Chase Adams

This round I played at Daifuji Golf Club was the best overall golf experience of my life. We arrived to the course after about 2 hours of travel time from central Tokyo, and as far as I could tell we were the only people there apart from the staff. The only way I can describe this course is that it looked like someone magically turned a turbulent, storm-tossed ocean or violent, rapid-filled river into grass and then put a golf course on top of it. The sheer volume and scale of all the random waves of earth and deep depressions, all covered in perfectly mowed and manicured grass, was astounding. Nearly every hole featured some intense amount of verticality or shaping variety that made playing golf there so interesting and fun. The overcast weather and the solitude of almost never seeing another golfer, as well as the only sounds outside of our own conversation being the crack of golf swings and the calls of tropical wildlife, made the experience feel something more than just peaceful, almost sacred. The golf, the mid-round lunch, and the post-round shower and “onsen” (large, relaxing hot spring facility) were all included as part of the cost of our tee time, which was $70. There are beautiful golf courses all around the world but I’m convinced that the some of the best golf experiences you’ll ever have are to be found in Japan.