After Corona 19, domestic golf courses, which have been stigmatized as ‘gapjil golf courses’, have a lot of problems to be solved. Soaring green fees and caddy fees, neglected food and beverage prices, and unreasonable unit prices. Experts point out that the fundamental problem of ‘supply shortage’ lies behind this phenomenon.
On the 9th, Seo Cheon-beom, director of the Korea Leisure Industry Research Institute, pointed out, “The cause of various unreasonable practices at domestic golf courses is the lack of supply of golf courses.” In fact, the number of open golf courses (converted to 18 holes), which reached 31.5 in 2013, has decreased significantly to around 10 since 2014. From 2023 to 2027, the number of golf courses under construction or in progress reaches 70, but it is unclear when they will open. For this reason, most domestic golfers use the service at high cost by ‘crying and eating mustard’.
Director Seo said, “In order to supply golf courses, the government’s regulations on golf course construction must be relaxed.” Currently, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is managing the area of the golf course to be within 30% of the tourism complex. Even though there is no separate regulation in the ‘Tourism Promotion Act’, it is regulated through its own regulations within the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Considering that most of the golf courses currently being promoted are being built in tourist complexes, the influence of these regulations is inevitable.
Ok-gwang, professor of physical education at Chungbuk National University, also emphasized the supply of golf courses. It is argued that regulations should be relaxed only in barren areas such as garbage and waste landfills and abandoned mines to establish a ‘public golf course’ in which local governments participate.
There are two main business methods proposed by Professor Ok: profit type (BTO) and rental type (BTL). BTO is a method in which the private sector builds a golf course on the land of a local government, accepts a donation, and operates the facility for a certain period of time to recover the investment cost. In this case, since it is operated by the private sector, the local government needs to intervene in usage fees. BTL is a method in which the private sector builds a golf course on the land of a local government, then donates the facility and collects the investment cost by receiving rent from the local government for a certain period of time. In this case, the local government determines the usage fee. Professor Ok advised, “If a public golf course centered on local governments is established, there will be various cost reduction effects,” and advised, “In order to reduce investment costs and investment risks, it is preferable to proceed with the BTO or BTL method rather than 100% investment by local governments.” 먹튀검증
There are also opinions that the government and local governments should directly intervene in the abnormal golf course food and beverage prices. Lee Eun-hee, a professor of consumer studies at Inha University, said, “It is correct that the Ministry of Strategy and Finance or the local government’s department responsible for price management intervenes and manages prices in golf courses.” “Therefore, the government has sufficient justification to intervene.”
Director Seo said, “Now is the right time to correct the high-cost structure of golf courses.” “If appropriate solutions are not implemented, it will take more than 10 years for soaring green fees and caddy fees to return to pre-COVID-19 levels. Golf course construction regulations will be lifted as soon as possible. Measures must be taken, such as drastically mitigating them,” he said.