Playing screen golf in Korea

I'm really no big fan of golf even though at the end of my street back home in England there is a private golf course. In the UK it is seen by many, but not all, as more of an elitist sport/pass time where middle aged rich people go for some fresh air. I dislike the moral high ground that some people who run the game have as if it's some how above other sports and only played by gentlemen. To me, golf the sport makes itself hard for you to like it.



Anyway, when I was growing up I would watch golf on TV and played golf computer games which I really enjoyed. I enjoyed the skill level and decision making and also the feeling you'd get when you improved. I remember vividly playing my brother and beating him so he cheated by winding me up to affect my play, which he did. And since then I have gone off golf a bit. Until yesterday.



I've never played golf properly. Never had anyone show me what to do and never known how hard it really is. Yesterday my wife and I played screen golf here in Korea. We had a great time and will play it again. Korea lacks space and everyone really is crammed in so I doubt there are many actual golf courses, but people here do like it. There are driving ranges dotted around the cities and of course screen golf.



Screen golf is similar to a singing room, or noraebang. There you pay some money, go into a room and are given a large book of songs to pick from and tap the number into a machine and you sing. It's insanely popular. Screen golf works the same way. The room is largely the same size, there is a computer screen image projected at one end and equipment to simulate a game of golf. You whack (if you are like me) the golf ball at the screen and watch the ball fly. It's easy to play but difficult to play well. The room itself was air conditioned, clean and felt welcoming. I wish I could say the same for my classrooms at work!



As we were trying for the first time we only played nine holes. I don't know if the course we played on was tough or easy but I found the game difficult though after a while we both got better. I now have a new appreciation for the people who play golf for a living. After a while my wrist started to hurt because my technique was awful but waking up the next day I felt fine. For nine holes it cost 10,000won each but for the full eighteen it would have been 15,000won each. We'll definitely go back again as it's a fun way to kill a few hours.

Korea and the Winter Olympics

Watching the Winter Olympics has been quite fun. I always enjoy watching top class sport and this competition has been pretty good, what I have had time to see that is. My access to some previous sporting events have been limited here in Korea. At times it has felt that unless it was football then Korean TV only seemed to show sports with Korean athletes - The Beijing Olympics being a case in point where events like archery dominated TV schedules.

This year though things have been different. I've been able to watch ski jumping, hockey, figure skating and even yesterday I watched curling. I'm very happy with this years coverage (SBS has three channels that show events, live or recorded). One dampener is Britain's perennially poor performance, or should it really be regarded as poor? At the time of writing Britain has 1 medal, a gold. That doesn't seem like a lot when you consider over sixty million live there. However Britain has only won nine gold medals in the history of the Winter Olympics, success shouldn't be expected.

I am comparing Britain with Korea, but lets be honest, Britain is cold but it is not a snowy place (normally). We have no big mountains and the Winter Olympics are a mere fascination. Winter events like skiing and skating are viewed as middle class pass times, not even real sports. The preserve of the rich - this is perhaps not so in Korea. As of today, Korea has nine medals including four golds and are almost certain to add to that. What a great achievement. Certainly Korea feels like it's punching above it's weight. It's good to see Korea doing well.

Watching some short track speed skating over the weekend Korea got a gold and a silver in one race. My wife was so happy to see her country doing well. Despite all this, my students still continue to show little interest in things unless Korea wins and rather than enjoying their wins took more satisfaction when Apollo Ohno didn't win something (Korea hates the skater Ohno). I hope one day they begin to appreciate it's the taking part that counts and enjoy watching the competition without rabid nationalism and enjoy the excellence, wherever it comes from.