"I went there because it was described as a public facility, but I was told it's hard to use it properly unless you join a club. It's a facility built with tax money, so I don't understand why I should feel unwelcome."
A citizen surnamed A, who visited a public park golf course in Gyeonggi Province, recently received such guidance while inquiring about how to use the facility. Although the person expected that anyone could freely use it as a public sports facility, the atmosphere on the ground was strongly centered on existing club members, making access effectively difficult for non-members.
According to the industry on the 17th, cases continue to be raised in which certain groups restrict non-members' use or solicit club membership at some public park golf courses built with local government budgets, exercising influence over overall operations. Local governments opened these facilities at low usage fees to promote senior welfare and encourage community sports, but at some sites, an outdated practice in which certain groups effectively monopolize the courses keeps recurring.
This controversy is not a new problem. Complaints that specific clubs effectively monopolize public park golf courses or restrict non-members' use have recurred across the country for years. In response, Wonju in Gangwon Province and Andong in North Gyeongsang Province ended contracted operations and switched to direct management starting this year, while Chilgok County in North Gyeongsang Province has directly operated seven park golf courses in the region since last year following a research study and the enactment of related ordinances. Although some local governments have responded by completely overhauling their operating methods, the exclusive operating practices centered on existing members are not easily broken.
The biggest problem is the operating methods that differ from course to course and the inadequate management standards. Many public park golf courses operate on an on-site registration basis rather than an online integrated reservation system, making it easy for a culture centered on existing users to persist. Some local governments have introduced online reservation systems, but they have not been applied to all courses, so the usage method varies from course to course.
Some users who feel burdened by member-centered operations are turning to indoor screen park golf courses. A user in his 60s met at a screen park golf course in Goyang said, "Outdoor courses have a strong atmosphere of being operated around existing users." He added, "I just want to freely enjoy exercise, but I don't want to pay club membership fees reaching hundreds of thousands of won and use the facility while feeling unwelcome, so for now I plan to build up my skills at the screen course."
Local governments are also carrying out guidance to improve member-centered operating practices, but they say changing on-site culture is difficult. An official managing sports facilities said, "Since public facilities are spaces anyone can use, we continuously provide guidance so that club membership solicitation or exclusive operations do not occur." The official added, "However, it is not easy to administratively improve long-established usage practices in a short period."
Experts point out that operating standards need to be more standardized. Jung Jae-hoon, a professor of social welfare at Seoul Women's University and head of the Gyeongbuk Happiness Foundation, said, "If reservation methods and usage standards differ from course to course, a structure in which on-site practices take precedence over the system can recur." He added, "The integrated reservation system should be expanded not to just some courses but to all courses across the local government, so the operating system is improved in a direction that guarantees objective usage opportunities for everyone."
