Island Golf on Nanao Bay

Notojima Golf & Country Club sits on Notojima, a quiet island in Nanao Bay on Ishikawa's Noto Peninsula, reached by bridge about ten minutes from the Notojima Ohashi crossing. Opened in November 1989 and designed by Mitsuaki Kobayashi, the 18-hole, par-72 layout stretches to 7,007 yards from the back tees. It is long and largely flat with generous fairways, but water comes into play on many holes: a pond wraps a dogleg at the 4th, the 13th fairway is ringed by water like an island, and the par-3 16th plays to a green that seems to float, with the sea breeze to calculate. Two-tier and elevated bent greens add a final test.

A long, open island course where the water is never far away, and the Noto coast frames every hole.

Visitors are welcome to choose self-play or a caddie, and the restaurant serves local favourites such as Notojima pork tonkatsu. The club also offers golf packages with lodging, including stays at Wajima Onsen, while the famous seaside hot springs of Wakura Onsen are around 15 minutes away, making this an easy base for a slow-paced Noto trip of seafood, coastal drives and island scenery. From Kanazawa, allow about an hour and a half by car via the Noto Satoyama Kaido and Noto Expressway to Wakura IC, then roughly 20 minutes across to the island.