Japan Tour School, Stage Two – Practice Round
It was great to play the course today, because at one stage we thought we may never find it!
For this trip I’m travelling with Paul Donahoo, a good friend whom I’ve been travelling with for most of the QLD Sunshine Tour. It’s the first time to Japan for both of us.
Paul and I arrived in Osaka, Saturday night, thinking it should be about a 3 hour process getting out of the airport and to the Maniwa Riverside Hotel. A bus, then maybe a train and a taxi… something simple like that. Easy peasy.
Well things didn’t get off to a great start that night. As we were standing behind each other at customs, Paul suggested I jump in the line next to him. So I did in an effort to speed things up.
As the line dwindled it seemed I may even sneak out first. Nope! The bloke right in front of me took 30 mins. Overall it was a 2 hour process to get through the lines at customs.
Once we were finally outside, we figured out where we needed to go on the trains. But the customs delay ment me missed the last train. So we bunked up in the airport motel for the night. At $300/night we’d be well rested for the train rides the next day. lol.
Well, after heading off at 8:30am the next morning Paul and I got a train, then another train, then another, then a taxi…. we arrived at our motel at 4:00pm. I swear the place couldn’t have been any further from Osaka. Ahhh, the joys of travelling in a foreign country with not a foggy of how far apart some places really are 🙂
So today it was great to see that the Bichu Kogen Hokubo Country Club is a very nice, picturesque mountain course. It’s a course that can’t be overpowered. You just hit to the corner of the doglegs where the widest sections of the fairway are and then stump your approach shots from there. Just like a game of chess. Plenty of birdies await those who manage the ball well.
I’m really looking forwards to this opportunity I have here. Before I flew over I made sure I had a solid commitment to competing at the Japan Tour School. So, tomorrow I will attack with a good attitude, combined with a smart game plan, all the while sticking to the recent improvements I’ve made in my golf game.
The Japan Tour is where I want to play next year. It is something very exciting to look forwards too.
3 Responses to “Japan Tour School, Stage Two – Practice Round”
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LowFlyingHawk on 10 Sep 2008 at 4:13 am #
It is one of life’s great mysteries why you get the full on sh!ts if a traffic jam stops you from travelling 20kms to work (or home), but sitting around airports, waiting for buses/trains/taxis, wasting any old amount of money etc while travelling is totally acceptable and part of the experience and, quite bemusingly, is always recalled with with a deal of fondness.
Powerpro on 08 Sep 2008 at 1:14 pm #
Yikes, what an ordeal! But, a great experience that will surely help you in your future travels about the globe. Looking forward to hearing that you both have passed your first test with flying colors. Best of luck.