パークゴルフ

Naie is a small agricultural town in the Sorachi subprefecture of central Hokkaido, sitting in the broad, flat valley of the Ishikari River where rice paddies and sugar beet fields stretch to the tree lines on either side. It's quiet, workmanlike country — the kind of town that once ran on coal and now runs on farming — and that unhurried rhythm shapes the local leisure culture entirely.

Park golf is very much a Hokkaido institution, and Sorachi is one of its heartlands. The format was invented in Makubetsu in 1983 specifically for this climate and demographic: a compact, accessible game played with a mallet-style club and a larger ball, on manicured short-grass layouts that freeze gracefully under snow for half the year and come back to life each spring. Courses are deliberately welcoming — no dress codes, no handicap requirements, no expensive equipment — and in towns like Naie they function as genuine community gathering spaces for players of all ages.

Expect a relaxed, sociable round rather than a competitive test, with well-kept turf, gentle contours, and the wide Hokkaido sky overhead.