WEBVTT - What to Know About Golf in Japan (ft. Michael Wolf) 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.040 Hello, and welcome to the Frida Egg Podcast. My name 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.400 is Garrett Morrison and today's episode is brought to you 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:12.240 by B Dratty. So it is officially August and in 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.200 a lot of places it is very hot and humid. 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.400 So this is truly the season of the Draty Sport Polo. 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.200 It's just the ideal polo for playing golf or really 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:27.000 doing anything outside in these hot summer months. B Dratty's 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:31.640 sport fabric is fantastic. It combines the moisture wicking properties 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:36.800 a technical fabric has with the fit, weight, comfort and 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:41.320 the great look that signature dradtypolos have always had. 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I knew that golf was 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.160 very popular there and that the country has produced a 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:39.840 ton of great players, including this year's Master's champion Hideki Matsuyama. 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:43.360 And I knew there were some wonderful courses, including several 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:46.160 highly ranked ones designed by Charles Hugh Allison in the 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.520 nineteen thirties. But to be honest, I didn't know much more. 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.520 So I decided to call up Michael Wolfe, who is 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:56.320 a golf architecture in golf history nut. If you're on Twitter, 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:59.600 you know him as Bama Bearcat. Great follow posts, a 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.880 bunch of interesting vintage photos and things like that, and 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:05.880 he has a massive enthusiasm for golf in Japan. He's 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.560 traveled there a couple of times, played a bunch of courses, 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:11.200 and has done a lot of research into the history 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:13.840 of those courses. So I thought it just would be 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.440 fun to pick his brain about the subject. Now, I 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.560 want to be clear, and Michael wants to be clear 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.600 that he is not from Japan. He's an American, and 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.519 so we're not trying to offer an inside view of 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:27.000 Japanese golf culture. This is very much from a Western 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:31.240 visitor's perspective and an appreciator's perspective. This is not an 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.200 authoritative account. This is just from Michael's point of view. 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:37.200 Wanted to be super clear about that. So with that said, 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:39.600 here is Michael Wolf on golf in Japan. 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.799 I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:44.920 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:46.960 And when I find my ball in a bride egg 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.040 Friday egg, the dreaded Frida egg Frida egg, Frida egg, 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.560 Brian egg Frida egg bride egg Lie, I'm about ready 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:54.080 to run off the huff course. 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.880 So, Michael, you've visited Japan and played golf there a 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.919 couple of times, most recently in twenty nineteen, I believe, 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:27.480 before COVID hit What were some of the highlights of 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:29.040 your most recent trip there. 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:32.359 The highlights, I would say, are the people in the culture, 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.040 for sure. It's just it's a rare chance to play 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:39.680 the game that I love surrounded by a completely different 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:44.600 experience where almost everything is different except the actual golf 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:46.240 of hitting the ball in the hole. You know, the 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:48.480 whether it's how you arrive at the golf course, or 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.560 the customs on the golf course, or the food you're 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:54.640 eating while you're playing golf or whatever, it is, everything 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:58.320 being so different hitting that ball in the hole, That's 0:03:58.360 --> 0:03:59.839 what I really enjoyed about it. 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.320 So for an American, what are some of the specific 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:07.520 things that would stand out as unique about the experience 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:08.360 of golf in Japan? 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:12.840 So I would come to it from probably the higher 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:17.560 end of golf that the private courses. Most of the 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.960 best golf courses in Japan are private, and they're mostly 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:24.120 older golf courses. They're Golden age golf courses, and so 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:26.800 it is very much a kind of a private golf experience, 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:31.159 in a very ritualized experience. There's a pattern to how 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.839 you play golf, and that pattern is kind of pretty 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:38.400 consistent from club to club. So you're arriving in a 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:41.440 sport coat more often than not, you're arriving by train 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:43.799 or at least you're taking a taxi from the nearest 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:47.719 train station. When you check in, they give you a 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.000 kind of a leather wallet that has a little key 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:55.440 inside and has a number, and you use that number, 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:57.599 and you use that key for instance, for your locker 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.240 or for if you're going to buy something, and the 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:02.400 if you need to buy something or you're gonna get 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:03.800 some food or something, you just kind of show them 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.120 that number and then you pay when you check out 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:07.480 at the end of the day. And that's true whether 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.400 it's a private club or it's a public of course, 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:15.760 the driving ranges are really just kind of for warming up. 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.719 It's funny the even like the balls on the driving 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:22.240 range are the balls are given to you almost like 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.200 in egg cartons. They're like individual little slots for the balls. 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:28.360 There's not like pyramids of balls or something you ask 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.360 for balls. They give you like a little container that 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:31.760 holds the balls and you have to like pick the 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:33.840 balls out of the little plastic container one by one. 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.360 But even to then you know teeing off and playing. 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.200 So it's mostly walking at the top clubs for sure, 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:46.159 everybody walks. It's caddies, it's older female caddies. The ladies 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:51.400 will either drive a kind of a motorized push cart 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.120 type thing where they almost like ride in the back 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:56.599 of the push cart almost like almost like a dog 0:05:56.680 --> 0:06:00.760 sled or something, or they're actually physically pushing a cart 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.880 that's got four bags on it and they are doing yardages. 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.719 They're filling in divots, you know, for people, and they're 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.480 keeping up with everybody, and they kind of go down 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.040 the middle of the middle of the fairway and you 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:14.800 kind of walk back and forth to them to get 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:16.440 the clubs and things like that. They don't give you 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:19.600 any advice as far as how to play shots. They 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:21.680 don't read greens and things like that. It's more just 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.680 the nuts and bolts of you know, keeping your clubs 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:26.680 in order and handing you the stuff back and forth 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.960 and things like that. Pace of play. I think at 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:32.840 least the places I've been gets a bad rap. So 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:36.599 golf is definitely an all day experience in Japan. But 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:41.000 it's that's more because they send golfers off of both 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.560 the front nine and the back nine in the morning, 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.760 and then most people take a break for lunch, and 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.120 then you have a separate tea time for your second 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.400 nine holes, so you'll play nine holes, maybe a ta 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.080 off at eight o'clock or nine o'clock in the morning. 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.640 You'll play in two hours, and it's it's normal pace 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:57.880 of play like all of us, you know, experience of 0:06:57.920 --> 0:06:59.600 four a round of golf. But you play the back 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:01.640 nine and the front nine and two hours and then 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:03.839 you take a break for lunch for an hour or 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:07.000 two hours however long you've you've made arrangements for it 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:08.880 to take a break for and then you have a 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:10.680 tea time to play the back nine. So you've got 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.160 to be out back out to the tenth tee or 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:15.880 the first tee for your second nine of the day, 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.600 and then you play your second nine holes in two hours. 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:21.840 And so it can take anywhere from five to six 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:23.520 hours if you stop for lunch. If you want to 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.920 go straight through and play in four hours, you can 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:28.760 and people do that. Which can't do is play golf 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:32.080 in the afternoon, which is hard to believe, I think 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.800 for Americans. But so you either play you know, the 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:37.840 front of the back and then they switch. But that's it. 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:40.880 There is no second wave of golfers that goes out 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.120 post you know, post lunch or in the afternoon. I 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.560 had to beg my way onto the Olympic golf course Kasumigaseki. 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:52.320 I had played Tokyo Golf that morning, which is directly 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.680 across the street. They share a property line, and I 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.440 went out on Kasumigaseki at three o'clock in the afternoon, 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.320 and I'm not exandering to say, I was the only 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.360 person on all thirty six sols of their golf course, 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.720 and the the maintenance crew was looking at me like, 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:08.760 who is this person and why is he playing golf 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:10.480 at three o'clock in the after And there's there's no 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:13.960 such thing as sunset rounds. I believe it was explained 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:15.760 to me. A lot of that just has to do 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:17.840 with where the golf courses are located, and the fact 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.360 that not just the golfers have to catch the train 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:23.280 to get back into town and and make that you know, 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.560 commute by a train, but also the employees. It's it's 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.440 I guess an equivalent the United States for a top 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:30.280 club would be seminal, you know, has a has a 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:32.640 everybody has to be off their property by five pm 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.640 or whatever. And most of the top Japanese clubs that 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:37.440 I was at, it's the same thing. When you're done 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.040 there's maybe a post round drink or two and settling 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.719 up any wagers. But then you got to be on 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:44.520 the road, either to just because you've got to catch 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:46.760 the train to get back to where you're coming from, 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.240 or just because they you know, they want to be 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:50.640 able to let their employees go home. 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.200 Right. So one aspect of the private club scene in 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.440 Japan that has been getting some run in American media 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:00.600 these past couple of weeks. It's because one of those 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.600 kind of cat nippy, clickbaity kinds of things, but it's 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.520 it's still kind of interesting and illustrative. The dress codes 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:12.280 at Japanese golf clubs. What can you tell me about 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:14.439 those dress codes and the logic behind them. 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.280 I think it's, you know, for for a visitor, I 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:21.360 posted a little chart that they gave that, you know, 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:23.360 so if you don't speak Japanese, you can at least 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:25.520 figure out ahead of time what you're supposed to wear 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.120 not where. You know, it's very in keeping with with 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:30.400 Japanese in general. I think, you know, it's a it's 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:36.160 a very place where customs and rules are followed and 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:39.319 adhered to, and there's not a lot of complaining about it, 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.800 and it's just kind of understood, and I find it 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:44.719 kind of charming. I mean, I, you know, you when 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.720 I traveled around the world for golf, I don't understand 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:52.440 people who want to go someplace and have the golf course, 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:55.720 whether it's a public course where it's perfectly acceptable to 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.800 play t shirts and and you know, drink beer while 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:00.959 you're on the golf course, or if it's a very 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.199 formal place like like Mierfield in Scotland or whatever. When 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:06.640 I go to places, I want to do what they do. 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:08.559 I don't want to try to get them to allow 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:10.520 me to do what I usually do back home. I 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:12.160 want to do whatever they're doing. So if I'm for 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.319 sure in Scotland, I want to play golf in two 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:17.160 and a half hours and play alternate shot. And if 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:19.200 I'm in Japan, I don't have any problem at all 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.120 with their dress codes. So it is very formal. I 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.560 would say in general, they're very neat people. You know, 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.199 it's a very well dressed but also kind of well tailored, 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.640 and you see that around, whether it's you know, in 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.960 downtown Tokyo, whether it's watching people coming in and out 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:34.440 of the train stations or whatever. I mean, it's a 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:37.240 place where your shoes are polished and your you know, 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:40.000 your shirts are ironed, and it's I don't think it's 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:41.760 they're doing that because it's a rule. I think they're 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.240 doing it because that's what everyone does, and that's just 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:46.200 that's how it handles. And it's that just carries over 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:48.600 to golf. You know, people are dressed very neatly. The 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:50.520 one that I would say definitely does stand out though, 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.440 is that they at the top clubs, it is a 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.200 very kind of old school dress too. It's a lot 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.600 of navies and grays and khakis. It is discouraged in 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.480 some place, is actually not allowed to wear loud colors, 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:05.679 and in particular, I think the color red in some 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:09.440 places is not considered a good choice, of an appropriate choice. 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:11.880 And again it's just I think it's kind of in 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.480 keeping with everything else. You know, they they're speaking in 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.160 lower tones, and they're you know, they're. 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.960 They're dressing and quieter colors. Yeah, yeah, I mean so 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:24.600 the so the specific part of these dress codes that 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:30.800 people focused on is the avoidance of brighter colors. Right Basically, 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.840 it's you know, khaki and white and gray and blue, 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.520 those are kind of you know, the acceptable colors. And 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.280 then but if you show up, you know, wearing plaid 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:45.760 or or wearing neon on yourself, that that's that's not 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:47.440 considered polite, proper. 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:51.280 That's right, that's right. And I think it's the juxtaposition 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:55.839 with you know, when when we see a lot of 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:57.920 Japanese clothing brands or whatever that are worn by the 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:00.800 tour professional players, that doesn't seem to match. But it's 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:03.480 a you know, it's a different kind of that's a 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.079 different situation that they're in where they're advertising and they're 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:08.640 and they're trying to get attention versus at least, like 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.640 I said, these private clubs where they're very comfortable with 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:13.440 the rules that they have and the way they do things. 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:17.360 You you not just the not just the clothes, but 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.160 but really whether it's all all of the customs of 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.280 playing golf at these places, you definitely you can tell 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:25.800 you get the sense that they were doing it the 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:28.320 exact same way fifty years ago and that they're going 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.040 to be doing it the exact same way fifty years 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.040 from now. And I like that. I like that part. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:33.200 That's what I wanted to go see. 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.440 So taking a step back and taking a wider view 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.760 could you give me just a general sense of how 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:45.720 popular golf is in Japan and and maybe like which 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.480 segments of the population it's it's popular in. 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.800 Yeah, I think it's popular with everybody. It's as close 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:56.679 to a national sport I would say for participation is 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:00.240 in any other country. They have, you know, a lot 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.480 of what the Olympics going on. It's been quoted quite 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:04.280 a bit, but they have more golf courses in Japan 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.720 than in England and Scotland combined. There are more golf 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.600 courses in Japan than anywhere else in the world other 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.280 than the United States. And you know, on top of that, 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:19.200 you have you have the driving the double decker driving ranges, 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.840 and just kind of all the ways that they've adapted 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:25.920 to their love of golf, even though it's one of 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:28.080 the hardest places to play golf, or at least it 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:31.280 has been for in the past. With you know, just 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:32.920 the way their major cities are built up and their 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:35.800 transportation hubs and things like that, it's it's very difficult 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:37.800 for most people to actually get to a golf course 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:39.320 and be able to play eighteen holes of golf. So 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.079 they've found other ways to do it. But yeah, golf 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:46.880 on television. I mean, I was mentioning the the ladies 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.000 that caddy at a lot of the top clubs, they're 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:52.760 all back in the caddyshack watching golf, gambling on golf. 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.680 They're all in fantasy golf leagues. They get it, and 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:58.080 they're they're into it right. 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:03.520 So as to the overall popularity of golf in Japan, 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:08.559 is there a substantial flip side to the private club 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:12.200 scene in the country? You know, are there plenty of 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.960 public courses that regular folks play. I don't know how 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:17.240 much you know about this. Obviously, when you've traveled there, 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:20.000 you focused on playing some of the most excellent courses there, 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.560 which happened to be the private courses. But is there 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:28.800 a significant public golf scene in Japan? Do you think it's. 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.720 It's definitely changing. There is not a municipal golf scene 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:37.960 of you know, government owned or non for profit golf courses. 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:40.280 There don't. I don't know of any of that. But 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:44.320 there is more and more of what were private golf 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.960 courses that couldn't make it coming out of the bust 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:49.680 of the real estate in the eighties and nineties. There 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:51.720 are more of those that are now allowing you know, 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:53.760 daily fee or semi private. I guess we would say 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.000 in the United States. Just like in the United States, 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.400 you know where there was you know, people put it 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.760 in and you know, or two later, a couple changes 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:04.640 of ownership, and now the people that are running it 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:07.480 now are maybe a little bit more willing to take 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:09.640 players at least during the weekdays, maybe not on the 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:12.200 weekends or at prime times, just like in the United States. 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.560 But yes, and more online bookings too. There are more 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.440 places now where you can book actually a tea time online. 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:20.800 Now the quality of that golf course or how easy 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:22.280 it is to get to those places, you know, there's 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:24.520 a reason maybe they're willing to let anybody play off there, 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:29.160 but it's just best definitely changed. One other one that 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:31.640 I definitely have to mention is their whole idea of 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.680 park golf. So they do have lots of park golf 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.240 courses and so park golf for those that don't know where. 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.400 There's a couple of different names for it, but it 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.600 started on. If you think of most I think Americans 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.120 think of Japan as one island, but it's actually there's 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.760 one main island and then there's a lot of other lines, 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:50.280 but the island to the biggest island to the north 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:53.120 of the main island, it started up there. So park 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:57.240 golf it's it's essentially a it's nine holes and it's 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.480 in a public park. Usually there's three or four different 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:04.080 nine hole loops that you can play, but you play 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.520 nine holes is kind of the standard, so depending on 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:08.960 which routing you're gonna pick. And then you play with 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.360 one ball that's like a whiffle ball, maybe like a 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.320 solid whooketball. It's like a plastic plastic key ball, and 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.640 it's big. It's much bigger than the regular golf ball, 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:21.000 maybe like our size of a racquetball, but it's also 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.840 a solid it's a solid ball. It's like a solid 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:27.480 plastic ball. And you play with a mallet that would 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.400 be like a driver head. It's like the size of 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:33.080 a driver head, and it's probably i don't know, like 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.840 twelve degrees or fourteen degrees, and so you can't really 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:39.880 get the ball very airborne. And the holes are maybe 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.720 anywhere from like one hundred yards to down to like 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.080 thirty yards, and there's a bunker or two sometimes and 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:46.280 you kind of got a player way around them. So 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:47.520 it's a little bit of a mix between like a 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:51.320 par three course and like croquet, and you play, you know, fast, 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.080 it's a social game and you're playing, but you know, 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:57.280 you keep score and they have leagues and things like that, 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:59.280 and you can borrow clubs and balls or you can 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.000 rent them right there. So it's again kind of a 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:03.880 little bit more than put putt, not quite a full 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.000 part recourse. And it used to be that it was 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:07.959 just old people that old people did it, and they 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:09.320 kind of were out in the park and rather than 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.480 going for a walk because they love golf. You know, 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:13.240 somebody came up with the idea of let's, you know, 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.480 let's play golf in the park, and they viewed they've 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:18.640 gone with the single club in the in this ball 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:20.959 so that nobody gets killed because you're the holes are 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:22.879 really close to each other, like you got to pay attention, 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.000 and that's I guess part of it is like head 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:26.960 on a swivel type thing and being aware of the 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.200 folks around you. I don't know whether this would work 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:33.840 in downtown Chicago, but it fits well enough with the 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:37.280 Japanese and particularly in the outlying area, so that helps. 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:40.480 That sounds fantastic. I love that. I mean I wish 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:41.399 we would import that. 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:43.960 It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. I mean, you know, 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:45.920 when you talk about golf in Japan and the future 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:48.119 of golf and kind of where it stands today versus 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.840 twenty years ago and where it's headed, you have to 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:54.159 mention the population as well. So there are there are 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:57.280 about one hundred and thirty million people in Japan today. 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:01.600 It peaked that the population peaked in twenty fourteen. Fifteen 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.720 is when the crest of their population was kind of 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:09.000 the post war baby boom. But it's it's falling dramatically 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:12.119 in the birth rates would suggest it's going to continue 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.200 to fall dramatically, and they're saying, you know, within thirty 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:17.440 years it's going to be under one hundred million people, 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:19.840 so they're going to lose thirty percent of their population. 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:22.720 On top of that, like in China, like in a 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:24.800 lot of places, a lot of their young people are 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:27.040 moving to the major cities, in particularly Tokyo. So you've 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.880 got a situation where Tokyo is growing and everywhere else 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:31.880 in the country is losing thirty or forty or fifty 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.439 percent of their population. And so as it pertains to golf, 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:37.159 I don't know that golf is going to get much 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:41.320 cheaper or easier to access around Tokyo, which is, you know, 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.800 a third of their whole population. But in the outlying areas, 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:46.640 I think it's it's getting much easier to play golf 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:49.520 in the outlying areas and in much easier to access 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:50.280 and cheaper. 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:55.280 So if somebody's going to travel to Japan and play 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:58.760 a little bit of golf, what advice would you give them? 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:00.520 So the first thing, you got to find a guy. 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.720 You got to find a hookup, because all the good 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:07.199 courses they're private and they are very very hard to access. 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.840 I mean, if we're talking about one of their top clubs, 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:11.959 it's every bit as hard to play one of the 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:14.040 top three or four clubs in Japan as it is 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:16.840 to play Augusta National or Cyprus Point or Pine Valley. 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:20.160 As far as access, that's the bad news. The good 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:22.679 news is that if you can find someone who's a 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.520 member who's willing to host you. Those members of those 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:27.600 clubs are very proud of their clubs and they're very 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.280 happy to share the show them off to people they know, 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.800 where people they kind of trust as their guests, and 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:36.760 because it's kind of a tight type knit community, and 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:38.640 they know that if you're traveling all the way over 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.160 there to play one of the courses, you're probably also 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.280 interested in seeing some of the others. If you can 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:45.400 kind of get your foot in the door at one 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:49.119 club with one member to host you, it's not unusual 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.159 to receive an offer for them to also offer to 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:56.200