River Sakawa G.C.

Kanagawa Prefecture's western reaches, where the land climbs toward the Tanzawa Mountains and the Sakawa River carves through valleys thick with cedar and zelkova, offer a dramatically different character from the manicured resort corridors closer to Tokyo. Yamakita, a small town shaped by forestry and the old Gotemba railway line, sits in this quieter, more rugged corner of the prefecture — the kind of place where the mountains feel genuinely close and the air carries the damp coolness of river country.

River Sakawa Golf Club takes its name and its identity directly from that landscape. Courses built into the Tanzawa foothills tend to work with steep, forested terrain rather than against it, meaning elevation changes are a constant negotiation and positioning off the tee matters far more than pure distance. The Sakawa River corridor adds an ever-present natural boundary that shapes how holes return and route through the property.

For golfers based in the greater Tokyo or Yokohama metro area, western Kanagawa represents a genuine escape — less traffic, more scenery, and courses that reward local knowledge of how mountain air and morning mist affect the ball.