Daihakone Country Club

DaiHakone Country Club is an 18-hole, par 73 public golf course operated by the Seibu Prince Group located in Sengokuhara, Hakone-cho, Kanagawa Prefecture. The Hakone Sengokuhara Prince Hotel, which offers cuisine and hot springs, is adjacent to the golf course. The course is on a hilly terrain and spreads over Sengokuhara with the Hakone Outer Rim Mountains in the background, creating a sense of grandeur. The course is also the setting for the CAT ladies Golf Tournament, a professional women's golf tournament.

The course was designed by Mitsuaki Otani, who is known as the father of golf in Japan and was instrumental in founding the Japan Golf Association (JGA) and promoting the rules of golf, and Hatohiko Asakanomiya, a member of the Imperial Family, and opened in 1954. Otani was born in 1885 as the third son of the 21st head priest of Nishi Honganji Temple in Kyoto, a Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism. 22 years old, Otani went to England to study and immersed himself in golf while there. After returning to Japan, he placed third in the 12th Japan Amateur Golf Championship held at the Komazawa Course of the Tokyo Golf Club in 1918, and won the same tournament (Kobe Golf Club) in 1922 and the 16th tournament in 1922. In the same year, when the Prince of Wales (King Edward VIII) visited Japan, he was paired with the then Crown Prince (Emperor Showa) in a goodwill match held at the Komazawa Course of the Tokyo Golf Club. In 1927, the first Japan Open was held in Japan. He is also credited with laying the foundation of the Rules of Golf by researching and translating into Japanese the difficult original texts written in English.

In course design, he designed the Kawana Hotel Oshima Course (opened in 1928), the Nagoya Wago Course (opened in 1929), the Tokyo Golf Club (opened in 1940), and other courses with heritage value for Japanese golf courses. He was also instrumental in inviting Alison, who had a great influence on Japanese course designers. In 1947, he left the Imperial Palace (Asakamiya) by order of GHQ and moved to Atami. He spent his life playing golf as a hobby. Meanwhile, Hatohiko Asakamiya was also the honorary president of the Tokyo Golf Club, and the main residence of the imperial family in Shirokanedai, Tokyo, was owned by the Seibu Group after the war and is now the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. It is known for its luxurious Art Deco style interior, one of the few in Japan.

The 15th hole is the one that cannot be missed when talking about such a historic DaiHakone Country Club. The signature hole, with a gentle uphill along the foot of the mountain and a large valley crossing in front of the green, was talked about as "the longest and most difficult hole in Japan" when the club was first opened. The 590-yard par 5 long hole is practically a par 6. It was also a hole of challenge and longing, which many fast golfers were eager to conquer. The next hole, the 16th hole, has the highest tee ground on the course and is a magnificent downhill hole with Owakudani Valley in the center and Sengokuhara in the distance. The 17th hole, a 199-yard par 3 called "Lotus Flower," is said to have been designed by Mr. Otani with a bird's eye view in mind. The green is surrounded by bunkers, and the bold and delicate lines drawn by the white sand are vividly reminiscent of lotus flowers. It is also highly rated for its maintenance.