Park Golf in Japan
Possibly the greatest low budget outdoor entertainment in Japan.
Movies? 1800yen - 2 hours. Bowling? 700yen per game. Tennis? 2000yen 1 hour. But Park Golf will set you back a measly 400-500 yen including club rental for about 2 hours and a full 18 holes of fun! It's a great time outdoors and I can't imagine anyone not enjoying the game. Even on "busy" weekends there are only a handful of regulars in there 40's to 70's on the course. Beginners can whack away without hesitation.
Park Golf is like a cross between mini-golf and croquet. The object of the of the game is to put the little plastic ball in the big hole with as few shots as possible. There is only one club, the ball is hard plastic about 7cm in diameter, and the hole is about 20 cm wide about 30-90 meters away. It's the simplest of games and any beginner can do it. Sure, mini-golf is easy too, but lacks the "full swing" element that park golf has a lot of. OB's are anywhere inside the white stakes. And if you do go OB, it'll cost you 2 strokes and you get a ball drop within 2 club lengths of the OB line. That's it.
I've been to 2 courses in Kanagawa so far. Tamagawa Unane Park Golf Course is a healthy 25 minute walk along the river from the Tokyu Denentoshi Futakoshinchi Station. The other is Kurihama Hana no Kuni Park Golf Course. Also a healthy 20 min walk from JR Kurihama station. Bring a date or go in a big group, have some lunch by the river on the way to the park, play some golf, take a rest after the first nine holes, drink some beer, play more golf, Fun! Try it. You'll like it.
Tamagawa course
Me at the Kurihama course
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10 Comments
Reader Comments (10)
This sounds very good and healthy hobby too. You should go more!
ho sheeez, easy wit da gunzzz. Da wahines goin faint. nah, looks like fun. I went frisbee golfing in shin-kiba. That sucked.
wot? small kine J? Ha! Frisbee golf?
You throw a frisbee into a kind of basket thing. I suck at frisbee in the first place. Your oversized golf looks more fun.
Can't tell where the club ends and your arm begins. Is there any difference in fairways and greens? Looks like there is just one cut throughout the course.
Looks like FUN. Have you been working out?;)
Aaron: The grass is a tad shorter on the green than on the fairway. But the grass isn't nice grass at all. The variety of weeds all over the terrain make the putting still challenging even though the ball is big enough to roll over it.
Lori: What these little things??? (flexing with all my might.)
Ha! Ha! :)
ive been playing park golf since last fall. i love it and i live within walking distance of the tamagawa one. call me wen u play (seriously) and show me the kurihara one...ive never played it. im usually the only under 65 years old that is on the course
Wow those look cool, I wonder if there's Bahn golf or Park golf in Kansai too.
I'm gonna have to try out both.