Arima Royal Golf Club (Royal)

Overview: The Royal Course is the older, more traditional routing at Arima Royal Golf Club, a par-72 mountain layout in Kobe's Kita Ward. The official course outline lists 3,488 yards for the Royal outward nine and 3,660 for the inward nine, or 7,148 yards in total. Osamu Ueda designed the original course, using substantial elevation, tree-lined corridors and bold green contours to make placement important. The round is not simply about length: awkward lies and the club's pronounced uphill approaches can turn a seemingly comfortable hole into a careful two-shot problem.

History: Arima Royal opened 27 holes in 1972 and later grew to 36 when the Noble Course was added in the 1990s. The original East and Middle courses were renamed and combined as Royal, while the old West routing became part of Noble after reconstruction. The club's history records the 1987 Japan Open on the original complex, placing the Royal routing within a long tournament and membership tradition.

Did You Know? The Royal course guide identifies its 9th as a tournament finishing hole when the nines are reversed. The hole can be attacked over the right-side bunker or played more cautiously from the left, while deep greenside bunkers make the final approach a genuine scoring test. Several greens are tiered, so being on the correct level is often more valuable than simply finding the putting surface.