Park golf isn't just your grandmother's sport anymore

Park golf — a simplified version of golf which requires just one club for both tee shots and putting — is no longer just a pastime for older adults in Korea. The sport is rapidly growing into a full-fledged industry.

Park golf is played at the World Cup Park Golf Course in April 2025. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Park golf — a simplified version of golf which requires just one club for both tee shots and putting — is no longer just a pastime for older adults in Korea. With tournament purses reaching 30 million won ($20,600), a professional system already in place and exports beginning to take shape, the sport is rapidly growing into a full-fledged industry.

That growth is being felt first in the market. Annual revenue from admission fees, equipment rentals and membership alone has reached 100 billion won, and when related businesses such as cafes, convenience stores and senior goods are included, the market has expanded to around 200 billion won in just a few years.

A market once dominated by Japanese-made products now features about 100 domestic golf-related brands competing against one another. Top-end clubs made in Korea, for instance, now cost nearly 3 million won, signaling that park golf is moving away from its identity as a low-cost sport for seniors.

Even prize money shows how far the sport has come. Winning a park golf tournament such as the Hwacheon Cup in Gangwon, Gumi Cup or Goryeong Gaya Cup in North Gyeongsang can bring in 30 million won.

The Korea Professional Parkgolf Association selected the world’s first professional players last year and is also preparing to introduce a pro league and a points ranking system.

Participants compete in a park golf event at the Senior Olympics at Hyochang Stadium in Yongsan District, Seoul, on Oct. 31, 2025. [YONHAP]

While screen golf is declining as its market reaches saturation, screen park golf is booming, with about 20 simulator companies thriving, especially in the greater Seoul area.

“If you think in terms of tides, we are now in the period when the waves are rolling in,” Park Tae-geun, an executive at screen park golf company GTSn, said.

Korean park golf associations are also pushing overseas expansion, signing memorandums of understanding with countries including Italy and Thailand. Notably, the MOU signed with Italy's park golf association has the Korean side sharing park golf-related technology, operational know-how and co-hosting future park golf tournaments.

Park golf is played in Sapporo, Japan. [KOREA PRO PARKGOLF ASSOCIATION]

An education market has opened up as well. A park golf industry and welfare program opened at the Mokpo Science University in South Jeolla, Yeungjin University in Daegu has a department dedicated to park golf management and Donggang University has its own Department of Park Golf Leadership in Gwangju — all focused on training specialized talent. Seoul's Korea University also opened an executive park golf program this year, following Dongguk University's move to open one early this year.

But the explosive growth has also cast a long shadow.

Governance within the sport’s associations is shaky. The Korea Parkgolf Association is run through an indirect voting system in which only 118 people cast ballots out of 200,000 members. Allegations of vote buying arise every election cycle, and even a police investigation was launched in the election for the head of the Daegu Park Golf Association.

Environmental problems are another obstacle.

As many as 63.6 percent of Korea’s park golf courses are built along rivers. The number of permits for occupying river areas surged from just five between 2000 and 2010 to 135 between 2021 and 2024. The easy access offered by riverside locations comes with the darker side of ecosystem damage and flood risk. Unauthorized facilities also make it impossible to control the use of pesticides and fertilizers.

Citizens enjoy park golf at the course in Daejeo Ecological Park in Gangseo District, Busan, on Feb. 20 as mild weather continued. [NEWS1]

Supply imbalances are also serious. Korea has 550 park golf courses nationwide, but only about 10 are in the Seoul area.

“Park golf enthusiasts in Seoul are in a situation where they cannot even formally register as members,” Cho Young-seok, secretary general of the Korea Parkgolf Association, said. “We are considering measures such as using idle military land and pushing legislation to ease greenbelt regulations.”

Commercialization is another challenge the sport will have to solve as green fees of 5,000 won are not enough to sustain an industrial ecosystem.

“There has been a good response to membership-based courses charging green fees of 10,000 won to 15,000 won while improving tee-time intervals and turf quality,” Jin Young-ho, a professor in Korea University’s park golf executive program, said. “The effort to strengthen park golf’s competitiveness as a product will continue.”

Residents play park golf at a course along the Namdae Stream in Gangneung, Gangwon, on Dec. 16, 2025. [YONHAP]

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY KO BONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]