Golf Tournament Day

What Is Golf Tournament Day?

Every May 28th is "Golf Tournament Day" (ゴルフ記念日, Gorufu Kinenbi) in Japan. On May 28, 1927, Japan's first mixed professional-amateur golf tournament was held at the Hodogaya Country Club (保土ヶ谷カントリー倶楽部) in Kanagawa Prefecture — the first golf competition in Japan to include professional players alongside amateurs, establishing the format of organized competitive golf that would eventually develop into Japan's professional golf tour. (See also May 24th for the founding of Japan's first golf course in 1903.)

The Birth of Japanese Professional Golf

The 1927 Hodogaya tournament marked a milestone in the development of competitive golf in Japan — distinguishing between professional and amateur players in an organized competition for the first time. This distinction was fundamental to the development of a professional golf culture, in which skilled players could earn income from tournament prize money and sponsorships rather than pursuing golf purely as recreational leisure. The tournament model established at Hodogaya eventually grew into the Japan Golf Tour (JGTO) and the Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association (JLPGA) tour.

Japan's Golf Tour Today

Japan's professional golf tours — both men's (JGTO) and women's (JLPGA) — are among Asia's strongest professional circuits, attracting international players and generating significant television audiences. Japan's women's golf tour is particularly notable — with some of the world's highest prize purses for women's professional golf and consistent global ranking of Japanese women golfers in the world's top 50. Players like Hinako Shibuno (渋野日向子), who won the AIG Women's British Open in her major debut in 2019, have raised Japan's international golf profile dramatically.

Fun Facts

• Golf and Japanese business: Golf's role in Japanese business culture — the golf course as a space for relationship building and deal facilitation outside formal office settings — has made golf literacy a quasi-professional skill for Japanese corporate employees, particularly in banking, real estate, and entertainment industries.
• Golf range culture: Japan has developed an extraordinary culture of golf driving ranges (ゴルフ練習場, gorufu renshūjō) — multi-story automated driving ranges in urban areas where players practice their swings without needing a full course. These facilities make golf practice accessible in dense urban areas and contribute to Japan's remarkably high level of participation in golf across all skill levels.