Fairways on the Arakawa riverbank

Murakami City Arakawa Golf Course is a municipal public course in northern Niigata Prefecture, laid out on the floodplain of the Arakawa River. It opened in 1991, was designed by Kokusai Kogyo, and plays 18 holes at par 72 across 6,065 yards of flat riverside ground. That sounds gentle, and much of it is, but the wind coming off the river (the east wind here is well known locally) can change a round fast. A few holes on the front nine have small, contoured greens guarded by bunkers, and the round finishes on a long par-7 home hole that locals treat as the course's signature. GPS riding carts, bent greens and a full practice area make it a relaxed, good-value day out, and the local tourism board calls it well suited to beginners.

Birdsong, running water and a river breeze, on one of Niigata's friendliest public courses.

The course is open from around mid-March to mid-December, so it fits spring, summer and autumn trips to the Sea of Japan coast. Around it you'll find Arakawa Shrine with its model-ship offerings, Otsuhoji Temple and its three-story pagoda, a strawberry farm and the Michi no Eki Kamihayashi roadside station. The castle town of Murakami, known for salmon, is close by. Getting there is easiest by car: the Arakawa-Tainai interchange on the Nihonkai-Tohoku Expressway is a few kilometres away, and JR Sakamachi Station is about five minutes by taxi.