Kasumigaseki Country Club, Private golf club in Kawagoe, Japan.
Kasumigaseki Country Club is a private golf club in Kawagoe with two 18-hole courses, the East and West, totalling 36 holes. The East Course measures 6,907 yards, par 71, and the West 6,887 yards, par 73, across 1.32 million square metres. Its fairways wind between dense tree lines, with numerous pale sand bunkers and smooth putting greens.
Kasumigaseki Country Club opened on October 6, 1929, as Saitama Prefecture's first golf course, built on land from the Saitama Orphanage with support from banker Hōchi Shōhei and former Iruma Bank president Masuda Tadanori. The East Course was designed by Fujita Kin'ya and Akahoshi Shirō, then remodeled in 1930 by Charles H. Alison. The West Course opened in 1932, giving Japan its first 36-hole club. The 1957 Canada Cup, Japan's first international golf tournament, was held on the East Course.
The club's name comes from the former Iruma District village of Kasumigaseki, absorbed into Kawagoe in 1955; in 1930 the Tobu Tojo Line renamed Matoba Station Kasumigaseki Station after the club. The club long barred women from playing on Sundays; it admitted female members only on 20 March 2017, after IOC pressure ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
The club is reached by taxi about 15 minutes from Tsurugashima Station on the Tobu Tojo Line, or by club bus about 15 minutes from Sayama Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line; Kasahata Station on the Kawagoe Line is a 15-minute walk away. By road it is about 8 minutes by car from the Ken-o Tsurugashima Interchange. The Tobu Tojo Line's Kasumigaseki Station was renamed from Matoba Station in 1930 after the club.
The course contains Alison-style bunkers with steep edges and deep depressions, named after their designer Charles Hugh Alison. These sand hazards require precise shots from different angles and present particular challenges for players of all levels.
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