South/West at Nara OGM Golf Club

The Nara OGM Golf Club sits in the Yamabe area of Nara Prefecture, positioned within the historic Kansai region where golf development accelerated during Japan's economic expansion. Peter Thomson, the five-time Open Championship winner who became one of Australia's most prolific course architects in Asia, designed the South and West nines as part of this multi-course facility. Thomson's work in Japan during the 1970s and 1980s typically emphasized strategic variety and playability across different skill levels, adapting his design principles to the region's rolling terrain and seasonal climate.

The South/West combination moves through terrain characteristic of inland Nara, where elevation changes and natural contours provide the framework for hole variety. Thomson's routing philosophy generally favored working with existing landforms rather than extensive earthmoving, creating holes that follow the natural flow of the property. The layout incorporates the design elements common to Thomson's Japanese portfolio: generous fairway widths balanced by strategic bunkering, greens with subtle internal movement, and risk-reward options that reward course management over pure distance.

The club operates within the member-focused culture typical of Japanese golf facilities, where attention to course conditioning and service standards remains consistently high. Nara's position near Kyoto and Osaka places the course within reach of the region's substantial golfing population, though it maintains the quieter character of courses outside the immediate metropolitan corridor.