Built on a beautiful site close to Mt Fuji, Hakone is an affluent club set within a deep valley and surrounded by picturesque pine covered hills. The course is generally kept in superb condition and features a number of really nice green sites, but some awkward forced driving challenges. The split fairway 17^th, for instance, is spoilt because the hole bends left but the green is set up to favour an approach from the right side, which is easier to hit from the tee anyway. Here central traps, named Principal’s Nose, complicate the drive, but while they are affective on a straight hole like 16 at St Andrews, here they simply make the inside of the dogleg more difficult to hit than the outside.

Of the good holes at Hakone, the 9^th and 13^th would both benefit with strategic bunkering on the inside of the dogleg, as would the long, ugly 3^rd hole and the 4^th with its diagonal creek crossing but hit anywhere landing area.

Despite the problem spots, this is a good golf course and one elevated by a number of boldly contoured putting complexes. The most outstanding hole on the course is the 15^th, a wildly undulating links-like par five played over high rolling dunes toward an attractive plateau green site. Elsewhere the golf is good enough to please most players, those likely to leave disappointed the ones who can picture how much better this course could be.