A neighbor asked me if I wanted to go down to Chonan and play the Abiding Club Golf Society today. I checked the course online and it turned out to be a Desmond Muirhead design. Mr. Muirhead also designed the Oak Village course in Ichihara which I very much enjoyed the last time I was there. So I decided to give Abiding a shot and we headed out at 6:30am this morning with the thread of rain looming over us.
Abiding is in Chonan Machi, just southwest of Mobara and here in Kiminomori. With the threat of rain it, start times were wide open and it was not busy at all. Abiding is not a long course, running 6280 yards from the back tee, but from what I read online, is qute a difficult one, with narrow fairways, heavily guarded greens on all holes and pretty much OB everywhere. Staying in the fairway is the key and I was admittedly concerned as it started to rain while we were warming up. Considering it was wet, the greens were very very fast which would prove to increase difficulty on the very much sloping Abiding greens.
Admittedly I detest playing in the rain and I am a firm believer that we all play our best golf in short sleeves, shorts and with a blue sky above. Most of the fairways at Abiding are full of undulations and being rained on made hitting pure shots all that much more difficult considering most of the time the lie is not flat. The greens are not only guarded by bunkers but usually deep ones. The sand though, even in the rain was rather soft and fluffy which helped a lot cause I landed in my share of bunkers.
With many cancellations due to the weather, the pace was quick, even with a 75 year old lady and her son playing ahead of us. Darn she was a good ball striker! We rolled though the first 9 in under 2 hours and both with terrible scores of 12 over. I did not par a single whole in the first 9 due to the difficult greens and increasing rain fall (maybe its time for a new putter, yeah blame the putter). In the second 9, the rain began to fall harder and the course was eating us alive!
Luckily I had my rain gear and hand warmers. It was hard to believe just a few days ago I was out in shorts and t-shirts. I already miss the summer! But I really should not complain since golf is all year round here in Chiba. In the end, it was a challenging day to say the least – I put up my worst score in nearly 2 years. The Abiding course is a tough one but pretty interesting and certainly one that makes you think about club selection. The greens are fast, the sand is in great condition, though I wish the carts had GPS as I forgot mine and I swear the markers were not accurate… (yes another excuse!). I’ll try it again when the sun comes out and temperatures are over 20C!
Above: Finishing hole in front of the club house.
Above: More bunkers.
Above: Yet more bunkers this time splitting the fairway!
Thanks for the reveiw, beautiful pictures.
I need a golf trip to Japan!
Maybe its the pictures but the course looks fantastic to me! Well, maybe except for bunkers that look like carrying a ladder is a good idea. Wouldnt mind playing it in the rain at all. Rain gear is so good these days anyway its all about attitude in the end.
Nice write up T. Someday…..
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hhahhaaaha T , abiding,, its golf torture!
miurehad has done a few here oak village one, glenmoore another, (thast worth a pop if u want to play impossible greens ,wow boy thast the WORST.
, in great condition tho. as all the chiba course are tho.
ur spoilt u are…!
I did Oak Village a while back and it was not as bad as Abiding.. I mean bad as in score and difficulty wise.
I think if I end up at Brick & Wood, another Desomond Muirhead course it would be much of the same!