The golf industry is taking action against Korean brokers for illegally booking tee times at golf courses.
In addition to changing the way tee times are booked, the Los Angeles City Golf Advisory Committee has decided to address the issue.
Following the discovery of illegal activities by Korean brokers, LA City Golf, which operates and manages 12 golf courses in the L.A. area, has altered its reservation policy at the Wilson and Harding golf courses. The organization has moved from having specific set times for reservations to allowing bookings at random hours.
For now, it’s a trial run. Until now, LA-area courses have been opening their tee time booking sites to L.A. City Golf Player Card holders at 6 a.m. nine days prior to the booking date.
“Since the recent controversy, the golf courses have stopped opening their reservation websites at 6 a.m. and are changing the time arbitrarily on a day-to-day basis,” said Joseph Lee, president of the SoCal Dream Golf Club (SDGC). “This makes it difficult for brokers to snatch up tee times because they don’t know when the reservation website will open and have to wait just like regular golfers.”
Since the brokerage scandal, LA City Golf has clarified on its website the illegal usage of tee times.
In the new announcement, LA City Golf prohibits reselling, brokering, or advertising tee times without written consent, prohibits using bots and other programs to make reservations, and is closely reviewing its reservation system.
“We have been made aware of the social media posts regarding the unauthorized activity of booking/reselling tee times. LA City Golf has a strict policy prohibiting the use of any computer program, bot, offline reader, or site search/retrieval application. Violation of this policy will result in the cancellation of tee times and loss of membership,” the golf course stated in the notice.
The L.A. City Golf Advisory Board (Chair Kevin Fitzgerald) is also taking action. The advisory board is meeting on March 18 to address the controversial issue of illegal booking activity by brokers. Some Korean golfers are expected to attend the meeting to voice their opinions on the brokers’ illegal activities.
“In the future, the golf course must check the ID of the booker when checking in for a tee time,” said Youngho Jung, 38, a golfer. “Those who allow brokers to borrow memberships or use brokers should be punished with a ban from the golf course if caught.”
The controversy over illegal bookings by Korean brokers is spreading like wildfire, and mainstream media is also reporting on the issue.
On March 16, LA Times posted an article titled, “Brokers are buying up precious tee times at L.A. city golf courses. Golfers are desperate and outraged.” The article emphasized the narrative and the frustration of golf players regarding the illegal sale of tee times by Korean brokers via KakaoTalk, a messaging application widely used among Koreans.
ABC7 News highlighted the brokers’ activities in a story titled, “Can’t get a tee time at a public golf course in LA? You’re not alone.”
“The odds of getting a tee time at a public golf course in the city of Los Angeles are about the same as getting a hole in one,” ABC7 noted, pointing out that brokers often buy up a large number of bookings and sell them off for a profit.
Meanwhile, the controversy was sparked when Dave Fink, a well-known golf coach and social media influencer in the LA area, released a video showing the reality of illegal activities by Korean brokers. The brokers, who use KakaoTalk and go by names such as “Kim Siljang,” “Jung Kim,” “Tae Siljang,” and “Ted Kim,” are profiting by selling reserved tee times for around $30 to $50.
BY YEOL JANG, JUNHAN PARK [jang.yeol@koreadaily.com, park.junhan@koreadaily.com]
