Intro
*Jazz in paris song* I know I can do this…I know I can do this. Fore! *golf swing whiff* Whoops. Fore! *golf club sound*
AI Voice: Sand trap. Ball in sand trap. 2 stroke penalty.
Urrggh… OK well how about this?! Hacking program activate!
AI Voice: beeping sounds. Hole in one! Hole in one!
That’s better! Now it’s clear I’m a great golfer!
AI Voice: Best golfer ever! *slowed voice*
Whoops. Uh… well I guess I should play through? *end song* Anyway, today we’re talking about golf, another of Korea’s popular sports! Is it popular with me? Oh hell no, I have standards *joke sting*.
History of golf
Golf has an interesting origin in Korea. In a research paper by Professors Sang-woo Cho,Hyun Woo Lee & Gwang Ok published in 2020, golf was started in Korea by foreign diplomats at the end of the Joseon Dynasty and became a point of interest during the occupation. Rich people, missionaries and occupiers built courses in cities and vacation spots during this time. It was during this time that Korean people began playing golf. One notable course was in Hyocheon Park which was a tomb for the royal family, but was turned into a golf course in 1921, with the graves fenced off until they were moved in the 1930s. You can see a picture of the course on Wikipedia complete with Korean kids caddying for the well-dressed players. Link in the description. When World War II kicked up, military matters took full swing and golf courses disappeared. After liberation and the Korean war, surviving Korean golfers and US military leaders brought the sport back. A landowner in the Yongsan area even contributed a parcel to the US military Yongsan base, and they built a 9 hole course there in 1959. Throughout most of the 20th century, golf was seen as a leisure activity of the rich like the chaebol leaders and government officials and Seoul citizens never liked the golf course in Yongsan. After democracy came back and salaries increased, regular people started to play golf but not in volumes seen today. What really kicked off the golf revolution in South Korea was the rise of Park Se Ri.
Famous golfers and the talent stream
You can’t talk about Korean Golf without talking about Park Se Ri. We’ve talked about her a few times on the show, mostly because her father got in legal hot water. She won the 1998 US Open thanks to a gutsy shot in which she took off her shoes, got into the water hazard and hit the ball from there. This shot was widely televised in Korea and got people thinking they could play golf too. According to an article in GolfWRX, Korean parents traded in piano lessons for golf ones, and you could see kids practicing golf swings everywhere after school. Screen golf also took off and driving ranges got popular. This led to the rise of the quote Se Ri Kids unquote, a legion of Korean golfers that followed in her wake to win tournaments around the world and make Korean golfers feared. They became so well-known for winning that the LPGA considered requiring players to have intermediate level English.
But it wasn’t only the Ladies tournaments that saw great Korean players. KJ Choi from Wando South Korea got onto the PGA tour in the 2000s and was the first Korean winner in 2002 in New Orleans. He’s won 8 times and has a spot on the champions tour and is ranked 18th in the world at the time of this recording. Yang Yong-eun is another famous golfer from Jeju-do who got into golf after working at a driving range. He won the PGA championship in a come from behind victory against Tiger Woods and got the nickname Tiger Killer. The PGA calls it the best come from behind victory in tournament history, and soon after was Tiger’s spiral but Tiger Killer? Seems a bit too overzealous a nickname in my opinion. Tiger was coming off surgery at the time and not up to his usual standard. But anyway, Yang is still golfing but hasn’t played as well as he used to though he did win a champions tournament in 2024. Perhaps the Tiger Killer is out of bullets *joke sting*?
Tournaments
Speaking of tournaments, there are quite a few in Korea. The outdoor ones tend to start in March for obvious reasons. However there is a winter tournament that will be played next weekend in Kuala Lumpur called 1st JP Lifestyle Wintertour, which was misspelled on their website. You can find tournament schedules on Daum and ticket links over there too. If I remember correctly, a lot of tournaments have their own ticketing sites so I would check their websites first before checking Interpark or Ticketlink. E-Ticket-Golf has a bunch of tournament tickets as well so I’m including a link in the description. If you have literally nothing better to do with your time or if you like golf for some reason, there I’ve made your life slightly easier. Don’t ask me for NO MORE FAVORS *joke sting*.
The longest running one is the Korea Open which dates back to the late 1950s so we’ll talk about that one. The first winners were Americans and other foreigners until the 1960s when Han Chan-Sang won 4 straight, then he came back in 1970 and won 3 straight! He was the Michael Jordan of Korean Golf! It was around the 1970s that the Korea Open joined the Asian Golf Circuit, and that was also when it moved from Seoul and kinda bounced around the country clubs, even playing in Anyang a few times. In the aughts it settled in Woo Jeong Hills, and also Sergio Garcia and John Daly won here along with VJ Singh. Yeah they were big names through the 90s so why not come here for more tournament points or whatever they use. (pause for two seconds) HAUGHH? Check if Tiger Woods played there? Naah, he has visited South Korea and played a skins game and did a kids golf clinic, but never any of the big tourneys like the Korea Open. There was a player called Jazz and no he was not one of the Autobots *joke sting* though you gotta admit that would make golf a LOT more interesting to watch on TV. He wouldn’t need the golf cart! He could just transform and roll out to where the ball landed, leaving all these skid marks in the grass and shit. *joke sting*. But yes, there was a player called Jazz from Thailand that won in 19. I’m including his wikipedia profile because you know GROKapedia would get all the details wrong. Knowing that piece of crap, it’d call Mr. Janewattananond a Decepticon. *joke sting* Anyway, the Korea Open comes up in May so be on the lookout for it.
Speaking of looking, if you want something to fall asleep to for an afternoon nap, besides my podcast that is, go to Naver or Daum Sports and click on 오늘의 경기 and you can see if there any golf tournaments being shown live on streaming sites. Also there are around 6 golf channels in Korea so if you have cable, just turn to the sports area and you’ll find golf, all day and night. Well, some of the time. There might be a surprise K-League or other football game on, because who wants to watch golf reruns?
Korean golf courses and places to play the 3 types (driving, screen, course) and the North Korean golf course
So you wanna play golf instead of watching golf, huh? Well, the first thing you’re going to need is a functional spinal column. If you have back problems, you’re going to want your swing good before you hit the 18 hole golf course. Next is money; you’re going to need a lot of it. Obviously you’ll need golf clubs. I saw sets on Coupang between 300 thousand and 2 million. I guess if you’re cheap you can play with the kids set but that’ll run you 135 thousand. You could check Karrot for golf club sets as well but be prepared to shell out there too. And then there are the fees. You’re paying per round and that can vary per day. I looked at two in Gwangju and saw fees based on days and fees based on number of players. Some courses won’t let you play if you’re only in a group of 3, but there are ways you can get a person to join you if they reserved at the same time slot as you. There’s a whole lot of annoying ritualistic things to do with this, so I’m including a helpful article from Play Golf In Korea because my blood pressure is already too high just thinking about it. One thing you should know is that some country clubs get public money and can offer reservations to non-members, and there are some public courses around the cities as well that won’t break your bank account.
But let’s say you just want to hit the ball around, practice your swing, and so on? There are lots of options around Korea for that! There’s screen golf and driving ranges practically everywhere. Hell there’s a screen golf center two blocks from my house! I can hear thump twamp twamp every time I walk by it. They can get busy especially after working hours, so you should use an app like KimCaddie to book it. You can try calling in a reservation as well. Bring your golf shoes and gloves. They have their own clubs you can borrow for the round. Driving ranges rarely require reservations since they have lots of open spaces for hitting. Hell even in Seoul you can play screen golf underground in the Jonggak arcade starting this march, so if you’re in the Seoul area be on the lookout for that too. If you’re more into putting, Lotte Resort Sokcho has an indoor course that looks kid friendly as well.
Future of Golf
Since South Korea’s big on technology, you probably know the future of golf may be influenced by robotics. According to the KoreaTimes, Hyundai Motors MobED self-driving robots with interchangeable top modules were showcased at CES in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Possible applications for this technology include golf, so maybe in 6 years you might see self-driving golf carts or even robot caddies. Well, one positive will be that there will be one less person to laugh at me when the golf club flies out of my hands. *joke sting* In fact, in some of the screen golf places, service robots bring drinks to your booth! You just have to make sure you pick up the right drink and not whatever swill your friend ordered. Who orders a mint julep with coke? Some of y’all have no taste buds. *joke sting*
GOTW
If you’re into E-Sports, you’re in luck because the LCK tournament is going on at- how the f do I say this?
CHZZK LoL PARK (Gran Seoul 3F)? I don’t know. You can get tickets on Interpark. Meanwhile we’ve got the U23 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia and Korea is playing in it. If you’re up waaay too late or can’t sleep, you can watch the men’s team play at 12:30am on Sunday. You can also watch Korea vs Switzerland in curling at 10:50PM on Saturday if you’re gonna be up to watch the footie anyway. The KBL all-star game is this Sunday at 2pm with Team Brown versus Team Coney. More reasons to stay indoors this weekend. And also on Sunday we’ve got IBK hosting the pink spiders at 2pm in Hwaseong. Both teams have similar records so you’ll see some good volleyball this weekend.
Ending
Thank you for tuning in today. We hope you learned something about Korean Sports because if you didn’t, you set the sleep timer too soon *joke sting*. Pass this pod on to anyone interested in Korean sports and especially rookies because trust me they need every ounce of help we can pour on them. If you don’t believe me, spend 5 minutes on Living in Korea subreddit *Joke sting*. If you wish to read along or contact the show, visit our website at hwatingsportspodcast dot com or our Facebook page and everything you need is right there. Give our podcast 5 stars if you have time. Music notes like the opening song thanks to DumiAFava. You can reach him on Instagram @daf_daffy247. Cover art thanks to our cycling expert James! A shoutout to our listeners in Rajkot India, home of the Saurashtra cricket team! They say they love cricket more than anything in Rajkot. Reminds me of Daejeon and Hanwha Eagles. Does that make them the Daejeon of India? Anyway, the next episode is next week and we’re talking about Korean sports movies! There are so many of these to choose from! Until next time, Korean sports fans!
(AI voice) Guests of the Hwa-ting sports podcast get tanning done at Kim’s Hot Box, the best tanning salon on U-Do! Where else in Korea can you go snorkeling, get bronzed, then go into the beds and get bronzed some more? Kim’s Hot Box has been endorsed by leading celebrities like…that one guy who likes to wrestle! Turn your frowns upside down by becoming a little more brown with Kim’s Hot Box!
Notes
Full article: Introduction of Golf to Korea during the Japanese Occupation
Korea’s golf boom: A tale of passion, innovation, and resilience – GolfWRX
The History of Korean Golf | Growing Roots | PGA TOUR Studios
This Is The Only Golf Course in North Korea
Tournament history - KOREA OPEN
Top 10 South Korean Golfers of All Time - Erthe Golf
Category:South Korean male golfers - Wikipedia
Here are the winningest South Korean players in LPGA history
Women's golf: The story behind South Korea's dominance
Hyochang_Park#/media/File:Hyochangwon_as_Korea's_first_golf_course.jpg
https://www.eticketgolf.co.kr/