Another Cello course which confirms my first impressions : while he has a vivid imagination and is a talented designer, his fantasy courses are not for everyone and this par 70 is no exception.
You will start your Japanese round with the gorgeous par-3 1st hole, with a blind tee shot (hopefully) landing onto a rectangular-shaped bunker, with the green right in the middle (and flat rocks on both sides to reach it, with a nice ancient house behind), before heading for the short (about 355 yards) and straight par-4 2nd, where you will need another blind tee shot to land near a small s-shaped pond on the right (with a tiny little bridge) in front of the green.
The scenery then changes with the par-5 3rd hole, quite short (about 375 yards) but with a fairway twisting to the left, then to the right, and an elevated green tough to reach over a few trees and with a deep u-shaped bunker in front and a pin in the narrowest part of the green !
If you like gambling, then the short (about 300 yards) and straight par-4 4th hole is for you, with a peninsula in front, halfway, with plenty of trees, and an island green, further back, with a big bunker in front and a few trees on the right and a nice Japanese gate on the left !
The straight par-5 5th is another short hole (about 490 yards), quite pretty with its fairway dropping down sharply halfway, making your approach shot to the steeply-elevated green quite tough, if your tee shot fell in that small and wide valley.
Then, after the par-3 6th hole, with deep rough all the way downhill to the green with a big bunker in front, and the straight par-4 7th, with an elongated bunker slightly to the right, and an approach shot to the green with a big black rock in front, you will reach the right dogleg par-4 8th hole, with a tee shot over that small lake and its peninsula (seen on the 4th hole) and its slightly-downhill green.
The straight and slightly-uphill par-4 9th hole is quite short (about 310 yards) and unusual, with deep rough between the tee box and the tiny green, and a giant black... dragon head creature behind, spitting flames which, in fact, are thin elongated bunkers !
Needless to say, after that hole, the par-3 10th looks ordinary even though it is not, with a blind tee shot over part of a tall and big Japanese house and a green on a high mound with five bunkers around...
After the left dogleg par-4 11th hole, with a small pond across the fairway halfway and trees in the corner, partially hiding the green, you will head back to the lake with another par-3, the 12th hole, with an uphill tee shot over an island green (with a nice wooden arched bridge on the right) before reaching the... other island green !
On the par-5 13th hole, you will have to avoid the big elongated bunker in the middle of the undulating fairway, before trying to reach the green with deep rough in between and trees partially hiding the green on the right, before heading back to the lake with two spectacular par-3 holes, the 14th, slightly uphill with a narrow and elongated island green with a lone tree in front, an elongated bunker on the right and a nice bridge behind, and the 15th, with a slightly-downhill tee shot and an island (and undulating) green with a bunker on the left side and a few bushes and small trees in front.
The wide-open left dogleg par-4 16th hole is quite nice, with a downhill tee shot followed by a steep approach shot to the elevated green, with three elongated bunkers around, whereas on the left dogleg par-5 17th hole, you might not be able to reach the green on your second shot over a wide lake with that dragon-like rock creature in the middle and four wide bunkers around the green.
If you think you are "out of the woods" upon reaching the left dogleg par-4 18th hole, think again ! This short hole (about 325 yards) has a vertiginous drop in the corner toward the tiny island green at the bottom of a volcano (?) with a big ramp really leading up to a small Japanese cabin !
With such wild imagination and, despite nice ancient Japanese houses, towers, bridges and flat stones, here and there, Hakone Park is not a walk in the... park, and its might not please everyone as this fantasy course is another one of Cello's very original designs...