This article was machine-translated from the Korean original. Read the Korean original
01Prologue: The Scorecard, a Giant Illusion on the Korean Field
Sunday evening, at a screen golf room in Gangnam or an after-party at a high-end Japanese restaurant. Middle-aged men have their smartphone screens displayed in the center of the table, spitting as they recount their exploits. Today's scorecard, saved in the golf booking app on the screen, boasts clear numbers. 'Final score: 79 strokes.' For South Korean weekend amateur golfers, it is a family honor and a dream achievement that allows them to puff out their chests and say, "I shot a single-digit handicap today." Playing partners toss drinks with envious eyes, while the boss is arrogant, claiming that he dominated the course with the power of his Titleist TSR driver and Fujikura Ventus Black shaft.
However, the playing partners and caddie who helped fill out that brilliant scorecard inwardly scoff. This is because they know all too well that the valuable number of 79 is not an honest result executed by the ruthless, traditional rules.
Two strokes quietly erased when the first hole tee shot went into the out-of-bounds (OB) zone, with the excuse, "Since it's the first hole, just record it as a par." Two "fake mulligans" taken stealthily out of pocket and hit again after a home run shot from a bunker in the front nine went over the green. And even three strokes picked up by kicking the ball with the foot, asking, "Hey caddie, this is a concession, right?" even though there were still 1.5 meters left to the hole on the green. If you analyze it meticulously with arithmetic, it is clearly the score of a player in the mid-90s. It is the bitter, bare face of someone who perfectly falsified their scorecard just to protect a bet of a few tens of thousands of won and maintain their "face" among their playing partners.
Established media outlets, which survive on advertising fees from brand sponsors and major golf course corporations, never mention this abnormal practice of score laundering. This is because, to them, weekend amateur golfers must always be a "high-end consumer base that enjoys the hobby with good manners and honesty."
However, Club14, which dissects the pretense and chronic bad habits on and off the field in South Korea with a sharp microscope, does not tolerate this hypocritical score cartel. This article is a full-scale sniping essay that starkly and realistically uncovers the desperate self-consolation psychology of "fake single-digit" villains who manipulate their scorecards by cheating on strokes and excessively issuing mulligans, while firmly believing, "I shot a single today."
02Disgrace 1: "You must hit the first hole!" — The abnormal custom known as "Ilpamanpa"
The first moral lapse committed by South Korean weekend golfers upon stepping onto the teeing ground is the 'everyone-gets-a-par-on-the-first-hole' bad habit that erupts from the first hole.
In the original rules of golf, there is no regulation that allows for a penalty stroke just because it is the first hole. It is a fundamental principle of the sport that if a driver shot on the first hole goes into the out-of-bounds area, one must honestly take the penalty and record a double or triple bogey.
However, the "go single villains" who left their common sense at the breakfast table of a Gangnam clubhouse confidently pressure the caddie when settling the first hole score. "Hey caddie, you know our team is definitely going to get a Par on the first hole today, right? Write down Par for everything on the scorecard. It's because we just haven't warmed up yet."
This deformed custom is a bizarre self-portrait unique to Korean amateur golf that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Whether it is the department head who hit a double bogey after his driver burrowed into the hill on the right, or the CEO who dug up the turf by hitting fat shots with his irons, everyone is equally assigned a score of '0 (Par)' on the scorecard. Since they start the game with a bonus of two or three strokes, the scorecards settled at the end of the month are bound to become mere illusory scraps of paper stained by stroke fraud from the very beginning. With their wallets and swings unlocked from the first hole, their wallets and swings are bound to lead to petty stroke negotiations and trickery throughout the entire 18 holes.
03Disgraceful Behavior 2: A Weapon That Regenerates Infinitely in the Pocket — Weekend Golfers' Mulligan Addiction
The second disgraceful behavior witnessed on the field by "fake singles" is the indiscriminate use of "mulligans," regardless of location or situation. Originally, a mulligan is a gentleman's courtesy offered with the consent of playing partners just once or twice during a round to keep the atmosphere light when a shot is completely ruined.
However, for villains who have lost their minds at the gambling table, the mulligan is a legitimate shield that regenerates infinitely in their pockets.
If the ball lands deep in a bunker or the rough after a second shot, he stealthily pulls a second ball out of his pocket and drops it to the ground before his playing partners can even shout "Fore!" "Oops, my wrist snap didn't work just now. I'll just hit one more as a practice shot! This isn't counting towards the score, okay?"
Their shamelessness does not stop even when their playing partners stare in disbelief. They abuse mulligans two or three times on a single hole to somehow land the ball nicely on the green, then record a 'par' or 'bogey' on the scorecard as if they had honestly gotten the ball on the green.
Watching men over fifty begging for mulligans on the fairway, cracking balls from their pockets just to win a bet of a mere few tens of thousands of won, the dignity of a CEO who once commanded hundreds of employees shatters like dust. It is a scene of desperate self-consolation where the greatest value of golf, 'honesty,' is thrown into the trash can for the sake of a few pennies and shallow pride in strokes.
04Disgraceful Behavior 3: "It went in at this distance" — The "OK" Gaslighting on a 1.5-meter Ting Putt
Once you pass the clubhouse and reach the green on the back nine, the 'Concede gaslighting,' the final fraudulent technique of the single-digit handicap players, reaches its climax.
In standard stroke play, as opposed to match play, a concession is typically offered by a playing partner as a gesture of generosity on an obvious short putt within the length of the putter shaft (about 1 yard). It is not a right that one obtains by directly requesting it.
However, the villains addicted to score manipulation, when the ball comes to a rough stop with a whopping 1.5 meters left to the hole, stealthily walk over to the ball with their putters and lightly kick it with their feet to pick it up. "Mr. Kim, this distance is okay, right? Considering my ball speed and the lie, it's practically a 100% go-in."
If a partner is dumbfounded and unable to say anything, he arbitrarily calculates the score as a negative and puts it on the scorecard.
If a slightly picky playing partner points out, "Hey, at that distance, I can't be sure it's a slice lie. Mark the ball and hit it straight," his face hardens mercilessly and he becomes stern. He then turns the tables and gaslights the other person, saying, "We're betting, so let's not be petty with our partners. What's wrong with your golf etiquette?" This is the typical disgraceful behavior of K-kkondae (stubborn old-timer) golfers who refuse to admit their own lack of skill—their putting mentality shattered by failing to hit the ball squarely—and instead force unreasonable rules upon their playing partners solely to maintain a pretentious single-digit score.
05Editor's Note: Turn off fake numbers and write down a real gentleman's stroke count.
Golf is a great sport. A golfer's true class is perfected on the wide-open green grass by fully and silently accepting one's own mistakes and honestly navigating through crisis situations such as bunkers and the rough. Even if one is decked out in designer clothing worth millions of won and premium shafts, a golfer who falsifies their scorecard with manipulated numbers—such as mulligans and massive gains—is no longer a gentleman but merely a swindler on the fairway.
The true dignity of a single-digit handicap golfer is not achieved through the illusory fake number of 79 strokes recorded on a booking app, but rather through the courage to honestly record the penalty for an out-of-bounds (OB) shot on the first hole on the scorecard, the honesty to boldly forgo a mulligan in one's pocket, and the strict attitude of not putting down the putter until it drops into the hole with a loud thud, even for a short putt of 50 centimeters.
To the men out there tonight, gazing smugly at the fake single-digit scorecard saved on your golf join app, thinking only of showing off during next weekend's round: Before the next tee-off bell rings, I urge you to bury the score negotiation balls in your hands in the locker room for a moment and, as a single, honest sportsman, first open the real rulebook on the field.
Rather than hearing a soulless, empty remark from your playing partners saying, "You shot a single today," receiving sincere respect from them as you honestly take off your gloves on the 18th hole green and say, "My score today was over 100, but playing honestly with you guys without a single mulligan, it was the best shot of my life"—that is truly the most valuable and greatest 'gentleman's class' you can reach through the noble genre of golf.
