here. If you’re a golfer I would definitely encourage you to find time for a round when you’re here. It’s a different experience and one worth trying!
13 comments
Interesting read. Do not play golf but it was nice to read something else than USJ and restaurants 🙂
That’s actually really cheap. Green fees in SEA can go for $100+ per person. Not including food and tip
Japanese here. One thing I’d also say is that having a meal between 9 holes is super common and kind of expected (that has to do with downfall of golf after the bubble and making forms of revenue), and depending on the course, sometimes there’s internal out of bounds (OB) to speed the pace up.
Is there any way to book without the Visa concierge? Boyfriend is a golfer and we’re coming over next June so I’m trying to sus out some golf options for him.
How easy was it to get the visa infinite concierge to help with this specifically?
That’s pretty cheap considering you got a round, cart, clubs. My bucket list is to golf in Japan. Been golfing for 27 years lol (30) now.
I wish I would have read this a couple months ago. My wife and I are huge golfers and just got back from our Japan trip last week. I tried pretty hard to set up reservations online a couple months before our trip but didn’t have much luck. I kept running into the same issue of not having a Japan phone number or address so I wasn’t able to make the reservation. We ended up settling for a couple of the simulator golf bars which were also really cool.
For those that may be interested in playing golf while visiting Japan; myself and a friend played at Kyoto Ohara Public Course in June. We reached out to our hotel in Kyoto (Ace Hotel) before the trip and had them reach out to various courses and they got us set up with KOPC. Beautiful course with a lot of elevation changes and sweeping views. The pro shop seemed very excited to have some foreign visitors and even threw in a couple of small goodies with our purchases in the pro shop. It was the same set-up that OP described, we checked in and received our locker keys and guest tag to keep our tab during the round. Rental clubs were fine (irons in great shape and woods/drivers were less than 3 years old) and had a nice staff bag with it. Carts had two rows of benches and followed the cart path with GPS showing nearby carts to avoid hitting into them on blind shots and came with a handheld remote to control the cart if you were walking. We decided to have our meal after 18 because we had an early tee time (~8:00), but the food was good and staff friendly. Our total tab for the two of us (including 8-10 beers/lemon sours) was about $200, which we felt was super reasonable for the experience.
Don’t care for golf but self driving cart sounds fun. Do they allow alcohol during?
Wish I had known this before! Thanks for sharing. Love golf and love Japan. First visit to Hakone in 2 nights but no way I’m convinced the wife to go haha
A pretty fair writeup. Glad you guys had a good time. There are a few things one should never order as far as food in Japan. Hot dogs is one, especially at a “fast food” place. Pizza is another. Mexican food as we know it exists in a very few venues. You’re better off staying away. Have a good time.
Really appreciate the write up. Hard to find anything on the process for these courses.
Any tips on what to wear? Did you pack golf shoes or will they let you get by with sneakers? Or rent? Would love to play a round, but not sure it’s worth lugging shoes for just a round.