Is Korea the new driver of golf?

The head of Sports Marketing Surveys for Asia, Eric Lynge, writes in a recent column that Korea will be “the next driver in global golf.” For one thing, the rise in domestic demand is “hard to miss.” Golf has become prominent in fashion and advertising. In addition to the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, DP World Tour, Asian Tour, KLPGA Tour and KGT Tour Golf, television is airing golf dramas and variety shows with K-Pop stars and other celebrities. The selection of equipment on sale has expanded to include niche European and Asian brands.

On the corporate side, acquisitions of golf courses have surged. An 18-hole public course near Seoul recently sold for $160 million, or about $9 million per hole. New courses used to provide a return on investment within five years, writes Lynge, but that changed in 2008 when membership prices slumped. Clubs that restructured to go public back then are now enjoying “a renewed speculative membership market.” Course prices and green fees are both up, and Korean companies are buying golf clubs and resorts abroad.

Certain traveling Korean golfers have been providing substantial revenues to clubs throughout Southeast Asia and even leasing whole courses for the winter in places like Thailand and the Philippines.

Lynge sees Golfzon, a producer of golf simulators, as a “harbinger” of “robust domestic golf-related consumer businesses” that are now expanding abroad.

Back in 2011, the Korean firms Fila Korea and Mirae Asset Private Equity acquired Acushnet, owner of Titleist and FootJoy. In 2021 the Korean private equity firm Centroid Investment Partners acquired TaylorMade Golf in 2021. Lynge expects more acquisitions to follow.