If you want to improve your golf game, you really need to take lessons! There are many types of lessons available at many different prices ranges available in Korea. The good news is that golf is so popular in Korea that there are golf ranges (screen, outdoor, etc.) all over the country and all of them have golf pros ready to give you lessons.
If you are just starting out, I highly recommend that you take lessons. There is nothing worse than trying to figure out a golf swing on your own as a beginner. And even if you have a friend, spouse, etc. who can show you the basics, unless that person is a golf pro, I would say that more often than not you will likely get some bad habits ingrained if you don’t take some real lessons.
Even though each person should eventually come up with his/her own golf swing, there are some basics and fundamentals that are key to success for most people so it’s good to learn these first before you come up with your own comfortable swing that’s right for you, your body type, your level of flexibility, etc.
Pros
There are generally 2 types of pros that are available for instruction. The most prevalent is a “teaching pro” which is basically a person who is a member of the KPGA/KLPGA as a teaching pro. At your typical neighborhood golf practice facility, these are the pros that will likely teach there. They may have had aspirations at some point to be on tour but simply was not good enough to make cuts, etc. Instead at some point they have transitioned to being a pro that does not compete on any tour but simply teaches. They may even teach pros who are on tour. But the main difference is that they don’t actually compete on tour. Being on tv playing out on a course with celebrities does not count as being a tour pro.
Tour pros are those who actually do compete on tour. They may compete on the KPGA/KLPGA tour but many times those who give lessons are those who compete on feeder tours such as the Jump Tour, etc. These are all tours for aspiring tour pros who want to someday move up to the KPGA/KLPGA tour. These player are still very good but the purses at these feeder tours are typically not very high. These players are also usually not sponsored (or if they are, they aren’t paid much…sometimes they aren’t paid anything other than given clothing to wear, etc.). Since most of these players need to pay out of pocket to play in tournaments, they teach in order to make some money. These tours typically only play for 2 days (maybe 3) and during the week (since the courses don’t want to shut down on the lucrative weekend) so since these pros are juggling their tour as well as lessons their availability can be somewhat limited.
There are also former tour pros who have retired and are now teaching pros. These pros can be extremely expensive since they actually have real top tour experience.
In general, tour pros are going to be more expensive than teaching pros (of course there are many exceptions though). Some practice facilities have both teaching pros and tour pros.
Location
I recommend taking lessons at a facility from a teaching pro that is close to you….close to your home or your workplace. Having to drive 30 or 60 minutes to go to a golf lesson can be such a hassle that it makes it easy to just quit. Golf is frustrating enough and you will likely want to quit at some point early on so at least find a pro that is convenient to access and very close to you (preferably walking distance).
At this point there is no reason to seek out a famous golf pro, etc. Just your neighborhood pro is going to fine for a beginner.
Screen vs. Outdoors?
To start, I generally recommend screen. Screen will show stats and swing information that can be used by your coach to help guide you. Early on you are just trying to make clean contact so there’s really no need for anything fancy.
In addition, screen protects you from the elements so you’ll be in a nice air conditioned area in the summer and heated place in the winter. The outdoor ranges are hot, cold, rainy, etc. Of course you should practice at outdoor ranges from time to time so that you can see the actual projection of your ball, etc. Screen technology is pretty good but it’s not perfect so while you may swing pretty well on the screen you may find that you’re actually slicing or hooking in real life, etc.
The best places are outdoor but also have a trackman installed so you can see swing and ball contact information in addition to real life trajectory of the ball. But as a beginner, this is probably not necessary.
1:1 vs Group?
I recommend private 1:1 lessons for 25 minutes 2 or 3 times/wk to get started. This ensures that the pro will focus on you and watch you and you also have some time between lessons to practice a bit on your own. I’ve seen private 1:1 lessons for as cheap as around 30k krw for 15 minutes to about 100k for a 50 minute lesson. Of course it can go much higher than this if you want to go to a famous pro, etc. but this price range is generally fine for a beginner.
There are also group lessons available for beginners as well and these can be a good option since they are cheaper. Since it’s a group, you can usually get to know some of the others in the group as well and many times these groups can become friends. Groups are typically arranged by age group so beginners and first timers under 30, 30-40, 40+, etc. Group lessons are not common though so it will take some googling (or navering?) to find these types of programs. These programs tend to be something like 3x/wk for 6 weeks, etc.
Famous Pros
There are famous teaching/tour pros that are on Korean TV, youtube, etc. and you can usually seek them out for lessons as well. Some are pretty much impossible to book even if you are willing to pay them (guys like Lim Jin Han, Duk Ho (Doug) Koh, Byung Gwan Nah, Jae Hee Bae, Na Yeon Choi, etc.). A typical youtube golf pro that isn’t super famous will still be much more expensive than your neighborhood pro though and it’s not uncommon for them to charge 200k or 300k for a 50 minute lesson. Some of the top famous guys even charge 1m krw for a 50 minute lesson (and even so, you can’t get a lesson)! And while sometimes these pros will do a “one point” lesson which is just a single lesson, many times they want you to commit to a minimum of 5 lessons or 10 lessons as a package. However, before committing to a package, they will sometimes allow you to do a single lessons just to see if you are a good fit.
Many times these pros will have their own school but golf touring pros usually will rent a room at a private golf studio so you will also need to pay a 30k (usually) room fee to book the room for an hour.
Field Lessons
Golf pros will also do a “field lesson” on the weekend or their day off. This basically means that you hire the golf pro to go to an actual round with you out on the course for a lesson. These are expensive since the golf pro will spend pretty much the entire day with you. Usually they start around are 2 or 3m KRW. You can split the cost with others in your group though if you’d like and the pro will give lessons to multiple players.
You are responsible for paying all of the associated fees for the pro though so green fees, cart fees, caddie fees, etc. The golf pro gets paid on top of all of this.
Sometime the pro will play alongside you but sometimes the pro doesn’t play but just gives lessons. This is usually a better option because Korean golf needs to be played quickly so the caddie will be unhappy if the pro is slowing down play by teaching while you play. But if the pro doesn’t play, that leaves a little bit of time for instruction, etc. Of course you will still need to pay for the pro though even if he/she doesn’t play.
I don’t recommend field lessons simply because they are too expensive. I suppose if you reach a point in your game where you’re great in practice but terrible out on the course and you need some course strategy tips and playing off various lies, etc. then it can help but at this price, I would say this is only for really serious golfers.
Golf Camps
Golf camps are typically held overseas in places like Thailand, Philippines, etc. There will usually be 3 golf pros or so and they will take on a group of around 12 students for 3 or 4 days at this location. The pricing is usually not too bad (~3m krw or so) and includes airfare, hotel, golf, etc. The only things it usually doesn’t include are caddie tips, a few of the meals where you’re out on your own, etc.
These camps are a great way once you are an advanced beginner to get some good focused practice and field time in. They are run by many companies (so you can do some naver searches) but I like the ones run by a company called “Field Mentor” and “Kim Hyung Geun Golf Academy” as both seem pretty good.
There are a few local Korean golf camps but these tend to be pretty rare. They are almost always during the week if it’s goes for 2 or 3 days and if it’s a weekend camp there may be one on a Saturday or Sunday but it will be one day only with no lodging.
I have attended a 1 day camp in Korea before during covid and it was actually a lot of fun. It started with an hour at the range, then an hour at the putting green, then an hour for short game (chipping, pitching, bunkers, etc.), lunch, and then 9 holes out on the course with a tour pro.
My Lesson Experience
I have taken quite a number of lessons from various golf pros in Korea during 2020-present (2023) including:
Neighborhood GDR: a GDR opened up next to my building at home so I walked in when I first wanted to learn how to play golf. They had a special promotion so I paid 1.65m KRW for 6 months of station usage and around 30 lessons (25 min each). I didn’t really see the fun of golf and quit golf after about 3 months because I was frustrated. Golf pro was good but towards the end, I was only going there for lessons and I never practiced between lessons. I would even typically just leave after the lesson rather than practice. I kinda hated golf. I was constantly slicing my driver and couldn’t fit the slice for the life of me.
Optimum Sports Club: this is also in my neighborhood but it’s an outdoor range. After taking 6 months off after GDR, I decided to try again but wanted the outdoor range so see my ball trajectory, etc. I took 8 lessons from a golf pro. I paid 1m KRW for 5 months of practice station usage and the 8 lessons. My goal was to fix my driver slice but 8 lessons later I was still slicing like crazy.
Good Shot Kim Pro: this is a guy on Youtube. He had lessons available down in Pangyo so I drove down there once for a “one point” lesson. It cost me 150k for the lesson + 30k room rental. The lesson was pretty good and he was really trying to get me to swing much more in to out (towards the 1:00 position on the follow through).
Hyung Gyung Yoo: This teaching pro was recommended by a friend at work. However, his location was a little far since it was over at The Plaza in Sinsa. This is a great golf practice room facility and the pro charged 120k for the lesson + 30k for the room rental. There was also like a 5k valet parking fee which was slightly annoying. The pro was pretty good but since it took over 30 minutes to drive there in traffic, I just didn’t want to keep having to go back there.
Young June Kwon: This teaching pro was a really old school guy. I found him on a Korean mobile app called “soom-go” which I think is an app to find people (golf pros, house cleaners, etc.). Anyway, he had some good reviews and he was pretty cheap. The lesson was 60k and it was 10k to rent the room at the facility. The room was a private room but it was really old…like the facility looked like it was a good 20-30 years old. I had never been in such a run down facility before. But the golf pro explained that he teaches there because it’s cheap (only 10k for the student). He taught pretty well actually so I went back and got a follow up lesson as well. So 2 lessons total from this guy. His main focus was on my left hand and left arm and his theory was to use centripetal force and minimize the use of your right arm in the golf swing.
Angela Yang: She is a tour pro and speaking English so that was great. She competes on tour so she has a busy schedule. I had 6 lessons with her. First I started with a single lesson. It was at the Plaza in Samseong-dong so much closer to me than Sinsa-dong. At the time I paid 120k for the 50 minute lesson and 30k for the room rental for each lesson. She was really good and helped shorten by backswing. I was still slicing my driver a lot though. Eventually she got really busy with her tour and promotion schedule so we stopped the lessons.
UDR Jamsil: This is where I currently take lessons and I’ve been here for a little over a year. The head pro is a guy named Minsuk Park and he’s pretty good. His teaching emphasizes things like the kinematic sequence, firm right hand grip and firm right arm to ensure minimal face movement on impact, and a little more arms in your swing than most other instructors. He also focuses a lot on “drop and turn” so you drop you arms and then turn on the downswing. There is another instructor named Dongwook Kim who is also pretty good. Other that that, the other instructors kind of come and go every few months or so but they all seem pretty good. This is a nice place if you want to try out a different instructor from time to time. I also like their concept of short 15 minute lessons which is great for my current level of play. I like to warm up for 15 minutes, then take a 15 minute lesson, and then spend in the last 30 minutes working on stuff from the lesson. Pricing can vary depending on # of lessons per week, etc. but I pay about 4m KRW annually for 140 lessons and 240 station rentals. I also have access to the facility 24/7 in case I want to go practice when they are closed. I think I’ll continue to take lessons here for awhile.