It refers to Jeju Island, which has many winds, women, and rocks. Now, the male to female ratio is similar, and the meaning has faded as many stones have disappeared due to the development boom. The bitter wind is at least protecting my pride.
The Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour ‘Golf Zone Open in Jeju’, which ended on the 25th, ended with amateur Jo Woo-young winning. Throughout the tournament, the ‘Wind’ of Geokgut tormented the players. Jo Woo-young is the main character of ‘probably a blast’ that blew away all the wind and professional seniors.
The organizers created a ‘necessary wind’ in the men’s golf world. This competition was created this year. After the opening match like usual, the tour was filled. In November, another tournament will be held with Golfzon participating as a sponsor. Golfzon is the only sponsor sponsoring multiple competitions this season.
MBC’s now abolished entertainment program ‘Infinite Challenge’ started out as a pilot program called ‘Reckless Challenge’, but eventually became a ‘big hit’. Golfzon investing in the barren men’s golf market can also be seen as a ‘reckless challenge’. However, if you look at the footsteps of Golfzon, more precisely Kim Young-chan, chairman of Golfzon New Dean Group, it can become like ‘Infinite Challenge’.
Chairman Kim Young-chan’s ‘Golf Zone Chronicles’ is at the level of a ‘daeha drama’ that will not end even if it fills a full week. Even if only ‘extract’ is taken out, it is close to a ‘long novel’. So, I try to organize it around important events (?), excluding numbers and personal opinions as much as possible. If you’re bored, you can boldly press ‘Backspace’.
◆”Expand field to screen and back to field!”
In 2000, Chairman Kim, who retired from Samsung Electronics, founded Golfzon with five employees. He challenged himself with four ‘keywords’ that he liked and could do well: ‘Internet’, ‘Information Communication’, ‘Network’ and ‘Golf’.
The original goal was to develop a practice device to experience the course before leaving the field, midway between field golf and the driving range. The first thing I thought was that I could spend a stable old age if I sold only 1 or 2 units to driving ranges across the country. However, thanks to the development in line with the Internet craze, a lot of word of mouth spread, and he transformed into a famous screen golf entrepreneur in 5 years of entrepreneurship.
Sales, which were only 1 billion won in the first year of establishment, exceeded 100 billion won in 2008, and exceeded 400 billion won in 2014 after being listed on the KOSDAQ. After part of the business division in 2015, the increase in sales decreased, but it still grew to 615.7 billion won last year.
Chairman Kim was very interested in fostering young golfers. He regards golf as the fate of a company as a business, and he built a dedicated driving range ‘Joy Maru’ in Daejeon. Here he runs the Golf Zone Elite Academy. Facilities and coaches are provided, and scholarships are given according to prize-winning grades. Jang Yu-bin, who will participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games (opening in September) as a national team along with Cho Woo-young, developed her skills at the Golfzon Elite Academy for 7 years. Kim Seong-hyun, who is active on the PGA Tour, and Kim Han-byeol, who won 3 wins on the Korean Tour, are also sponsored by Golfzon.
The world’s first simulated professional golf tour ‘GTOUR’ was established in 2012. General tournaments have a total prize money of 70 to 80 million won, and major tournaments cost 100 million to 150 million won. This is equivalent to the prize money of the KPGA 2nd division tour. The total prize money last year was 1.2 billion won (15 competitions), and this year it has grown to 1.3 billion won (16 competitions). The total accumulated prize money has already exceeded 13 billion won. The number of players signing sponsorship contracts is also increasing.
Chairman Kim also entered the field golf and golf distribution business. Golfzon County is a golf course specialist with the largest number of holes in Korea. Golfzon Commerce, a company specializing in distribution of golf goods, operates Golfzon Market stores in 109 branches across the country, and differentiates itself with the fitting center ‘Trufit’, which offers personalized clubs, and ‘Golfzon Market Neighborhood’, a used club specialty store. is providing a service.
Since then, Chairman Kim has turned his attention to domestic men’s golf. It is in the same context as generously supporting underprivileged neighbors and artists. Just as it contributed to the popularization of golf and the expansion of the golf population through screen golf tours, it is pushing ahead with the development of professional men’s competitions and the development of the golf industry in mind.
In 2018, he made the final round of the Korean Tour, the ‘Golf Zone DYB Education Tour Championship’. Prior to that, he signed an official sponsorship for the Korean Tour ‘Deok Chun Award (lowest stroke award)’. As the Corona 19 pandemic subsided, he participated as the title sponsor of the ‘Golf Zone-Toray Open’ last year. This year, ‘Golf Zone Open in Jeju’ was newly established and participated as a sponsor of two competitions. An official from Golfzon hinted, “The number of tournaments may increase further.”
Chairman Kim often talks about setting up a screen golf room with a tent in the early days of his business. The move was also a truck, not a fancy sedan. As a result of overcoming the days of not being able to eat even ‘tear-soaked bread’ with technology and ideas, it has now become the best golf-related company in Korea. It has also entered 64 countries abroad. On the 12th, he was ranked first in the golf world’s ‘2022 Asia’s Most Influential Person’.
Golfzon and Chairman Kim Young-chan are running hard from a new sports culture called screen golf to field golf. “He always has a plan, and he usually succeeds.” 먹튀검증