Zuien Country Club - Nishi-Kobe Course

Zuien Country Club's Nishi-Kobe Course has played in the Ikawadani district of western Kobe since 1999, designed by American architect Robert von Hagge and stretching to 6,625 yards. Von Hagge was one of the most prolific international designers working in Japan during the golf boom's later years, and his work here brings a distinctive, dramatically bunkered style to Kobe's western suburbs. Nishi-ku, Kobe's westernmost ward, has developed into a genuine golf corridor thanks to its rolling, semi-rural terrain compared to the dense urban core closer to the harbor, and it sits close enough to central Kobe for a convenient day trip. Being built at the tail end of the 1990s, Zuien's Nishi-Kobe Course reflects more contemporary shaping and conditioning than many of the region's older 1960s and 1970s clubs. The club's name and course should not be confused with the separately located Nishi-Kobe Golf Course elsewhere in the same ward, a genuinely distinct facility under different ownership. Golfers seeking a von Hagge design within Kobe city limits through CoGolfers can look specifically for Zuien Country Club, and the community is a good place to find others interested in the architect's Japan portfolio.