Nagano Golf Travel Guide
Cool-summer golf around Karuizawa and Nagano highland resorts. This guide groups 8 Nagano golf courses by area across Karuizawa, Tateshina and highland resorts, with the drive from your base, the character of each course and the booking terms that actually catch people out.
Tateshina Tokyu Golf Course 蓼科東急ゴルフコースView course details MONKEYTRAVEL NAGANO GOLF COURSES
Use the courses across Karuizawa, Tateshina and highland resorts to shape a trip around your base, number of rounds and the sightseeing or onsen time you want to keep. The first tee and the post-round journey can transform the day.
Nagano Golf
Best forA 1979 highland course with a mountain-lodge clubhouse
Opened in 1979 and designed by Choohei Miyazawa, Tateshina Tokyu Golf Course is a par-72, 6,555-yard hillside layout known for a timber, mountain-lodge clubhouse set into the highland scenery. It pairs naturally with a cool-summer Tateshina resort stay — just build in extra time for the mountain roads and resort check-in around your tee time.
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Nagano Golf
Best forAn American-style layout 1,000m up in the Shinshu highlands
Mochizuki Resol Golf Club (formerly Mochizuki Tokyu) is a par-72, 7,216-yard course designed in 1989 by Choohei Miyazawa and Nagao Kurosawa, set over 1,000m up in the Shinshu highlands where every hole opens clearly from the tee. Its American-style mounding and generous fairways make it a genuinely different round to layer onto a Karuizawa-only itinerary.
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Nagano Golf
Best forThe original 1966 nine-hole Prince course
Karuizawa Prince Hotel Golf Course is the original layout of the Prince golf resort, opened in April 1966 as a nine-hole, par-33, 2,219-yard forest course at 940m elevation. Because a round takes only half a day, it leaves plenty of time afterward for the Prince Shopping Plaza or simply relaxing at the hotel.
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Nagano Golf
Best forA panoramic course cut to blur fairway and rough
Karuizawa 72 Golf South Course is mown so fairway and rough sit at nearly the same height, opening up sweeping hillside views of Karuizawa on every hole. It runs as through-play resort golf, which makes it a useful benchmark when comparing pace against the other three 72 courses.
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Nagano Golf
Best for36 holes that hosted a women's pro tour stop in the 1980s
Karuizawa 72 Golf East Course pairs two 18-hole nines — the technical Iriyama and the boldly scaled Oshitate — for a combined par-144, 7,249-yard round, with Oshitate's par-6, 715-yard 18th standing as its signature long hole. It has hosted a women's pro tour stop since the 1980s, so it suits groups or families wanting a round with real teeth.
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Nagano Golf
Best forAn Asama-view Gold nine paired with an undulating Blue nine
Karuizawa 72 Golf West Course was laid out in 1971 by Robert Trent Jones Sr. across the Gold and Blue nines: Gold is flat and open with views toward Mt. Asama, while Blue plays over natural, rolling terrain. Both nines are well guarded by water, rewarding a change of strategy across a multi-day Karuizawa golf trip.
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Nagano Golf
Best forThe par-72 tournament course hosting an August LPGA stop
Karuizawa 72 Golf North Course plays to par 72 over roughly 6,989 yards, with a wide-open front nine giving way to a tree-lined back nine of a very different character. It has been a women's pro tour venue since the 1980s and still hosts the NEC Karuizawa 72 Golf Tournament every August, so expect dogleg bunkering and pond-guarded greens that reward a well-planned northern-resort round.
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Nagano Golf
Best forA compact 1961 course two minutes from Karuizawa Station
Seizan Golf Course sits just a two-minute taxi ride south of Karuizawa Station and opened in 1961 as a compact par-70, 5,365-yard course. Larch-lined dogleg holes, Penncross bentgrass greens and 48 bunkers make it short but demanding, and its central location makes it easy to slot into a Karuizawa-town itinerary.
Check prices & availabilityLOCAL GUIDE
Continue with city guides for attractions, restaurants, massage and shopping.
Karuizawa is a little over an hour from Tokyo Station by shinkansen, so a rental car is optional. That makes it easy to append to a Haneda or Narita itinerary, and many visitors combine it with time in Tokyo.
What defines Karuizawa is course density. Karuizawa 72 runs South, East, West and North courses, so you can fill several days by changing course rather than hotel, and a nine-hole option fits an arrival afternoon.
The altitude keeps midsummer cool, which is why July and August are busiest. In winter some courses close, and opening and closing dates shift year to year, so confirm operating periods before booking.
Comparing a Japanese tee time on the headline green fee alone tends to produce a different number at the counter. Confirm whether cart, caddie or self play, lunch, locker and the local golf tax are included, then check rental clubs or shoes, minimum player counts, two-player supplements, payment method and whether overseas visitors can book. Clubs may also specify check-in times, dress codes and bathing etiquette, so submit player names accurately.
Three nights in Karuizawa with two consecutive rounds at the 72 courses and one day toward Saku or Tateshina — or the outlet mall — keeps transfers lightest. With two nights, staying inside Karuizawa and changing course is safer.
Drive times differ across Karuizawa, Tateshina and highland resorts. Work backwards from your first tee, and group courses in the same direction to cut daily driving.
Check the product page for cart, caddie or self play, lunch, locker, local taxes and rental equipment in your chosen plan, and compare weekday against weekend rates.
The altitude keeps midsummer cool, which is why July and August are busiest. In winter some courses close, and opening and closing dates shift year to year, so confirm operating periods before booking.
ITINERARY IDEAS
The South, East, West and North courses can each be booked separately, so several days need only a change of course, not hotel.
Karuizawa Prince Hotel Golf Course and Seizan Golf Course are close to the station and the outlet mall, and are short enough for a quick round.
Mochizuki Resol Golf Club lies toward Saku, the option when you want a course past 7,000 yards.
Tateshina Tokyu Golf Course sits here — worth a day trip from Karuizawa for a different highland setting.
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