Is Japan worth it for a golf holiday? Yes. Here's exactly why.

The objections I hear most often: it's too far, it's too expensive, I don't speak Japanese, I won't know anyone there. All of these are wrong. Let me take them in order.

Too far: Japan is 12 hours direct from London. That is the same as New York to New Zealand. It is a long-haul flight, yes. But the jet lag is manageable (GMT+9 means you wake up early and sleep early — actually useful on a golf trip), and the experience you access is so far beyond what 12 hours of flying normally delivers that the distance math inverts almost immediately on arrival.

Too expensive: A week's golf in Japan, staying at a mid-range ryokan or business hotel and playing four courses, costs approximately £3,500–£4,500 per person including flights. That is comparable to 7 nights at Quinta do Lago at the premium end, or a Scotland circuit. Japan is not cheap, but it is not uniquely expensive either.

The courses: Kawana Hotel (Fuji Course) is consistently ranked in the global top 50 by every credible ranking system. The backdrop is Mount Fuji on clear days. The par-3 8th — a 150-yard clifftop hole over the Pacific — is the most photographed hole in Japan for good reason. Naruo Golf Club, Hirono Golf Club (often described as Japan's Augusta), and Gotemba Golf Club are the other courses I build itineraries around.

The conditions: Japanese greenkeeping makes British turf management look approximate. The greens at Hirono in April are as fast and true as anything I've putted on, including Augusta (which I visited as part of a press trip in 2018). The fairways are striped and immaculate. The bunkers are raked to a standard that appears to involve individual grains being considered.

The hospitality: this is where Japan does something that no other golf destination does. The pro shop staff will bow as you leave. Your clubs will be cleaned and bagged for you at the end of every round without being asked. The post-round bath (onsen, available at most golf-adjacent hotels) is an experience that makes the European 19th hole feel inadequate.

I don't speak Japanese: you don't need to. The major golf courses all have English-speaking front-of-house staff. Your caddie will communicate everything essential without language. And the Japanese approach to service is so thorough that ambiguity rarely arises.

Cherry blossom timing: if you want to play golf with cherry blossom lining the fairways — and I cannot overstate how extraordinary this is — the window is late March to mid-April depending on the region. Kyoto and central Japan peak around late March. Hokkaido peaks in early May. Book 9–12 months in advance for cherry blossom season.

My honest verdict: Japan is the most surprising golf trip I have taken in fourteen years of doing this. Every client I have sent has come back asking when they can return. That is not a single exception. That is every single one of them.