Chigusa Country Club

Chigusa Country Club has played in Shiso city, in the mountainous northern reaches of Hyogo prefecture, since 1975, designed by five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson and stretching to 6,950 yards. Thomson's involvement gives the club a genuine international design pedigree, part of a wave of Australian and other overseas architects who brought their tournament-honed sensibilities to Japan's golf boom of the 1970s and 1980s. Shiso sits in a more remote, forested part of Hyogo than the dense Banshu plain clubs further south, giving Chigusa a quieter, more mountainous setting removed from the region's busiest golf corridors. The area is known for its clear rivers and traditional rural scenery, offering golfers a genuine change of pace from the coastal cities. Having operated for half a century, the course has matured into a well-established layout that reflects Thomson's strategic, ground-game-oriented design philosophy. Golfers interested in playing a Peter Thomson design within Hyogo through CoGolfers can seek out Chigusa Country Club specifically for that pedigree, and the community is a good place to find others interested in the prefecture's internationally designed courses.