Korean brokers have been criticized for illegally booking tee times at Southern California golf courses and reselling them for profit.
Recently, a popular golf influencer has been making waves in the golf industry after posting a series of videos directly calling out Koreans for illegal booking.
Dave Fink, a famous golf coach and social media influencer, posted a video on March 3, showing how Korean brokers are using computer programs known as “bots” to buy up tee times at popular golf courses in the Los Angeles area.
In the video, Dave Fink detailed the activities of the illegal Korean brokers and provided evidence of their activities. The video includes evidence of real names such as “Ted Kim,” as well as phone numbers for online money transfers and pre-empted tee times.
The video also shows a KakaoTalk messenger where Koreans exchange information about tee time reservations, and says, “(Illegal booking by Koreans) is not a rumor. It’s real.”
On March 5, he also released a video of a call he made with an actual Korean broker.
In the video, Dave tells the broker, “You’re stealing tee times. And then you’re reselling them to people,” pointing out that it’s an illegal activity.
The broker realized he was being filmed and said, “I’m only charging about $7 per person, which is a cheap price,” and that “I don’t use ‘bot,’ I’m making the reservations using my fingers.”
There are currently about 10 Korean brokers in Southern California. Their activities have been recognized as a serious problem among golfers.
The brokers book a large number of tee times in advance at golf courses frequented by Koreans, and when golfers inquire via KakaoTalk chat, they ask for a commission in addition to the green fee. The amount of money ranges from about $30 to $50 per tee time.
Currently, there are more than 10 KakaoTalk chat rooms operated by illegal brokers in Southern California. On March 6, the Korea Daily joined one of them, ‘LA-OC Area Golf Room’. In this room, tee times were reserved in advance for members and actual booking transactions were taking place. I identified myself as a journalist and tried to connect with the operator by phone, but was quickly removed.
The problem is that there are many Korean golfers who use Korean brokers. This raises concerns that Koreans are now perceived by the mainstream golf community as the main players in illegal activities.
“I was at a golf course the other day where some American golfers asked me if I was ‘Korean,'” said Jason Shin, a golfer in his 30s, “and I felt so embarrassed as a Korean-American because they asked me if I was using a broker to book a weekend tee time.”
On Reddit, a popular online community, there are also many posts from other golfers complaining about the activities of Korean brokers and their behavior when booking tee times.
Some of the posts include, “The brokers will book tee times under random korean names and will coordinate the booking information with the booker(FitAmoeba3972),” It’s a service called bot-it. I live in LA and this is why it’s near impossible to play Rancho or Wilson/Harding (CT-Harvey),” “So infuriating that courses won’t verify ID matches the reservation. You shouldn’t be able to play if they don’t match up (KaptainKool),” and “Be Korean (uunngghh).
“Illegal activities by Korean brokers are a very serious problem in the golf industry,” said Joseph Lee, president of the SoCal Dream Golf Club, “and it’s also a problem that’s hurting the image of Korean golfers, so if we want to stop them, we shouldn’t even use them.”
Golf.com, a popular online golf publication, also recently reported on the problem of illegal tee time bookings using “bots” at LA area golf courses.
Rick Reinschmidt, Golf Supervisor of the Los Angeles City Golf Course, which manages many golf courses in the Los Angeles area, told the Korea Daily, “We are aware of the suspicion that bots are used to make reservations.” “If there is evidence of bots being used to obtain favorable tee times, we will definitely address it,” he said.
BY YEOL JANG, JUNHAN PARK [jang.yeol@koreadaily.com]
