Yokohama Country Club (West)

Overview: The West Course at Yokohama Country Club is a hilly, walking-oriented layout whose character comes from the land itself. Takeo Aiyama’s original design used natural valleys, ridges and existing vegetation, and the modern course continues to present those features as a connected sequence rather than a collection of engineered set pieces. The fairways rise and fall through wooded ground, while the greens and approach angles reward players who understand the shape of the hole before choosing a line.

History: Yokohama Country Club was established in 1958 and opened in 1960 as a 36-hole facility. Aiyama’s West Course was substantially rebuilt between 2014 and 2016 by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, who introduced a more naturalistic approach while retaining the original terrain and the course’s identity. The renovation included a one-green conversion and a broad reworking of the 18-hole routing. The facility has hosted major Japanese championships, including the Japan Open in 1978 and 2018.

Did You Know? The 2016 work was not simply a cosmetic bunker project. Coore and Crenshaw’s brief was to preserve the valleys, ridges and vegetation created by Aiyama and his colleagues while adapting the course for modern play. That balance explains why the West Course can read as both a mid-century Japanese design and a contemporary study in natural movement across the site.