Awesome Golf Digest Article on Japan, Taiwan, China

[+TourSpecGolfer]

A Connecticut Yankee

goes to Asia

By Mike Stachura

Golf Digest

April 2007

She is everywhere. Posed in perfection in her followthrough, eyes full of youthful wonder. The quietly, subtly sinewy, athletic build matched with an elfin smile. A monorail car on the Yukiamome line--a single car--teems with no less than 16 images of her covering nearly every available square inch. A billboard in a shopping district plasters that perfect pose and steely visage across a space 30 feet high and 50 feet wide, causing little children, dressed in their perfect little caps and sweaters and school uniform short pants and skirts, to stop and point wide eyed at the wonder that is Ai. The kanji characters next to her face read "Why does Ai-chan hit the ball so far?" And while Bridgestone pays her to lend credibility to its new TourStage ViQ driver (¥84,000, by the way), the current belief among those here swept away by Ai-chan Fever is that the little wonder girl could hit the ball 300 yards with a ceramic chop stick.

Not yet of drinking age, Ai Miyazato has won 11 times in the last two years on the Japan LPGA Tour. Her blitz through the U.S. LPGA qualifying tournament by 12 shots was a national celebration here, and she recently was listed among Japan's top celebrity athletes, hovering in the vicinity of the rock-star appeal of baseball names Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui. Already, she has large-scale endorsement contracts for clubs and balls with Bridgestone, Suntory beverages, Oakley sunglasses, Japan Airlines and Paradiso & Hisamitsu clothing.

The sense from some is that Miyazato has peaked interest in golf here in Japan, and while renewed enthusiasm for the game is on the rise, a resurgence in the Japanese economy may be playing a greater role. Still, it is undeniable that the phenom from Okinawa Prefecture has captured a nation of golfers. It is her score that they flash in the cars on the Shinkansen bullet train as it pulls out of Shinagawa Station, even when she finishes tied for 24th.

"The golf population already is starting to increase because of her," says Toshihiko Higashi, editor at Alba Tross-View magazine, the popular biweekly here. "Tiger was like Ai-chan, but now he could get some advice from her."

Indeed, the Ai-chan excitement has created something of a marketing problem for Bridgestone's U.S. division. Because the phenom will wear the logo of TourStage, Bridgestone's premium moniker in Japan, even when she plays U.S. events, the U.S. affiliate can't take full advantage of her success. Dan Murphy, senior director of marketing, says they will do what they can to relate her to the Bridgestone brand, despite her using equipment that won't ever be marketed in America. It's a global business decision, one that's at least in part determined by the $750 retail price of her driver.

A driver at that price point being pushed by a young woman reflects a fundamental difference in the Japanese golfers' approach to the game. While in the rest of the world, it is the play of the stars on the PGA Tour that is most marketable, here it is the women's game that draws top interest, and more importantly, is where marketing dollars are most effective. In short, Ai-chan, a little girl really, can sell to men--much more so some think than even Tiger Woods. In this nation where many golfers ride the subways sporting slim over-the-shoulder club carriers while on their way to the driving range, there is often a more practical approach to hyping a product.

"Ai-chan has more influence on the golfer here," says a salesman at Tokyo's high-end Sports Road golf shop. "Tiger is such a super-human player that the average golfer can't really relate to him. Ai is more like a lot of male players physically. They understand that."

Says Higashi, "The younger population wants to see her and be like her, but the older population wants to play like her, which makes sense because her driver is suited to the 40- to 50-year old man."

The population of central Tokyo reportedly swells to more than 10 million people every working day thanks to the timely, efficient and almost choreographed influx of more than 2.5 million commuters. It only seems they are all golfers. At least that would be the natural conclusion to draw if one were to look at the retail footprint of golf in Tokyo's bustling downtown. It is not unusual to have golf shops big and small operating kitty-corner to one another. It is a colossally stunning business model for the uninitiated outsider, one that perhaps makes sense in the retailing of fast-food hamburgers, but not as much with titanium drivers. Yet here in Japan, it seems nearly every dark-suited, white shirt-wearing junior, senior and chief executive finds time to waggle/caress a new 7-wood or finger the latest engorged driver head or see if a bargain basement wedge purchase just might be the answer this weekend. They are rushing to meetings or business lunches, but it is not out of the ordinary to see a a neat suit sprinting into a golf shop for a quick look at the new Nike SQ driver. That bizarre obsession with golf equipment just might explain why there are flea market-style streets virtually overrun with golf retail shops sharing side-by-side space with stalls selling seaweed, dried fruit and cosmetics. Indeed, in one infamous street under the elevated JR Rail line tracks near the Okachimachi station, there are seven golf shops all to be found within the trajectory of a decent 4-iron. Stores, which decades earlier had sold sweets or housewares, turned to golf as an easy sell in the years of Japan's boom in the 1980s. While the number of golf retail outfits dipped south (slightly) with the economic bubble burst of the last decade, their numbers still seem incongruously large compared to the American golf superstore model.

But as they say, things are different here. The Japanese golf retail universe starts with component shops, where off-brand heads are fitted with custom and off-brand shafts in mass quantities to produce an affordable, if indistinguished retail alternative. The second rung of the golf retail carousel includes the used club house, a store called Golfers Paradise, where used beryllium copper Ping Anser putters from the early 1970s are positioned within arms reach of brand new-looking yet significantly discounted Titleist 905T titanium drivers. The third rung of the puzzle is the discount house selling mainline equipment from leading manufacturers like Bridgestone, Srixon, Callaway and TaylorMade.

Finally, there is the higher end store where discounts aren't really part of the equation but a more advanced fitting technique and equipment like launch monitors are. Theoretically, all these shops (some would still call it all a glut) cater to different customers. You wouldn't suppose you'd find the same shopper walking into the wider aisles and crisply lit showroom at Sports Road (where getting your product in a display windows can run you a cool $20,000-25,000) as you would at Golfers Paradise, where the garish orange motif and garage sale-like displays are only outdone by the clingy, short white mini-skirts worn by the sales girls, but the truth is golfers are golfers and the businessmen running from sales call to lunch meeting will stop to look at a club quicker than they'd reach down to pick up a 50,000 Yen note.

And despite the existence of high-tech swing monitoring devices and the natural sense that the Japanese golf consumer is more demanding (even the least expensive clubs like the Big Vegas and the Twin Muscle at component store AMC come with a chart listing shaft torque and frequency ratings), there are still an overwhelming majority of shops that do not have this fitting capability as part of their sales setup. Indeed, in most shops there is hardly room to grip a wedge and the putting green seems barely the size of the standard tatami straw mat. Salesman seem more willing to rely on that same incalculable, non-specific sensation that lets every golfer from Shinjuku to Sheboygan know that this club is the new magic wand.

Toru Takagi at Jeep Heartful Golf just outsize Tokyo's Ginza region offers a clear assessment of the buying process. He recognizes he is part of that buying process, but only as a facilitator, nothing more. He can no more influence a decision that's been made than he can cure their slice. Technology is a secondary story, he says. "Maybe half understand the technology, maybe less," he says. "But I do know this. Maybe they buy their dreams."

In Tokyo, sometimes it seems dreams are on sale at every other corner.

At Golfers Paradise, used clubs are spit-shined and boxed up in official looking and brightly colored orange boxes. Prices are a steal, but you're not going to get a chance to take them out and try them first. One satisfied customer focused his attention to a industrial garbage-can-sized display of used putters. An old Spalding Cash-In lookalike was there for the taking for the equivalent of $10. "Why not?" the businessman said on his way to a lunch meeting. "I just feel there's magic in this one. And at these prices, why not?"

To understand the Japanese, and I'm only guessing (but after what I absorbed today, it's a powerful guess), you have to understand Chuo Industries Ltd., the little company making Mizuno forgings two hours west of Osaka. You have to understand the religion-like spirit of the workers. You have to understand the simple, unwavering heartbeat of this nation of small-town industries, the largely quiet antithesis to the techno-punk, ultra-hipster, faster-than-a-text-message glow of modern Tokyo. But mostly, if you are to know this country, you have to understand Kenji Kanegawa. The managing director at Chuo, a compact forging factory for the last 68 years that has made crucial forged steel parts for Ford, Mazda, Toyota, the Shinkansen bullet trains and Mizuno, walks with a purpose and a step that belie his nearly 70 years of age. Barely 5-foot-2, he is stocky still like the fighter of his younger days. He still meets business associates at the train station when he could easily send a younger executive the 40 or so miles instead. He meets them at nearly midnight on a crisp winter night, and he is there bright and early the next morning. The broad smile comes easily, revealing 1970s era dental work that is adequate but decidedly not state-of-the-art. Still, his is not the saccharine drawn-on façade of new century capitalist, but the genuine article like that of a grandfather watching his youngest heirs wander over to him at a picnic. He is like a great chief, settled comfortably for many years at the head of his tribe, his place hard-earned and secure enough to take a measure of pride in the smallest details (the careful wrapping of a small gift of appreciation, the extra bottle of water for a weary traveler, an efficient manner and benevolently authoritative tone that extends to every worker in his charge). But look again, settle your focus on this relic-like icon and you see a pride in the task that runs deeper. There is more than this silently teeming, profound sense of duty that is more stereotype of the Japanese worker mentality than accurate reflection. Look at the lines on his face, the occasional faraway tender ache deep in his dark eyes, the quiet, almost prayerful tone when he speaks of that day that changed his world--or more directly, changed the world--when he was in fourth grade. You see, Kanegawa's company is located 40 miles east of the place he lived in August of 1945. Kanegawa was nine years old when the first nuclear weapon used in a war exploded a quarter mile above his hometown of Hiroshima, crushing and burning and decimating nearly every person and building within a mile radius. Kanegawa had evacuated earlier that week before the bomb hit, but his father remained behind. He was one of the estimated 150,000 people who died as a result of the bomb.

Kanegawa will walk with you through Hiroshima's famed Peace Memorial. He will pause and point to the river he walked along as a child on the way to a karate dojo where he took lessons, and he will tell you without effect of how that same river was filled with the bodies of burning bomb victims that day 60 years ago. Hardly a building remained in the aftermath (a before and after diarama at the Peace Memorial Museum looks unfinished, nearly unstarted, in the after section), but today Hiroshima is a thriving city, the Peace Memorial the only reminder of the past tragedy. "Here lies the spirits of two hundred thousand people," he says heavily. Kanegawa is asked to remember every year, and the story is told of school children transfixed in his presence as he tells them what it was like. "They ask me ‘Do I hate Americans?' and all I can say is I am very sorry for what happened and I am very sorry for all the people who died, including my father.

"But," he says, practically, confidently, solemly, "that ended the war."

Kanegawa has come back from that devastation just as his home has. The forging house he runs is the very foundation for the Mizuno iron line. Ironically, it is these meticulous forgings that set Mizuno apart from others in the U.S. market.

Ironically, it is these forgings, produced in the same prefecture that was at the origin and hypocenter of what would become the lingering fear of the nuclear age that energizes the American division of a Japanese company. It is a genuine partnership these Americans and these Japanese, led by a quiet grandfather who has a deep memory, a firm resolve and an uncompromising commitment to find the better way. Indeed, it is Kanegawa who developed the process that stretches the grain of the metal uniformly, a calling card for the Mizuno line.

In recent years, the Mizuno forgings have extended the possibility of forged clubs, adding game improvement features and undercut cavities that forged irons had never managed before. Kanegawa's belief that anything can be done is infectious, and seeing as he knows how far a person, a people can come, you tend to trust him. Seeing the displays at Hiroshima's Peace Memorial, you tend to marvel at him. "Sometimes we are not sure we can make it," he says, and while he is talking about something as inconsequential as a golf club, the words ring true beyond a simple forging process. "But because we have all the capability we do, we find out what we're able to do. It's cooperative, of course. But when we have the opportunity to do something that could be a great success, it encourages us to try."

Shigeru Nakayama smiles one of those wry Japanese smiles, devilish and knowing yet resigned in an ironically happy way at the same time. It reflects Nakayama's multicultural business pedigree that began in his native Japan and now has him serving as vice president of sales and marketing for Bridgestone Sports U.S. division in Covington, Ga.

Operating with one foot firmly in the West and another still comfortable in his homeland, Shig says something obvious and not so obvious at the same time. "It is a difference in time zones, a difference in language and a difference in culture. But the biggest difference is culture. We are a country of farmers," he says of Japan. "And in the U.S. they are hunters, cowboys. Decisions are slower here and consensus-building is important."

Meticulous is another word that applies. Nurturers is another, as in those adept at growing things in precise and meaningful ways. In Japan, to oversimplify with a bad but nonetheless appropriate stereotype, everything is a bonsai tree. Especially golf balls.

Nakayama was one of my guides on a 15-hour day that took me from Tokyo to the historic mountain village of Chichibu, site of Bridgestone Sports manufacturing and development and golf test center, then back to the northern outskirts of Tokyo to Bridgestone Corporation's Tokyo tire plant. I would get an unprecedented education in the unquestioned strength of Bridgestone's commitment to materials research and development (no U.S. journalist had been granted such an inside look at Bridgestone's golf R&D in Japan), but more importantly, perhaps an insight to the relentless golf technology-centric psyche of the Japanese.

No one I've come across yet better illustrates this characteristic than the proud Seisuke Tomita, executive vice president of manufacturing and development for Bridgestone Sports. Tomita-san speaks in carefully chosen, albeit unsteady English, but his lifelong commitment to Bridgestone's search for meaningful innovation (he's been with the company since 1969) is not without weight. Bridgestone's worldwide ball patent count is unequalled, and it has more than 50 percent of the Japanese ball market share. Its U.S. share is nowhere near that, yet it is safely among the top three companies, while its technology rank might well be higher. Given that it has the luxury of the research arm of its $27 billion rubber/tire company parent at its disposal, Bridgestone does things and uses equipment few companies, let alone golf companies, can imagine. "We are a materials science company," Seisuke says. "There's probably more technology in this little golf ball than in nearly any other comparable consumer good."

And so Bridgestone, emblematic of the Japanese ethic, refines and reorders and reexamines every possible alternative before proceeding. They can go through a thousand prototypes a month at their Chichibu facility, and their factories can produce as many as 70 varieties of balls a month. They use cameras taking pictures at 10,000 frames a second to analyze golf ball deformation at impact. And when Tomita-san really wants to learn something new, he borrows the electron microscopes and superconducting nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer to analyze material structures in the polymers that eventually produce the next round of Bridgestone balls.

If that seems like a lot of effort in an industry that has performance limits placed on its consumer goods like golf does, consider this nugget of promise from Tomita-san: the research and the product development at Bridgestone is often more geared to finding a way average players can hit balls specifically geared to their swing speeds farther than the so-called premium balls designed for tour players. Given that the U.S. Golf Association is considering a rollback on golf ball distance, something Tomita believes is surely coming, the idea that average players might not be affected at all by a rollback is surely intriguing. "A big company like ours, with our resources, we could be in a much better position to better adjust to any change, you know?"

There is excitement about the Japan PGA Golf Fair, the annual event held at the Star Wars Imperial Walker-looking Tokyo Exhibition Hall known as the Big Sight. Orders are up 30 percent according to some, and there is a general sense that golf is somewhat on the rebound in Japan. The event is used to promote the new golf products to the industry and to every Japanese who can ride the monorail to get to the hall. Admission is free, something that's readily apparent when you try to navigate the overstuffed aisles on the Saturday and Sunday sessions of the event. Although the show is considerably smaller than the PGA Merchandise Show in the U.S. in terms of real estate, it is functional and no company of any merit misses setting up a booth to display its latest technologies. This is a tech savvy nation so you better step forward with something exceptional or you'll lose your audience. On one side you'll find regional giant Bridgestone and its new ultra-thin crowned driver, right next to a small firm that sells $75,000 rapid prototyping machines that can turn a computer image into a sand and paper-based or plastic, three-dimensional model, which could serve as the foundation for a clubhead mold. But Callaway is there with its latest all titanium ERC III driver (about ¥80,000 or $700) and so is the other Japanese market giant Dunlop/Srixon, the brand names that spring forth from the technology of giant rubber firm Sumitomo, happily displaying its latest XXIO irons, which could run you ¥170,000. Over here there's a bingo contest for the latest for MacGregor's latest putter, but not before the mad rush of golfers lined up for a free handout of the new Nike One ball. Hard to say what's most intriguing at this event, the overwhelming rush of enthusiasm or the continual rush of new technologies on display here. Ten years ago, maybe even five, the Japan Show used to be the first place American golf companies would see strange technologies that would be years away from the U.S. Now, that's rarely the case. Increasingly, what's on display is expensive technologies that may or may not provide a significant breakthrough for the future.

Here's a rundown on the most noteworthy ideas debuting in Tokyo:

Ultra-thin crown drivers - The mission seems to be twofold here: First, make the driver crown as thin as possible to save weight. Second, a thin crown can flex and that may or may not help improve ballspeed, depending on which engineer you talk to. The new Callaway ERC III driver uses something called chemical milled technology to produce a crown that is just 0.45 millimeters thick, or about 25 percent thinner than the TaylorMade r7 460. The Kitana Sword driver claims a crown even thinner, .38 millimeters.

Smaller drivers - Bridgestone's new X-Drive and Tourstage ViQ drivers are both 435 cubic centimeters, while PRGR's T3 checks in at 440 cc and Mizuno's new MP-003 is just 420 cc. The theory is designers get even more mass to reposition low and deep than might be left on a typical full-size 460 cubic centimeter driver.

Multiple piece irons - Yamaha's Inpres X irons include four pieces (face plate, hosel and frame, two fixed brass weights), while OnOff's Gravity Control Plus irons include as much as a 50-gram tungsten weight positioned in the sole. Shaft customizing. PRGR, a company that had a brief stint in the U.S. but has since left, introduced a complex but logical approach to shaft-fitting that provides 18 possible options. The theory rests on the idea that two identical swingspeeds may be produced by less than identical hand or grip speeds. A special camera system, available at 200 shops in Japan, measures both clubhead speed and grip speed. Faster grip speed means a more flexible butt section and a stiffer tip is a better combination, while slower grip speed will benefit more from a stiffer butt section but a small section with extra flexibility in the tip. The idea isn't to increase head speed but to increase likelihood of hitting the middle of the face.

For all the technology, though, companies still resort to appealing to the baser instincts of their male audience. Women who will probably be serving as car show models next week were out front of nearly every booth, white hot pants, go-go boots and bare midriffs more prominently displayed than any beta titanium.

We tend to have an overly self-indulgent perspective on assessing the future. We assume the future will proceed in a specific, logical way, as if we have some type of direct impact on outcomes. Cause and effect is a helpful, almost required means for interpreting the world. Or at least it is until there is chaos, or what scientists now refer to as "dynamical instabilities." Golf is about to experience a delightfully dynamical instability of its own, a cause as it were that could produce the sort of effect that renders golf's ruling bodies irrelevant. The case history in question is taking place right at this moment most dramatically in Japan, and all countries falling within the jurisdiction of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. It's what is abbreviated to "SLE," or spring-like effect, and concerns the R&A's adoption of the U.S. Golf Association's standard on coefficient of restitution (COR), beginning in 2008. While the U.S. and all the major competitive tours have held fast to the original rule limiting the trampoline effect on driver faces to a .830 COR, the golfers in R&A countries have been free to play at their local courses and clubs and even in club competitions while using drivers that have faces that don't conform to this limitation. With 2008 rapidly approaching (especially in terms of product development cycles), golf's major manufacturers have begun wrestling with the very real business dilemma of what kind of drivers to develop and market in Japan, the second largest golf market in the world (behind only the U.S.) It is not an easy decision, and the Japanese consumer holds all the power, not only over what happens in his market, but what could happen to golf. The early reports are consternating perhaps to golf's ruling bodies, confounding to golf's major companies and more than a little intriguing for those on the outside looking in.

Dunlop in Japan provides the clearest example of the current trend. Its latest edition of the wildly popular XXIO driver line (a perennial powerhouse in the Japanese market) comes in both conforming and non-conforming versions, and according to recent sales reports, the driver that will be illegal at the end of next year is outselling the legal model by a 9-to-1 margin. If you're wandering the halls in the great old sandstone building on the Firth of Forth, you'd have to be filled with trepidation. The question on the rulemakers' minds there, and to a certain extent in Golf House, too, has to be this: What would happen if a significant equipment rule were ignored by the golfing public? And is there any more significant rule in the current environment than driver spring-like effect?

Golf may be a game to you and me, but for golf companies operating in an increasingly fragile market, it is a serious business. While many of those companies have formally expressed a commitment to bringing only conforming drivers to market in the near future, the reality of dollars and cents could carry a far more powerful incentive than any allegiance to golf's rulemakers. Companies like Bridgestone, Callaway, TaylorMade, Yonex and MacGregor, in addition to Dunlop could revise their plans if it becomes increasingly apparent that consumers aren't interested in trading in their "hot" drivers for (perceived) weaker, conforming ones. Indeed, at the Callaway booth at the Japan Golf Fair on Friday, there was a certain buzz over the ERC III driver, a thin-crowned all-titanium model that will be available in two versions.

"Most Japanese golfers still like the non-conforming drivers better," says Callaway's Yoshihisa Kiura, consumer relationship marketing manager. "I think they will change, but it's hard to say. I don't know. Right now, they're reluctant to buy anything not as hot as what they have now. The sell-through so far has come down with 70 percent of the sales being non-conforming models and 30 percent conforming."

Kiura is not so sure what will come, but he knows what the industry in Japan would like. Ironically, it's what the USGA and R&A would want, too. "Most manufacturers want the Japanese consumers to buy conforming drivers, so that the manufacturer can sell more," he says, referen cing how instituting the new rule would get golfers to buy a conforming driver. "Here, it is a bit of a private club decision, so that if the club wants to force members to use only conforming equipment, then that could make the decision for everyone."

But what if that doesn't happen? What if the trend continues, and in the No. 2 golf market in the world, what if average golfers only want "hot" clubs? Isn't any golf company beholden to its stockholders, first? Selling only COR-legal clubs may be admirable, but how does that comment make sense if you're giving away 90 percent of the market to rest of your rivals. Still, the trend in 2007 is that manufacturers are only offering conforming models.

Just how hot are these nonconforming drivers? Hard to say, as some continue to swear about a performance difference. And there is one: On one hand, the difference between a legal driver and its illegal form is not substantial. On the other, about four yards at tour level speeds. Let us know when that becomes significant for you.

The efficiency of the Fu Sheng operation is like the timing of a Swiss watch: Hidden, pristine and never skipping a beat. Fu Sheng's ebullient leader P.Z. Lin likes to tell a story of the early days of Fu Sheng's entry into the golf business. Back then the now multimillion dollar enterprise operated month to month, where every single order was literally the difference between keeping the lights on and shutting down the operation. A deal with Wilson for 10,000 sets of irons had his crew scrambling day and night. According to Lin, who tells the story as if surrounded by children at a campfire, Fu Sheng literally was attempting to fill the last 70 percent of the order in the last 10 days.

"The last 48 hours there was no sleep for anyone," he says. "No sleep." When the client came to inspect the shipment before it left the building, the entire workforce was looking on, knowing full well what was at stake. "If we don't ship, we lost money," Lin remembers. "I told him to choose any box and look at every club. If he finds one piece that's off, then we're OK. If he finds two, then we're no good." Lin says his eyes were as wide as they've ever been, waiting for the client to sign the shipping label. "Then, he signs it and it means we can ship, but I tear it up. I tell him you must look at every piece first. We want you to be completely satisfied. It meant we were going to lose money, but I felt we had to show them respect, we had to earn their trust."

From an American's perspective, it is not an ideal life to be a worker at the big golf factories in China. But for these workers who come from hours away by train to make their home in the Fu Sheng workers dormitories, it is an improvement. The cafeteria is full and the meals are warm and inexpensive. They have their diversions like Chinese chess and table tennis. There's even a large break room available for reading before heading back to the factory floor.

Their accommodations are modest in the dormitories, but it is in a way a collegial place. Says Stone Liu, a junior level executive in the Fu Sheng sales department in Zhongshan, "In the two dormitories because the average age is only 18 to 20 years of age, they really tend to build a feeling of safety and togetherness over time."

The largest golf resort in the world is not in Scotland. It's not in the United States. It's not in Japan or on the coast of Mexico. It's not much more than an hour north of Hong Kong, hidden in the fringes of China's most aggressive economic development zone. The 12-course Mission Hills Resort stretches across the sister cities of Shenzhen and Donnguan and caters much more to visiting golf tourists from Europe and the rest of Asia than it does to whatever emerging upper class in its home country.

Its 12 courses bear the design signatures of golf's playing and designing elite, including Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman, as well as those whose design resume does not yet match their playing records, Annika Sorenstam, David Duval and Vijay Singh. It even is home to a course from one who has neither, David Leadbetter. Even in the middle of the week, it can have an almost factory-like feel as golfers line up in all directions and shuttles ferry happy hackers over the mountain from one course to another. The resort itself is first-class in every regard and there are eight restaurants to satisfy both Western and Eastern palates. But its signature feature are the red-suited caddies, silently but cheerfully smiling throughout every moment of the five-plus-hour round, innocently ignoring each topped long iron and duffed chip, literally cheering every made putt.

[Blader-X]

Thanks for the article Chris. Japan is a wondrous place in its love of golf. Having spent time there with family and being lucky enough to travel to quite a few areas one thing always sticks out for me. The huge nets which seem to sprout up over the land. Pretty much all are golf ranges in a sea of sprawling city life. Even in the rural areas, you'll see range nets. Its amazing but as you sit riding the never-ending trains to any destination you'll see them. Its fun and makes you ponder just how popular golf is in Japan. Even better among the many rivers that you find in Japan, you will find areas along those rivers for recreation. Parks, soccer fields and oh yes, putting/chipping greens. On just about every river you pass while on the trains, you'll see them. At first one is like, "did I just see a golf green there?". Soon enough you'll see another one until everytime you pass a river you start to look for them. That's what so cool. Its like a park in the US where you may go but here in Japan there's a golf green, open to the public with no money to be charged. Just go down and practice your game. Off course, the ranges are plentiful and expensive and its about the only golf most Japanese get to do. I've been fortunate also to experience golfing in Japan and its a unique experience as well. The coolest thing I experienced was taking a ferry across Tokyo bay from Yokohama to Chiba. Chiba is a peninsula and its easier and faster to hop on a ferry and go across and golf on one of many courses there. Buses from the various courses are waiting to pick you up and take you to individual courses. Its a regular ferry but its known as the "golfer's ferry" because so many people use it. They even have a special place on the ferry dedicated to only golf clubs. Ultra cool!! I hope it won't be long until I can return and golf with my uncle in Kyushu, my favorite area in all of Japan.

[ranghips]

Great insight Blader, I have never been to Japan but it is now firmly at the top of my 'things to do before I die' list, I have heard so many stories about how difficult it is to get to play actual golf in Japan, that most Japanese 'golfers' have to wait to join a driving range and that actually playing on a golf course is something that many golfers in Japan never achieve. Can anyone dispel these stories, or can you confirm that this is the case?

Thanks

[+TourSpecGolfer]

Great insight Blader, I have never been to Japan but it is now firmly at the top of my 'things to do before I die' list, I have heard so many stories about how difficult it is to get to play actual golf in Japan, that most Japanese 'golfers' have to wait to join a driving range and that actually playing on a golf course is something that many golfers in Japan never achieve. Can anyone dispel these stories, or can you confirm that this is the case?

Thanks

Sounds like a legend to me. That stuffs not true, they have amazing driving range's and you can get on a course with no troubles just as you would in the USA. People like to boast how it costs 300 to play a round there but truth is you can find places for 60 bucks in the winter and 120.00 at other times of the year.

[ranghips]

Thanks Chris, that's convinced me to make the trip, I would like to combine a golfing holiday with a trip to the Tokyo Golf Show in early 2008, is that feasable or is the weather in Japan like here in the UK, non-golf friendly in the winter months!

Nick

[+TourSpecGolfer]

Thanks Chris, that's convinced me to make the trip, I would like to combine a golfing holiday with a trip to the Tokyo Golf Show in early 2008, is that feasable or is the weather in Japan like here in the UK, non-golf friendly in the winter months!

Nick

Well then please attend the show with us next year. We have had members coming along for the last 2 years.

Its very cold in late FEB. this year wasnt so bad but every year prior was very cold. People still play and thats the cheapest and most empty time of the year for golf.

[ranghips]

It's in my diary, I will be there, maybe no golf if the weather is too cold but the show pictures had already made me decide to make the trip, looking forward to meeting you!

[taipanli]

I have a regular foursome on thursdays where we play Mission Hills. It's a bit of a trek but we're in a 7 seater configured in a way that we play cards all the way up and all the way back. Mission Hills is truly unbelievable. The 12 courses are separated into 2 areas (Shenzhen and Dongguan). Almost every decent golfer's favourite track up there is the Faldo (Stadium) Course, along with the Nicklaus (World Cup) Course. The Norman course is a b*tch from the tips or even the gold tees. Slope rating is 145-150. Played the Leadbetter this week and shot a very good 77. They're about to open the Pete Dye design which I hope to be every bit as good as the Faldo (they're next to eachother).

There are indeed about 3,000 caddies there and it's a bit of a hit and miss. Yes they're usually always smiling and very professional at carrying clubs back and forth from the cart. However, 90% can't read a green to save their lives and once in a while they bring the 4,5,7,8 irons when what you really need is the 6 iron

[gocchin]

Great article... Can you believe I've been to Japan 14 times and never played golf there!!???

I want to check out Mission Hills. One of my brothers best friend's dad is the Chairman of the Mission Hills Group. My brother had the pleasure of being a VIP there and enjoyed himself very very much. It's a pity he can't really golf!! ^^

[+TourSpecGolfer]

By reading this article many times and Mike Stachura's others in golf digest April 07 issue I think this author hasn't been to some of the larger forging companies in Japan. Chuo, is very small and seems very country like Himeji style. He talked a lot about technology and mass production but didn't get into quality of materials used and work ethic.

Based off of the pictures he shows, conditions seem horrid for the workers and product in China compared to what I have seen at ENDO and in Himeji. In Japan mostly everyone male who works at a manufacturing plant plays golf too, Author seems to be missing a vital factor that drives JDM fans like us.

He missed some great technologies also like the new 4 layer balls, and 5-ply shafts, could have elaborated more on the materials or the grade of titanium used in metal woods built in China vs Japan and the designs overall. PRGR didn't attend the show but he decided to promote them as if they were, grip speed was last years big thing with little to no attention this year. Callaway Hyper has 2-4mm face thickness which is big news and not to forget Toyota rules the Rapid Prototyping technology, they are no longer using wax as mentioned china does.

Rapid Prototyping is a method of quickly creating mechanical components, especially those with complex shapes, from a computer-based drawing that can be used to check the validity of a design. I met the woman who designed the new XXIO and Srixon Drivers in Japan in collaboration with Toyota. She changed the drivers loft and other measurements accordingly with about 15 clicks of her mouse, she uploaded that file into testing software which showed the increase in spin rates and a dozen other angles. I then watched footage of the machine creating the prototype which takes quite a long time but can build ultra thin walls and work with multiple materials.

Check this Video out ( keep in mind its not exactly the same way its used in the golf industry but the idea is here )

[Duffer19]

By reading this article many times and Mike Stachura's others in golf digest April 07 issue I think this author hasn't been to some of the larger forging companies in Japan. Chuo, is very small and seems very country like Himeji style. He talked a lot about technology and mass production but didn't get into quality of materials used and work ethic.

Based off of the pictures he shows, conditions seem horrid for the workers and product in China compared to what I have seen at ENDO and in Himeji. In Japan mostly everyone male who works at a manufacturing plant plays golf too, Author seems to be missing a vital factor that drives JDM fans like us.

He missed some great technologies also like the new 4 layer balls, and 5-ply shafts, could have elaborated more on the materials or the grade of titanium used in metal woods built in China vs Japan and the designs overall. PRGR didn't attend the show but he decided to promote them as if they were, grip speed was last years big thing with little to no attention this year. Callaway Hyper has 2-4mm face thickness which is big news and not to forget Toyota rules the Rapid Prototyping technology, they are no longer using wax as mentioned china does.

Rapid Prototyping is a method of quickly creating mechanical components, especially those with complex shapes, from a computer-based drawing that can be used to check the validity of a design. I met the woman who designed the new XXIO and Srixon Drivers in Japan in collaboration with Toyota. She changed the drivers loft and other measurements accordingly with about 15 clicks of her mouse, she uploaded that file into testing software which showed the increase in spin rates and a dozen other angles. I then watched footage of the machine creating the prototype which takes quite a long time but can build ultra thin walls and work with multiple materials.

Check this Video out ( keep in mind its not exactly the same way its used in the golf industry but the idea is here )

After reading the articule, I have the impression that he actually attended the 2006 show rather than the 2007 show and while interesting but somehow the articule just seem very disjointed. The condition (for the workers) at China factory, particularly those of foreign owned, are approving Taiwan if not Japanese standard.

For the Mission Hill Golf Resort, its claim to fame is on quantity and not necessary on quality. There are many high quality golf courses in southern China that do not resemble Grand Central Station on the weekends.

[Blader-X]

Sounds like a legend to me. That stuffs not true, they have amazing driving range's and you can get on a course with no troubles just as you would in the USA. People like to boast how it costs 300 to play a round there but truth is you can find places for 60 bucks in the winter and 120.00 at other times of the year.

I will second Chris's insight here. I think some of those stories you hear may come from people who live in crowded cities like Tokyo but even then that's not the case. Driving ranges are plentiful and its not hard to just go and hit balls. Have done that on several occasions. All mats though which I hate but hey, they don't have a lot of usable land. I've played four separate courses in Japan. Two were private country clubs and two were public. One of the private courses and one of the public were in Munakata a city located outside of Hakata on the lower island of Kyushu. Not a lot of people around but it was expensive. I was very fortunate to be treated by my uncle but I know both of those rounds were around $200 (US) or so. I also played a course in Tochigi which is about 2 hours above Tokyo in the mountains. It was probably only around $60 but was very crowded. Waiting on every shot and boy was it hilly. In fact I've never ridden an "elevator" while riding in a golf cart straight up the side of a large hill to play a hole. We did that twice on that course. Unreal to say the least. The other private course was in Chiba (prefecture next to Tokyo) which I played with my father in-law and brother in-law. I liked that course very much along with the other private course in Kyushu. So golf is alive in Japan, it can be more expensive but I do know that there are golf packages available to tourists which you can take advantage of. I'm fortunate in that I have family there so I was able to play some courses not too many foreigners play. In fact, besides my self and my son, we were the only foreigners I seen all day at all four courses. The only thing about playing golf in Japan, is that if you play in the summer be ready to sweat!! I mean its like a sauna and if you're not used to those conditions take care. The one thing about golf there is that you usually sit down and eat at the turn before going out to play another 9 holes. Also, after the round you can take a bath at the club. Every club I went to had one and it can be quite refreshing especially in the summer. The carts all seat four people with bags and they're all electric. You don't drive them as they drive themselves. Its a interesting experience but its still golf!