2022 Japan Hickory Masters a festive event

By Alex Bruce

There was a real festive atmosphere May 20, 2022 at Taiheiyo Club – Yachiyo Course as we walked up the winding path lined with large “Japan Hickory Masters Championship” banners from the clubhouse towards the starter’s house. It was a wonderful spring morning, and the players were splendidly dressed in knickerbocker fashion. As always, the ladies were particularly well dressed in an array of period knickerbockers, long dresses, and charming hats. The bagpipes were playing; there was tea, scones and whisky being served, and we had a real highland ceilidh-type atmosphere in the air. I stopped for a moment to look around at the smiling faces of the players and Taiheiyo Club staff as they joked around, taking photos of their latest style to treasure the moment. It has always amazed me how hickory golf events bond people together into lifelong friendships. Old wood golf clubs help us make many new friends.

We were gathered for the first Japan Hickory Masters event in Japan. The starter’s house at Yachiyo Course is the perfect location. It’s a large rustic building that can easily host 30 people inside and another 30 on the sprawling open balcony that directly overlooks the first and tenth tee boxes. The large, paved gathering area in front of the balcony seems to multiply the number of people, and when you tee up for your first shot, it feels like you are in a small amphitheatre of hundreds waiting to cheer or jeer you along.

After a few welcome comments, rules and regulations, and the group photo, the top players stepped up to the tee box to lead the way.  The crowd silenced, and you could hear the swish of the practice swings. Four beautifully controlled tempo swings later, they were all on the fairway and on their way.

For our overseas friends, please let me introduce Yachiyo Course and a few of my favourite holes for hickory golf.

Taiheiyo Club – Yachiyo Course is less than 50km from central Tokyo, and you can get there by car or train in around an hour. Since it is so near to the city (where the land is expensive), it’s a 6,250-yard par 72 course from the back tees, which is the perfect distance for hickory golf championship events. It is a challenging, but fair, course where it’s more about managing your game than a power game, and every shot counts.  The greens have generous ‘hana michi’ (flower road) run-up areas, so it’s perfect for playing hickory golf bump-and-run shots. The course promotes the traditional values of golf; walking golf with carry bags or trolleys, knickerbocker fashion, Stableford and hickory points, good food, wine and friendships, and an impressive golf museum area in the clubhouse with a selection of antique hickory golf clubs. Our top amateur hickory players have scored in the low 70s at this course. The senior Pro event players hit an average of two to three under par.

The 13th is a thinking man’s hole because there are a few ways to play it. It is 294 yards from the back tee, which we use for the hickory championship events. The fairway stretches out about 200 yards and then there is a gradual 100-yard drop on the left side or a steeper 80-yard drop on the right side down to the green. The greens at Yachiyo Course are excellent, and this one has a tabletop green, so it’s a challenge to stop your ball on the green.  The left side of the fairway from tee to green is unforgiving with out-of-bounds markers. The right side is thick with trees. Also, a single bushy tree is 200 yards out, right on top of the slope. I have seen the following plays on this hole: a 200-yard baffy or long iron to the left side, top of the slope (but if you go 20 yards too far, you are in a deep bunker); a 180-yard baffy or long iron to the right side of the fairway, being careful not to be blocked by the bushy tree; and a long brassie over the slope into the general area where the green is, while being very careful to not hit the out-of-bounds on the left or over the back. I saw one player hit a 150-yard mashie safely out on the fairway and then another 150-yard mashie over the slope and down the green. His logic being he could stop the ball on the green.  And he did and scored par.  Anyway, it is a thinking man’s hole, perfect for hickory golf.

The 15th hole is a long 533-yard par 5 that looks ferocious but can be quite generous if you don’t get tricked into overpowering your swing and losing the tempo required for a clean hickory club strike. It has a wide fairway, so a 200-yard brassie is enough to get started. Follow this with a baffy or long iron over to the fairway with enough distance to see over the hill to the green, and then a mashie up and on to the large generous green, and you can surprise yourself to be on in three shots. You must be on the left of the fairway on your second to see the green on the right behind a tree. Or you must be able to fade a high mashie around the tree. The better players only have a mashie niblick or niblick into the green, so they have a birdie opportunity. As mentioned, the greens are generous, but if you miss them and end up in a bunker, you can have a long niblick sand shot to get anywhere near the pin. If you think about it, this is a putting person’s hole since you can be three on the green but still a long way from the hole. It looks long, but please think about this hole as a chance to play within yourself, and you have a chance to score.

After a long-fought battle where the lead changed a few times, the winner of the 2022 Japan Hickory Masters was Masahide Tokuyama, with a gross score of 86.

The Ladies champion was the charming Jun Yamamoto, with a gross score of 96.

Tokuyama-san scored 10 pars for an impressive gross score of 86. At the prize ceremony, he commented, “I regularly play competitive golf at Taiheiyo Club and started playing competitive hickory golf around 18 months ago. I am enjoying my new challenge and how great it feels to hit a perfect hickory golf shot. I am delighted to be the 2022 Japan Hickory Masters champion.”

The joint runners-up were Kaname Aboshi and Akio Kanashima, with a gross of 88,  and Scott Nakase was in third place with a gross score of 90.

The full list of winners of the 2022 Japan Hickory Masters Championship is as follows.
Champion – Masahide Tokuyama, Gross 86
Runner Up (joint) – Kaname Aboshi and Akio Kanashima, Gross 88
Third Place – Scott Nakase, Gross 90
Ladies Champion – Jun Yamamoto, Gross 96

We thank our sponsors, Taiheiyo  Club, Nikka Whisky, St Andrews Golf Co, and The Hickory Golf Shop.

I met the president of the Taiheiyo Club, Mr. Han, at a Sawako Agawa Hickory Golf event in Karuizawa around seven years ago. Sawako Agawa was a pioneer in helping us start hickory golf events in Japan, and Mr. Han came along on his own and joined the event. I did not know he was from Taiheiyo Club, but I remember he was very enthusiastic about the hickory golf clubs and knickerbocker fashion. And I remember he genuinely enjoyed playing hickory golf. Shortly afterwards, he got his own hickory golf club set and is now a regular hickory golfer. Laughing at the bad shots and celebrating the good shots.

It’s always amazed me how old wood golf clubs help us make many new friends.