International Golf Packages

Japanese Golf Tours - Golf's Last, Great Undiscovered Frontier
Press Release - Japan Golf Tours
8/31/2006

Japan Golf Tours is open for business and is proud to introduce a golf vacation unlike any other in the world. Our exclusive, luxury golf tours provide what no other golf tour company has ever been able to offer at any price……a luxury golf vacation package that gives you the opportunity to play Japan’s greatest, most private and exclusive golf courses. These magnificent private golf clubs offer a glimpse of Japan that only a handful of Japanese ever get a chance to see. Imagine trying to offer a tour of the United States’ best and most private golf courses, Pine Valley, Seminole, Winged Foot, Shinnecock Hills. It would be nearly impossible and phenomenally expensive. Japan Golf Tours makes it easy, fun, surprisingly affordable to experience the very best of Japanese golf.

Japan Golf Tours is offering three tours in 2006, the “Hanami” Golf Tour (April 5-13), the Summer Golf Tour (June 21-29) and our Fall Golf Tour in late October. The dates for the Fall tour are not yet finalized and will be announced as soon as possible on our website:

www.japan-golf-tours.com

Hirono Golf Club

Japan Golf Tours is proud and privileged to be acquainted with many of Japan’s most influential golfers and members of its most exclusive private golf clubs. Through our exclusive arrangement with these golfers there, they have offered to let us bring a limited number of golfers to play and experience the very best of Japanese golf. Japan has over 2400 golf courses in an area roughly the size of California. We will play 5 courses on our tours, all ranked in Japan’s top 50 golf courses including Hirono Golf Club, Japan’s top ranked golf course. Hirono is also ranked #24 in the World’s Greatest Golf courses as rated by “Golf Digest” Magazine.

When we are not playing golf, we will experience some of the sights, sounds and tastes that make Japan so fascinating, and so unique. Japan has so much history and culture. Fascination lies around every corner. We will stay at the very finest accommodations and we will treat you to a culinary experience unlike any other. Japanese food is not only a feast for your taste buds but for your eyes as well. The Japanese have made food preparation and presentation an art form. The result is perhaps the healthiest, freshest and most beautiful cuisine anywhere on earth.

The itinerary for the Hanami, Summer and Fall Tours for 2006 is basically the same. The Hanami Tour coincides with Japan’s most colorful celebration, cherry blossom time. The cherry tree is revered in Japan and this is a wonderful time to see Japan and to play golf there.

The tours commence in Tokyo and we will spend 3 nights there. After a bit of rest, we open with our Welcome Cocktail party at our Tokyo headquarters, the beautiful Keio Plaza Hotel. While in Tokyo, we will play two of that great city’s most prestigious golf courses, Abiko Country Club (ranked #8) and Musashi Country Club (ranked #20). We will also have ample time for some sightseeing, shopping and we will have one of our group dinners together at a fabulous restaurant in the world famous shopping mecca, the Ginza district. If you’d like, we can even take in a Japanese major league baseball game at the amazing Tokyo Dome or experience a bit of Tokyo’s unparalleled nightlife.

Musashi Country Club

Next, we head for the unforgettable Mt. Fuji area. We will stay at the Kowaki-en Hotel in Hakone and play at the Dai-Hakone Golf Club, which has been the site of many Japanese professional championships. This course is almost a mile above sea level and is surrounded by mountains, including Mt. Fuji itself. We will also have a day of sightseeing in the Hakone area, including a cruise on beautiful Lake Ashi, which affords magnificent views of Mt. Fuji and the surrounding area. This day also features another one of our gourmet group dinners in the Hakone area.

On Day 6, we will travel aboard one of the world’s great marvels, the Shinkansen Bullet Train. It is the world’s fastest and safest rail system. Sit back, relax and watch the Japanese countryside glide by at over 300 kph (186 miles per hour). We will disembark at Kyoto Station, one of the most magnificent buildings in the world. Kyoto is Japan’s spiritual capital and home of the geisha. We will spend the day visiting some of this ancient city’s marvels. While in Kyoto, we will stay at the beautiful Westin Miyako Hotel.

While in the Kyoto area, we will play Japan’s #1 ranked golf course, Hirono Golf Club. Hirono was designed by Charles Hugh Allison and is one of the most famous of his over 400 designs. Hirono was built in 1932 and is both a feast for the eyes and a test for the nerves. Winding through pine forests and breathtaking ravines, Hirono is a golf course you will never forget.

Day 8 takes us to Ibaragi Golf Club near Osaka, another Seiichi Inoue design in collaboration with David Ford. Built in 1925, this very exclusive club boasts 36 holes and is ranked #40 of Japan’s Greatest Golf Courses. After golf that evening, we will have our Final Banquet in Kyoto. Our tour will include a fun golf event for the five rounds we will have played and we will also present the awards to our winners. The next morning we will head to Osaka’s Kansai airport for departure flights home.

Japan Golf Tours is managed by John Thornton of Asheville, North Carolina and Susumu Tobita of Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Thornton and Mr. Tobita have over 50 years of combined experience in running golf events and luxury golf vacations all over the world. Mr. Tobita is President of Tokyo Masters, one of Japan’s finest travel agencies. His clientele include many of Japan’s most influential golfers. Mr. Thornton has conducted golf events all over the world and now wants to bring the golfers of the world to what he calls, “the golf world’s last, great undiscovered frontier…Japan”.

Japan, until very recently was one of the world’s most expensive travel destinations and prices for golf were nothing short of astronomical. You will be pleasantly surprised to see that Japan is now no more expensive than any of the worlds other great golf destinations.

If you are interested in extending your stay in Japan or perhaps going on to play golf in China or Thailand or just about anywhere else, we can help you with that, too. Japan Golf Tours can also assist you in finding the lowest cost fares to and from wherever your final destination may be. We make it easy and fun to experience the great golf, culture, people, food and fascination that is Japan.

We are still taking reservations for our 2006 and 2007 tours. For more detailed information, please visit our website at www.japan-golf-tours.com or call John Thornton directly at 828-329-6000. You may also leave a message or request information by calling 828-277-6841.

I know you are passionate about golf or you would not be reading this. Contact us today for perhaps the most unique golf and cultural experience in the world, the golf vacation of a lifetime, Japan Golf Tours.

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