Tokyo Golf Club - Japan

The glories of golf in Japan are in no small measure the product of a three-month visit by the English golf course architect Charles Hugh Alison, who arrived in Japan on December 1, 1930, aboard the liner Asama Maru sailing from California, accompanied by his construction supervisor George Penglase. Alison had served as the secretary of Stoke Poges Golf Club outside London, designed by the great English architect H.S. Colt, before becoming Colt's partner shortly after World War I. Komyo Otani, a member of Tokyo Golf Club who had been introduced to the game as a student in England, took the lead in hiring Colt to design a new course for the club. But Colt had second thoughts about the long voyage, and instead dispatched Alison. Alison proceeded to design Japan's first championship course, laid out on a flat plain at Asaka. Built by a vast army of workers, the course was completed in May 1932 with the characteristic deep, twirling bunkers that came to be known in Japan as "Alisons." In 1940, the course was taken over by the military and completely destroyed, but a new course was built by Otani after the war based closely on Alison's design.

Hirono Golf Club - Japan

Hirono Golf Club near Kobe was designed by the English course architect Charles Alison during his tour of Japan in 1930-31, on an idyllic site that was part of the large estate of Viscount Kuki, a former feudal warlord and avid golfer. Opened in June 1932, Hirono is generally regarded as Japan's finest course. While in Tokyo, Alison was approached by Seiichi Takahata, a member of The Addington in London, about the project he was involved with at Hirono. Alison visited the site, finding it tailor-made for golf with its lovely lakes and natural valleys, ravines, and rivulets. After studying the property, Alison retired to his room at the Oriental Hotel near the Kobe train station with notes and contour maps, and after seven days emerged with a detailed plan. Of his work at Hirono, Alison later wrote: "In 1930, wild boar were said to flourish there, but I am thankful to say that my acquaintance with them was made only at the dinner table. On 300 acres available for golf, there was no human habitation, nor view of one. .. A map of land was prepared by a Japanese surveyor showing the lakes and principal hills and dales. Notwithstanding the trees and in places the dense undergrowth, this proved to be an excellent guide."