The Course Nicklaus Called the Best He Knew in Japan

Jack Nicklaus spent ten years building PGM Ishioka, and when it was finished he said it was the best golf course he knew of in Japan. That is a considerable claim from a man who has built courses on every continent, and the layout at Omitama backs it up in a way that is not immediately obvious from the first tee. The land is almost perfectly flat, with a maximum elevation change across the whole property of about four metres, and Nicklaus made a virtue of that constraint rather than fighting it. Every green is visible from every tee, which is unusual in Japan and reflects a deliberate philosophy: the player is given all the information and then asked to do something difficult with it. There are no blind shots, no hidden trouble, nothing that punishes a first-time visitor for not knowing the course. What punishes you is the decision-making.

The hazards do the work that terrain does elsewhere. Ponds, deep bunkering and the native bush that gives the course its signature character are placed so that the aggressive line and the safe line are genuinely different propositions on almost every hole, and the widely repeated verdict is that a round here requires all fourteen clubs. Wind matters more than it would on a course with hills to break it up, and reading the direction and strength correctly is a large part of scoring well. Five sets of tees stretch the course from 4,888 yards to 7,071, which means the same holes present very different questions to a scratch player and a senior, and the course rating of 73.4 from the back reflects a serious test at full length. Fairway cart access runs year round, conditions permitting, which is a rarity at courses of this standing.

Ten years in the building on ground with four metres of fall, where every green is visible from every tee and the difficulty is entirely a matter of choice

A tournament pedigree under two names

The course hosted the Acom International on the men's tour for eight consecutive years, a run that established its reputation as one of the sternest tests in the Kanto region. It returned to national attention in 2015 and 2016 as the venue for the HONMA TOURWORLD CUP AT TROPHIA GOLF, named for the premium brand under which the course was then operated. Lee Kyoung-hoon took the inaugural title in 2015; Yuta Ikeda won the following year in a playoff against Song Young-han, a victory that formed part of the season in which he topped the Japan Golf Tour money list. The event moved to Aichi in 2017, but the two Ishioka editions remain the course's most recent moment on the international stage.

What to expect on the day

Bring the ability to shape the ball both ways. The most frequently cited example is a tee shot where a pond sits in the eye line and bunkers run down the right, calling for a fade from the left side, while the return leg of the hole asks for the opposite. This is the pattern throughout: Nicklaus rarely lets a player settle into one preferred shape for long. The practice range is generous by Japanese standards at 18 bays and 330 yards, deep enough to hit driver properly before the round, which on a course this demanding off the tee is worth arriving early for.

Access and practicalities

PGM Ishioka sits in Omitama in central Ibaraki, reached from the Chiyoda-Ishioka interchange on the Joban Expressway, putting it comfortably within a couple of hours of central Tokyo and convenient for anyone combining a round with Tsukuba or the Ibaraki coast. Note that there is a separate Ishioka West Country Club in Kasama, a different club entirely with no connection to this one, so confirm which course a booking refers to. The course is operated by Pacific Golf Management.