Reservation systems vary by local government
Many still rely on phone and in-person sign-ups
“Operate quota systems to accommodate seniors”
Many still rely on phone and in-person sign-ups
“Operate quota systems to accommodate seniors”
Park, a 61-year-old resident of Incheon, wages a weekly “park golf booking war” every Monday at 2 p.m. He logs onto the Incheon Facilities Corporation’s unified reservation site just before bookings open for the course near his home and waits. When the slots go live, he often loses out by mere seconds. “Even if I see an empty course while I’m passing by, I can’t use it without a prior reservation,” Park says. “Booking time to exercise feels as impossible as getting tickets to a chart-topping concert.” On April 24, industry sources said the number of people playing park golf has exploded while the number of courses remains limited, making reservations nearly impossible.
With the season in full swing, crowds are only growing. In areas that adopted online booking, openings routinely vanish within minutes in a frenzied click race. A park golf player in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul, says, “These days it’s hard to snag a round unless my children or grandchildren book for me. I feel guilty asking, but without a proxy booking, it’s nearly impossible to secure a spot.”
Across the country, reservations for park golf courses are handled online, by phone, or on a first-come, first-served basis at the site. Some local governments operate their own systems, but many facilities still rely on phone or in-person sign-ups or outsource bookings to private operators. There’s no unified reservation system at the national or metropolitan level.
Because each municipality uses different booking methods and platforms, even courses in less crowded areas can be hard to reserve. If players want to enjoy an away round outside their hometown, they often have to create separate accounts for each region. Booking rules and usage standards vary widely: some places require real-name verification or membership tiers, while others only accept first-come, first-served registrations.
Experts say building an integrated platform at the metropolitan or national level to link the different local booking systems is urgent. They also call for standardizing reservation procedures and connecting data across systems. Shin Bong-tae, managing professor at Dongguk University’s Graduate School of Police and Judicial Studies, says, “Some regions operate metropolitan reservation systems, but they usually don’t include every facility. In some cases, district urban management corporations run separate systems, so users have to hunt through multiple channels to find how to book.” He added, “Because immediately merging all nationwide data has physical limits, a practical alternative is to build a metropolitan integrated booking network by interlinking the reservation systems already run by local governments.”
At the same time, officials need to consider seniors who struggle with digital devices. Observers recommend running a quota system that reserves a certain percentage of slots for phone or on-site registration rather than online-only. An industry official said, “We need complementary measures for seniors with limited digital access. Offline support—like kiosk training and dedicated staff to help—should be strengthened alongside digital systems.”
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