Ono Golf Club

Overview: Ono Golf Club occupies undulating, pine-lined ground around Kamo Pond in Hyogo Prefecture. Osamu Ueda designed the 18-hole parkland course to use the existing landscape with as little bulldozer work as possible, sending the outward nine around the water before the inward holes move into the surrounding hills and return to the pond. The changing terrain, tree lines and water edges make position more important than a simple drive for distance.

History: Local supporters first proposed a course at the scenic Kamo Pond site in 1959, and construction began the following year. Ono opened on 3 November 1961, designed by Ueda at the request of Toyohiko Inui, the club’s founding chairman and then chairman of Hirono Golf Club. The relationship with Hirono gave Ono its “sister course” identity, while later work in 1994 converted the greens to bentgrass and reviewed the strategy of the full routing.

Did You Know? Ono hosted the Japan Open in 1969, when Hideyo Sugimoto set a final-round course record of 67 on the way to victory. The club has also hosted the Kansai Open and major Japanese amateur competitions, so its tournament history reaches well beyond the single national championship that made the course widely known.