Individual: 2 events (1 men’s, 1 women’s)

Team: 2 events (1 men’s, 1 women’s)
72 holes – stroke play

72-hole stroke play over 4 consecutive days with 18 holes played each day

Players or teams that are tied after the regulation 72 holes play extra holes in a sudden death playoff

※ Golf is a sport in which the winner is determined by the number of strokes taken to hit a ball into a series of holes with various types of clubs on an expansive golf course.

Golf is a very traditional sport, the very first written record of which is the 1457 ‘golf ban decree’ by James II of Scotland. The game is said to have originated in the mid-13^th century, when shepherds in Scotland passed the time by using their staffs to hit stones into rabbit holes in the pastures. This developed into a game when shepherds started to place bets on how many strokes it would take to hit a stone into a hole. Early golf courses were not standardized in terms of area or the number of holes, so the number of holes could range anywhere from 27 to 72 holes. In 1764, St. Andrews in Scotland became the first golf course with 18 holes, and this became the model for modern-day golf courses. It was from this point on that scores were used as a record of golf skills. Golf was introduced in Korea in 1897 in the port city of Wonsan, Hamgyeongnam-do, and the first game was played in about 1900 on a 6-hole golf course created on the side of Mt. Yumok within the customs area of the Port of Wonsan by British workers employed by the Korean government to manage the port’s customs operations. By 1913, more golf courses had been developed for exclusive use by foreigners in the foreigner’s village on Galma Peninsula close to Wonsan and in the port of Gumi in Hwanghaenam-do. Records indicate that the size of theses courses was not known, as they were completely fenced in and were inaccessible to Koreans or Japanese. Prince Yeong of the Korean Empire is noted in the history of golf in Korea as having started to play golf in Japan with his wife from 1924 and sometimes playing the game while visiting Seoul.

In 1921, the Joseon Railroad Administration built a 9-hole golf course designed by Dant of the USA on what is now Hyochang Park. With the designation of this location as a park in 1923, however, this course was closed and rebuilt as an 18-hole course in Cheongnyangni, at the center of the royal family’s forest. With the development of this course, Korea’s first golf club was established under the name of ‘Gyeongseong Golf Club’.

Korea joined the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation in April 1964 and launched the Korea Golf Association (KGA) in September of the same year with Park Du-byeong as its inaugural president. In May 1966, Korea joined the International Golf Federation (IGF) and then joined the World Amateur Golf Council (WAGC) in October 1968. In February 1982, KGA became an associate member of the Korea Sports Council, and it has been a full member since February 1986.

– Hwasun Mudeungsan GC