Since the establishment of the first golf course in Japan in 1901, there are now more than 300 courses designed by international world-class golf course architects, with Hokkaido Classic Golf Club being considered one of the best. Completed in 1991, this course soon became one of the most highly evaluated golf courses in Japan. Its designer Jack Nicklaus commented, "the golf course was designed based on the image of my hometown''s Muirfield Village". This course with its perfect mixture of natural landscape and strategic elements has since been evaluated as one of Nicklaus’s greatest works to date.