Gyeonggi Province is a Golf Destination: 35% of National Golf Courses Concentrated Here

More than three out of every ten golf courses in South Korea are concentrated in Gyeonggi Province.

According to the province on the 27th, there are currently 113 golf courses (2,214 holes) covering 120.7 square kilometers in the province, which accounts for 1.2% of Gyeonggi Province's total area of 10,183 square kilometers. The annual number of visitors to these courses is estimated at 7.9 million.

With 323 golf courses nationwide, this means 35% of the nation's golf courses are concentrated in Gyeonggi Province.

By region, Yongin City has 26 golf courses (585 holes) concentrated within it, occupying 31.7 square kilometers, or 5.4% of the city's total area of 591.5 square kilometers.

Yeoju, which has 17 golf courses (333 holes), has 16.0 square kilometers, or 2.8% of the city's total area of 607.9 square kilometers, dedicated to golf courses. Gwangju has 1.8 square kilometers (2.5%) out of 431.8 square kilometers, Gunpo has 0.9 square kilometers (2.4%) out of 36.4 square kilometers, and Hanam has 1.8 square kilometers (1.9%) out of 93.1 square kilometers.

Related to this, Yeoju County Governor Lee Ki-su announced a policy in August prohibiting the construction of new golf courses due to direct and indirect environmental damage including high-toxicity pesticide use, stormwater discharge, and groundwater contamination caused by golf course construction.

In fact, cases of environmental pollution continue to emerge, such as the detection of 'endosulfan,' a highly toxic pesticide, at four golf courses in the Paldang water source area this year, resulting in administrative penalties.

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province recently stated in its 'Metropolitan Regulation Damage Cases Collection (I)' that two golf course construction projects in the province have not obtained permits under the Military Facilities Protection Act, indicating that metropolitan regulations are blocking golf course construction, while expressing its intention to develop more courses.