New at New St. Andrews Golf Club Japan

New St. Andrews Golf Club Japan occupies rolling terrain in Otawara, a city in Tochigi Prefecture roughly two hours north of Tokyo. The course represents a collaboration between Jack Nicklaus and Desmond Muirhead, completed during the height of Japan's golf development boom in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Muirhead, known for his artistic and sometimes unconventional design approach, worked alongside Nicklaus on several projects during this period, bringing his distinctive routing philosophy to complement Nicklaus's strategic design principles.

The layout takes advantage of the natural contours of the Tochigi landscape, which features moderate elevation changes and mature tree corridors. Nicklaus designs from this era in Japan typically emphasize wide playing corridors with strategic bunkering and large, undulating greens that reward precision on approach shots. Muirhead's influence often appears in creative green complexes and thoughtful integration of water features into the strategic fabric of holes.

The club serves a membership drawn primarily from the greater Tokyo metropolitan area and reflects the formal traditions common to private golf clubs in Japan. These clubs typically maintain high conditioning standards and observe established protocols regarding pace of play and course etiquette. The facility includes practice areas and clubhouse amenities consistent with the expectations of Japanese private club membership, where golf remains both a recreational pursuit and an important venue for business and social relationships.