Tee Time: 9:54am
Players: Eric, Youngjune, Suk Hwan
This was my last golf outing of 2020. I was a bit hesitant on whether to go or not since it’s winter and there is snow on the ground. It was also pretty cold.
My work colleague Eric said that Koreans play golf all year round so winter golf is something I should get used to. So I went out and bought some winter golf gear. This included golf boots (so basically like winter boots but they have non metal spikes on them like golf shoes), winter golf gloves (so basically like regular golf gloves but the inside has faux fur), etc.
Winter golf was interesting. There was some snow on the ground mostly in the shaded areas. To drive, there are tees (the kind that look like a tripod and just sit on the ground) at every hole and the tees are connected to a heavy wooden block so the tee won’t get lost. You can’t use normal tees because the ground is frozen. If your ball falls in the snow, you just grab it and toss it over to an area without snow and hit from there. Bunkers are all frozen so if your ball falls in a bunker, you just grab it and toss it out. Greens are frozen so it’s not uncommon to see your ball bounce 20 feet into the air if you land on the green from afar (e.g. second shot on a par 4). The carts have heaters. Obviously you need to use colored balls only.
The rules are fairly lax so if you’re used to a serious strict game of golf, then winter golf in Korea is probably not for you. But if you just want to go out and hit some balls it’s probably fine. You also hit with a jacket on so your score may be better or worse than normal.
