Rising sun
If you were planning a trip to the world’s most iconic golfing playgrounds in the United States, Scotland or Ireland I’d suggest most of us could name at least a dozen courses we’d hanker to play.
But considering Japan has around 2,500 golf courses, the vast majority of which are privately owned, I knew there was a scale and complexity to accessing the right courses. Add the language barrier and I quickly realised putting a Japanese golf course tour together was going to be like nailing a 3-wood from the rough.
My early research led me to former Australian touring pro, Paul Sheehan, who was a three-time winner on the Japanese Tour, including the 2006 Japan Open. He spent 14 years commuting from his home in Melbourne to play in Japan.
Today, this affable veteran touring pro, who seems to have more connections than Telstra, continues to stride the Japanese fairways albeit as he hosts golf groups from the world over. As Paul watched the sun rise on Japan as a golfing destination his vision was to provide international groups access to its most exclusive courses. So, in 2016, he partnered with the Elite Sporting Tours team and launched their Japan arm, ESTJ. Bingo! I knew I’d found my man.
Winning in Japan will be always be Paul’s calling card; it opens doors that would
