This article was machine-translated from the Korean original. Read the Korean original
01Prologue: 300,000 won for a weekend green fee, but is this the right turf?
A golfer calling to inquire about a reservation on Saturday morning is momentarily speechless upon hearing the green fee. "It is 300,000 won per person for weekend prime time." When caddy fees, cart fees, and meal costs are added up, spending nearly 400,000 won for a single round is no longer surprising. When recalling that green fees at public golf courses were half that level just a few years ago, this steep upward curve naturally elicits a sigh.
However, when you actually step out onto the course, there are more than a few moments that leave you scratching your head. Unfilled divot marks remain scattered across the fairways, and complaints are coming from all sides that the green speed is not as good as it used to be. Reviews frequently appear in golf communities stating that the rough is inconsistent and the bunker sand is clumped together, causing one's feet to sink deep into it. An increasing number of golfers feel that despite paying significantly more, the course conditions are actually worse than before.
It is pointed out that the calculations of some large golf course operators lie behind this widening gap. Taking advantage of the situation where reservations have become scarce due to the explosive growth of the golf population, they have raised green fees every year while actually reducing the manpower and costs involved in course maintenance.
Traditional golf media outlets, unable to sustain revenue without golf course advertising and sponsorships, turn a blind eye to this uncomfortable truth. However, Club14 is different. Today, we take a head-on look at the bare face of the domestic golf course operational structure that created the era of 300,000 won green fees.
02Green fees go up every year, but where did the maintenance fees go?
The surge in the golf population over the past few years has brought an unprecedented boom to public golf courses in Korea. The days of struggling to find reservations are over; now, a booking war is taking place not only on weekends but also during weekday prime times. Golf courses certainly wouldn't miss out on this structure where demand overwhelms supply. In particular, green fees have steadily increased every year under various pretexts, such as premium rates for early morning or late-night sessions and special prices for peak seasons.
The problem, it is pointed out, is that this increased revenue often does not translate into investment in course maintenance. Online reviews repeatedly feature complaints from golfers regarding reduced maintenance staff to cut labor costs rather than increasing greenkeeping personnel, who determine the condition of the turf. There are also criticisms that the stocking of divot repair sand buckets and ball mark repair tools has become inadequate. Furthermore, it is noted that tighter scheduling of teams to increase turnover has resulted in insufficient rest time for protecting the greens.
03From membership to public — an operational structure turned into a numbers game
The trend of some major golf course operators acquiring existing membership courses and converting them to public courses is cited as one of the key factors behind this controversy. Under membership systems, revenue from membership sales and regular dues served as the funding sources for course maintenance; however, converting to a public system eliminates this structure, leaving the course to rely solely on green fee revenue per round. Consequently, critics point out that for the golf course, the key revenue indicator becomes "how many teams can be played in a day," shifting the operational focus from meticulously maintaining course conditions to maximizing turnover.
Another point of contention is that there are cases where clubs enjoy tax benefits upon transitioning to a public access system, yet set their rates at levels similar to or even higher than during the membership era. The common view among those pointing out this issue is that while the tax burden is reduced and revenue remains the same or even increases, the costs invested in course maintenance have relatively shrunk.
04While golfers suffer losses, the reservation structure becomes more robust.
A bigger problem is that golfers lack even a proper channel to protest this situation. Critics point out that as reservations are concentrated among a few large operators, a structure is becoming entrenched where it is difficult to find alternatives even when dissatisfied with course conditions. As golf courses stand in a position of power—the "superior" rather than the "inferior"—without needing anything, it is becoming increasingly difficult to expect a virtuous cycle where consumer complaints lead to actual improvements in course management.
05If you are paying for grass, you should get it back in grass.
A green fee of 300,000 won is by no means a small sum. That amount should rightfully include the dense turf of the fairways, the well-managed greens, and the meticulously maintained bunkers. If the price is at the level of a prestigious course but the maintenance falls short, the question of that gap is not the golfers' responsibility, but the operator's responsibility to answer.
What can be done right now is simple. It is to leave honest reviews about the course conditions after a round and to research and select golf courses that are consistently well-maintained. Only when consumer voices accumulate will cracks finally appear in this distorted structure of profiteering. Club14's sharp sniping continues in the next issue.
