Korea's Love Affair With Golf

At the local gym, I manage to drag myself onto the treadmill in hopes of shedding those unwanted extra pounds that have been creeping up on me recently. In front of me through the glass is a small golf practice facility. As I huff and puff my way on the treadmill, I watch in admiration as a long row of Korean women practice their swings by driving balls into a wall about 10 feet away.

Between shots, one friendly woman who looked to be in her 30's smiles and waves at me while I sweat profusely and gasp for air. Later she takes a break and offers me some of the Korean traditional snack rice cake and green tea. I graciously accept and asked her how long she's been playing golf. "I just started playing last year", she claims in very broken English. "With my two kids in school, I have lots of time to practice".

This got me thinking about the connection between two of Korea's main obsessions, education and golf. In addition to attending their regular public school, Korean students study at many private academies in a variety of subjects including, English, math, science and music. With their children being in school all day and often late into the night; and their husbands usually working 12 to 16 hour days, Korean mothers (or as we call them in Korean 'ajummas') have plenty of time to work on their golf games.

This would explain why the gym is full of ajummas hitting golf balls into a wall in the middle of the afternoon. The purpose of this article is not to demean Korean mothers. Of course ajummas all work hard on the home front in caring for the needs of their husbands and children. Being a stay at home mom is a difficult job in itself.

What I find interesting is how many women play golf in Korea, compared to my home country Canada. While I have no specific statistics, it appears that the ratio of men and women golfers in Korea is far closer than in Canada. So why do Korean women love golf so much?

The woman's golf movement seemed to begin with Se-Ri Pak's victory in the 1998 US Open. After Pak's huge victory, many parents started putting their daughters into golf lessons. This is a good example of Korean mother's pack mentality. Once one mother puts their daughter into golf, many mothers follow. More recently, ajummas have been putting their daughters into figure skating lessons after Yu-Na Kim's victory in the World Figure Skating Championships last year.

Korean success on the LPGA tour in recent years has been unparalleled. In addition to Pak, who has 24 career LPGA wins, Ji-yai Shin has won 4 LPGA events, including last year's British Open title. Shin, along with Ji Young Oh, In-Kyung Kim, Eunjung Yi, and Eun-Hee Ji (winner of the US Open) are all Korean women who have claimed victories on the LPGA tour this year alone.

Why are Korean women so successful on the LPGA tour? Much can be attributed to Koreans traditional strong work ethic and focus. Once talent in girls is recognized, Korean parents push them to succeed in ways unfamiliar to many parents in the West. Korean women are workhorses who concentrate solely on golf. The Korean mentality is nothing is worth doing if you don't succeed. In addition and perhaps most important, many Korean companies sponsor the most talented players, eliminating any financial burdens the golfers may face.

While the ajummas at my gym are likely just playing for fun, you can see the determination in their eyes with every shot into the wall. Even if they never play on the LPGA tour, they still have the strong desire to succeed. With their kids in school all day and night, they will surely improve their golf games. Who knows, maybe one of these ajummas will become a late bloomer and challenge Ji-yai Shin on the LPGA tour sometime soon.