Asia Golf Courses January 2018 January 2018 | Page 39

HOW FAR?
Accor
di
ng t
o The
Gui
nness Book of Wor
l
d
Recor
ds, t
he Sat
suki gol
f
cour
se i
n Sano, Japan,
boast
s t
he l
ongest hol
e i
n
t
he wor
l
d -
- an exhaust
i
ng
964-
yar
d, par
-
7
humdi
nger
. But t
he
Japanese domi
nat
i
on i
s
about t
o end. Joe Gi
bbs,
owner of Chocol
ay Downs
Gol
f Cour
se i
n Mar
quet
t
e,
Mi
chi
gan, i
s bui
l
di
ng a
doubl
e-
dogl
eg par 6. The
t
ot
al
: 1,
007 yar
ds.
Quadr
upl
e di
gi
t
s, buddy
,
t
he Mi
l
t
on Ber
l
e of
f
ai
r
ways.
"
I don'
t mean t
o st
ar
t
Wor
l
d War I
I
I over t
hi
s,
but t
he Wor
l
d War I
I vet
er
ans l
i
ke t
he f
act t
hat we'
r
e beat
i
ng t
he Japs agai
n,
" says t
he
exceedi
ngl
y pat
r
i
ot
i
c Gi
bbs, whose cour
se i
s set t
o open next spr
i
ng. "
I
t
'
s goi
ng t
o
make a ni
ce amount of publ
i
ci
t
y f
or Amer
i
ca. Thi
s i
s Amer
i
ca! We beat '
em once, and
we'
l
l beat '
em agai
n.
"
The Japanese, f
or t
hei
r par
t
, ar
e a t
ad mor
e gent
eel
. "
We st
i
l
l have t
he l
ongest hol
e i
n
Japan and have no i
nt
ent
i
on of ext
endi
ng i
t
,
" says Hi
dekaz
u Oj
aki
, vi
ce-
manager of
t
he Sat
suki l
i
nks. "
Thi
s won'
t hur
t busi
ness at al
l
.
" Good t
hi
ng, t
oo, because Gi
bbs i
s
r
eady f
or a count
er
at
t
ack: Chocol
ay has al
most hal
f a mi
l
e of unused r
eal est
at
e
behi
nd t
he t
ee j
ust i
n case anyone get
s any f
unny i
deas. "
You mi
ght want t
o not
e t
hat
we i
nt
end t
o al
ways have t
he wor
l
d'
s l
ongest f
ai
r
way
.
"
chocol
aydownsgol
f
cour
se.
com.