[Public Voices] What Is Needed for the 'Second Wave of Golf Popularization'

Easing Golf Course Construction Regulations
and Increasing Supply of Public Goods Facilities

Okgwang, Professor of Physical Education at Chungbuk National University

Since COVID-19, golfers who used to enjoy overseas golf trips have been using domestic golf courses, leading golf courses to experience a so-called 'COVID-19 boom.' Usage fees have skyrocketed, and golf courses are burdening golfers by accepting customers excessively without having time to maintain the courses, as well as through rising prices of expensive clubhouses, caddy fees, and cart fees. Although tax benefits (excise tax, property tax, acquisition tax) were provided to public golf courses under the golf popularization policy started in 1999, these benefits have not sufficiently reached golfers. Furthermore, there are significant obstacles to golf popularization, such as limitations in expanding golf course supply, the low proportion of public golf courses (only 1.1%, including 5 operated by the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation), environmental damage concerns, perceptions of golf as a luxury or entertainment tool, and inadequate legal systems.

The government has proposed a second wave of golf popularization to address these issues. This plan includes providing property tax benefits (paying only 10%) to public golf courses to lower green fees, allowing customers to choose whether to use caddies or carts, and permitting outside food to give golfers opportunities to use golf courses more affordably. Through this plan, a three-category system (membership-based, non-membership-based, and public type) under the Act on Installation and Use of Sports Facilities (Sports Facilities Act) was suggested.

It is questionable whether these measures will be effective. The general view is that public golf courses cannot lower green fees if they want to maintain high-quality services and keep course management at the highest level. Instead, easing regulations on golf course construction to increase supply could naturally lower green fees within a free-market economy. As known from various overseas cases, when constructing golf courses on landfill sites or abandoned mines, relaxing construction regulations can improve social perceptions regarding environmental destruction or indiscriminate development caused by golf course construction. It is also worth considering operating many pure public golf courses by converting land owned by the government or local governments into golf courses.

There also appears to be a need to additionally construct and supply public golf courses like Ecolian, operated by the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, considering the regional imbalance in golf course supply and demand. Providing incentives for 6-hole or 9-hole public golf courses, creating golf courses that combine park golf and public golf, and promoting public golf course development at military fitness training centers could also be viable responses.

The government and golf-related industry stakeholders might also consider the following measures for golf popularization. First, continuing to nurture elite golf through discovering and training golf stars, and under the current sports policy focusing on community sports, golf courses in each region should institutionally support the emergence of new golf stars. Golf course management should be guided toward ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management from a macro-environmental perspective to contribute to the environment and society. To improve management efficiency, it is necessary to apply future technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as GPS, artificial intelligence, and robotic equipment, not only to reduce operating costs but also to strengthen competitiveness.

Support policies tailored to the characteristics of the future golf participant population are also needed. As Korea is entering a super-aged society, measures targeting the elderly population are necessary. The spread of low-cost public golf courses for economically disadvantaged elderly people, as well as specialized course operations for different demographic groups, such as park golf, par-3 courses, and 6-hole operations, could be alternatives.

Okgwang, Professor of Physical Education at Chungbuk National University and Secretary General of the Korea Golf Society