The Country Club Shiga

The Country Club Shiga is an 18-hole hillside course in Koka, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. in a distinctly American style. The layout spreads generously across its site, with holes routed to feel largely independent from one another — neighbors are rarely visible, giving each hole a calm, self-contained character. Ponds, mounds, and bunkers feature throughout, and the design reaches a strategic peak around the clubhouse, where the 9th and 18th holes wrap around a large pond, combining visual appeal with real scoring pressure. Large white bunkers are placed deliberately along fairways to narrow the effective landing zones. Accuracy and distance control are both tested, and finding a bunker typically makes scoring difficult. Precise shot-making is rewarded at every turn.