Screen Golf (스크린 골프)!

One of the great things about being a Native (English) Teacher in Korea, is that you have your weekends off to go out and explore. Sometimes that means staying home in the event of a rainy day. That's what happened today. The rest of the week was fantastic, but for some reason, the heavens opened up this morning and poured tons of little drops on the city of Dongtan.

Thats okay, because I had actually planned on doing something indoors today: Screen Golf (스크린 골프)!

Now what is screen golf? Well the short answer is that it is a golf with a screen. Beginning in the mid 1980s, computer simulators have been used to approximate golf games. In fact, my first love of golf came to be due to the game Mean 18. It was a really cheap golf game, but it gave me and my friend Steve hours of fun.

As the years passed and additional electronics were developed, it became possible to use motion capture equipment with some of the best software to recreate a real golfing experience. In the United States, or for that matter anywhere where golf is easily played, it might seem like some sort of excessive video game. However, in Korea it isnt.

A real round of golf can run you anywhere between W100,000 W200,000 or more. Thats right. A simple round of golf can crack open your wallet for over US$200. The reason is that land is precious here. Korea is roughly the size of Indiana, but with 49,000,000 people. So the use of golfing simulators makes playing the game affordable, since a full round of golf is only W15,000.

Thats right, for less that US$15, you can play 18 holes. Whats even more enjoyable is the environment.

Each Screen Golf Room is private with a few couches and AirCon. You can order off the menu or have something delivered as you play your round (and why not you are going ot be there for a few hours).

So whats it like?

For the most part you have the real golfing experience. In each room are a set of clubs (or you can rent some). You walk up to the tee-box and whack your ball at the screen. The laser motion capturing devices analyze the swing and ball to determine its path and then computer it with the environmental aspects of the computer program. If youve ever played golf on a computer, imagine playing the same game only having to swing a club each turn.

I thought that was the roughest part, as I am anything but consistent.

Putting was also difficult, since I found it really hard to read the green.

But lets face it W15,000 for fours of fun is well worth it. Ill be going back again and again.

Music, by Kevin MacLeod

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Screen
• Golf
• 스크린
• 골프
• ports
• korea
• south
• qiranger
• travel
• computer
• action

[kw021622]

Is this place bundang parkview?

[qiranger]

Nope, over in Dongtan.

[TravMcTavish]

This video had me smiling like an idiot the entire time. Usually that isn't a problem but when you are in an internet cafe then you get a few strange looks. I wonder how often they have to change the screens due to holes.

[qiranger]

;-)

[fehquig]

I have some friends who play computer golf, but they just click their mice... At least you get to swing a real club at a real ball which is much better...

[qiranger]

This is far much more fun!

[avalonkiller]

스크린 not 스끄린

please fix on ur description =]

[Mobbs1]

This reminds me of when I went golfing with my friends, and we were quite slow, and the people behind us were getting irritated by our pace.

So on my turn I said 'ok I'll do this so fast that the ball will catch fire'

so I hit it as hard as I could, and lo and behold, SPARKS came from the ball! within seconds I was on the floor choking in shock and laughter. And the rest of the game was just as great.

are sparks common? or even possible?

I love playing golf!

[cgkitti]

This looks kind of fun...but considering the one time I went to a driving range for a gym class in high school...I could barely hit the ball...it may not work out too well for me, haha. But at least I wouldn't have to do all the walking around and getting sunburnt like what would happen if you go to a real course.

[VirtuallyAddicted]

I've seen those places the odd time when I was in Canada. I'm not sure how popular they are as I am not a golfer and never really checked them out.

[VincentMiser]

I

AM

INNN! ! ! ! ! !!

This is awesome