Korea Golf Course Management Association Achieves Success in Efforts to Abolish 'Mandatory Regulation for Public Golf Course Annexes'

Removal of Mandatory Regulations Remaining for 29 Years... "Welcome"

The Korea Golf Course Management Association announced on the 28th that efforts to abolish the 'Mandatory Regulation for Public Golf Course Attachment,' which had suppressed the management autonomy of golf course operators, have borne fruit.

The mandatory regulation for public golf course attachment under the Physical Fitness Facilities Act was established by the government on February 7, 1994. If a membership golf course was approved for five years, it was required to operate an attached public golf course or deposit a certain amount per hole. The purpose was to increase the number of public golf courses, which were scarce in Korea at the time, to popularize golf.

[Photo by Korea Golf Course Management Association]

In response, the Korea Golf Course Management Association pointed out that unlike in the 1990s when the mandatory regulation was imposed, public golf courses have become widespread recently, making the maintenance of the regulation unnecessary. According to the association's own statistics, the number of public golf courses increased from 169 in 2011 to 325 in 2020, nearly doubling. During the same period, membership golf courses decreased from 216 to 169, as some membership golf courses converted to public golf courses.

Park Chang-yeol, president of the Korea Golf Course Management Association, said, "With the abolition of the mandatory regulation, the management autonomy of golf course operators running old public golf courses will increase, enabling them to take on new business challenges," and added, "We expect that promoting new businesses will also contribute to revitalizing the local economy."