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 Technology News | June 2008 
Virtual-Reality Golf is a Winner in South Korea
 Choe Sang-Hun - International Herald Tribune
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| | In South Korea, where golf courses are expensive and overbooked, virtual-reality golf has become a fast-growing pastime for Koreans, almost as commonplace as pool tables and dartboards in bars. | | |
Seoul, South Korea - As dusk falls, a restaurant-lined lane in Seoul's Mapo district fills up with customers, many from the nearby Obelisk office towers. For Kwon Sung Woon, it's time to switch on the tall illuminated advertising column outside his shop to attract patrons.
Inside his establishment, men take off their neckties and play 18-hole rounds of golf, swinging real clubs at Pebble Beach in California, St. Andrews in Scotland and other famed courses around the world - except that it is all computer-simulated. They hit their balls into 4-meter-by-3 meter, or about 13-feet-by-10 feet, plastic screens showing projections of virtual-reality fairways.
"In our country, there are too many golfers for too few golf courses," said Kim Young Woo, 46, who recently played an 18-hole round with two friends at Kwon's Pastel Screen Golf. "This is a cheap and time-saving alternative for people like us who can't play real golf often enough."
Kwon, 43, a former computer engineer, opened his golf café three months ago, shelling out 140 million won, or about $135,000, to install four golf simulators. Since then, six competitors have moved into his neighborhood alone. Still, Kwon has no trouble filling his four rooms with customers, seven days a week, from 9 a.m. until well past midnight.
Couples on a date, homemakers from the nearby apartment blocks, office workers from Obelisk and other commercial buildings in the district - all tee off at a panoramic driving range while munching fried chicken and quaffing beer in air-conditioned privacy.
"Six p.m. to midnight is the peak. But some patrons play until 5 a.m. This is quite addictive," Kwon said. "But it's also good exercise, because you swing real clubs and hit real balls. Here you can play your golf anytime, rain or snow, day or night."
The serious golfers bring their own clubs and shoes, but many patrons would not know a sand wedge from a 3-iron, much less have a membership at a country club. They use the clubs that are provided free by the café.
Simulated golf has been around for years, in Europe and the United States, mainly as a teaching aid at golf clinics, or on cruise ships where passengers are no longer allowed to hit balls into the ocean. But in South Korea, where golf courses are expensive and overbooked, virtual-reality golf has become a fast-growing pastime for Koreans, almost as commonplace as pool tables and dartboards in bars.
The number of golf cafés in South Korea - with each place typically having 3 to 10 simulation rooms - has grown from fewer than 300 in 2003 to 2,500 last year.
Seven out of every 10 golf simulators sold globally are installed in South Korea, according to industry officials here.
Each day, an estimated 200,000 people play virtual-reality golf in South Korea, six times as many as play at real courses, the officials estimate. In this highly wired country, where professional leagues of online video games attract throngs of teenage fans, middle-aged people compete in simulated golf championships thanks to the online network connecting the golf cafés.
"It's picture perfect, down to every tree," Kim Ae Hee, a 42-year-old homemaker, said of the 50 simulated courses she can choose from with a few mouse clicks.
On the screen, clouds roll by in high definition. Tree branches sway in a virtual breeze. "Birds" twitter. The ball drops into a hazard creating virtual ripples, or swishes through tree leaves, or rolls into a hole with a jingle while spectators cheer.
On a recent Sunday at Kasco Golf Club, a six-screen golf café in western Seoul, Kim and her husband selected their favorite course - Sun Hill Country Club, north of Seoul - and set the weather and wind conditions for an 18-hole game.
Kim placed a ball on a tee and hit it with her driver. The ball thudded against the wall-sized screen several feet away and dropped to the floor, and then the computer took over, analyzing the club speed and the ball's launch angle, speed and spin with infrared sensors. Immediately the ball's trajectory appeared across the fairway in a thin white line, while the screen zoomed in, giving her a sensation of flying with the ball over the fairway.
Her drive flew 130 meters and rolled about 9 more - 152 yards overall. Her husband, Choi Hong Ick, who sat on a sofa holding a fried chicken leg and a beer, shouted, "Nice shot!"
The screen recalibrated to show Kim the view from her ball's new position, with the flag in the distance. As she considered her next shot, the computer tilted the swing mat to replicate the incline and advised which club to use. Later it also helped her visualize her putt; virtual drops of water crawled across the screen to indicate how the green patch sloped.
"It helps you play a better game on the actual course," Choi said. "We come here once a week."
In the next room, cheers went up. Lee Jong Hwa, a 45-year-old garment importer who began playing golf only six months ago, had just scored his first hole in one. His prize: a coupon allowing him to use the café five times for free.
"Before screen golf, we used to go out drinking in the evening. This is a much healthier way of socializing," said Lee's colleague, Kim Sung Ho. "On real courses, I average 12 over par. On the screen, I am much better, at 2 to 3 over par. But my score varies widely depending on which version of simulator I play."
Simulator producers organize virtual-reality tournaments, with money, cars or tickets to play at a real golf tournament as prizes. Thousands participate. Those who make it to the final round compete at the same café, with invited professional golfers, and cable channels broadcast their matches.
"One day, we want to host a global simulated-golf championship," said Lim Won June, marketing manager at Golfzon, South Korea's leading maker of golf simulators.
Golf has a mixed reputation in South Korea. It is seen by some as a sport for the wealthy that provides venues for corrupt deals between politicians and businessmen. The government levies steep taxes on golf and once banned public servants from the fairways. In 2006, Prime Minister Lee Hae Chan was forced to resign when it was discovered that he played golf with businessmen while the government was struggling with a railroad strike.
Still, the introduction of a five-day work week in 2004 has only boosted the sport's popularity. Some 3.5 million players jostle to play at the country's 260 courses, despite the average cost of 300,000 won, or $290, for 18 holes.
Paying greens fees is a favorite bribe in South Korea, as is booking a round at a top country club on weekends. Golf buffs soothe their frustrations at indoor driving ranges or take overseas golf vacations.
Against this backdrop, golf cafés, which charge only $20 to $35 a person for an 18-hole game, fill an important need, said Kang Sun Mi, of VR Field, another leading simulator manufacturer.
"Screen golf has become a kind of arcade game for Korean adults," she said.
Kwon, the golf café owner, doubts that simulated golf will replace the real thing. Many of his patrons are seeking a virtual-reality exercise on the course they plan to play the next day. "There's no substitute for real grass and fresh outdoor air," he said.
Still, virtual golf has its merits. "You can't cheat on your score, because you can't cheat the computer," Kwon said. "And you don't have to go looking for your ball." |
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