A Members' Retreat in the Gunma Hills

THE CLUB golf village sits in Annaka, Gunma, on a course that opened in May 1993 as Press Country Club and later became Raysum Golf & Spa Resort before taking its current name in 2023. Designed by Dennis Griffiths, the par-72 layout stretches to 7,162 yards with a course rating of 73.8, and it has proven itself on the big stage, hosting the 76th Japan PGA Championship in 2008 and a Japan Golf Tour event in 2022. Today it is run as a fully membership-based club, with a strategic course kept in condition year-round.

A championship test among the mountains, with a hot spring waiting at the end.

The club is built as a place to stay rather than simply to play: there is a hot-spring bath and sauna in the clubhouse, a spa, dining, a gym and on-site rooms framed by mountains and fairway greenery. Golf itself is for members only, though the restaurant and spa welcome non-golfers. Getting here is easy for a club this far from the city: take the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Annaka-Haruna Station, where a free club shuttle (booked in advance by phone) reaches the clubhouse in about ten minutes. Drivers are advised to use the Maebashi interchange.