₩241,550 for a Saturday: what a round of golf really costs in Korea
Green fee, cart and caddie add up to about $180 per person at a public course on a weekend. Here is where the money goes, and why the bill looks different from the one you are used to.
Ask a visiting golfer what surprised them most about playing in Korea and the answer is rarely the course. It is the bill.
A weekend round at a public (daejungje) 18-hole course costs about ₩241,550 per person, roughly $180, in the quieter late-summer months, and about ₩275,000 at the May peak, before food, drinks and the drive out of Seoul. The figure comes from three line items that every Korean golfer knows by heart.
The three lines on the receipt
| Item | Per person | How it is charged |
|---|---|---|
| Green fee (weekend) | ₩179,800 | National public-course average, August 2026 (May peak: ₩213,800) |
| Cart | ₩25,000 | ₩100,000 per cart, split by four |
| Caddie | ₩36,750 | ₩147,000 per group, split by four |
| Total | ₩241,550 | ≈ $180 |
Two of these lines would be unfamiliar at a municipal course in the United States or Australia.
The caddie is not optional. Most Korean courses still require a caddie for every group of four. One caddie drives the cart, reads greens, rakes bunkers and keeps the group on pace. The fee is set by the course, paid in cash or added to the bill, and split among the players. A no-caddie option exists at a growing number of courses, but it remains the exception, and it usually comes with restrictions on tee times.
The cart is charged per cart, not per rider. Walking is rarely allowed. Courses are built on hillsides, holes are far apart, and the business model assumes a cart on every hole.
Weekday versus weekend
The same August survey puts the weekday green fee at ₩133,400. That ₩46,400 gap is the single biggest lever a visitor has. Tee times on a Tuesday are easier to book, cheaper and quieter, and the caddie and cart fees do not change.
Where this number is heading
The weekend green fee fell from ₩213,800 at the May 2026 peak to ₩179,800 in August, a 16 percent drop in three months, and the institute counts public courses competing on price for the first time since the pandemic. After the pandemic years, when courses were full and prices rose fast, demand has cooled. Visits to the 524 courses surveyed by the Korea Golf Course Owners Association fell 2.1 percent in 2025, to about 46 million. Courses are starting to compete on price again, especially outside the Seoul metropolitan area.
GBR tracks this figure on the home page and will replace the national average with a monthly basket of 20 named courses, so the number reflects where international visitors actually play.
What to watch next
- Whether the no-caddie option spreads beyond a handful of courses, which would cut the bill by more than 10 percent.
- The gap between Seoul-area and regional courses. The national average hides a large spread.
Sources: Korea Leisure Industry Research Institute, August 2026 green-fee survey of 238 public courses (reported by Segye Ilbo, 6 October 2026) and May 2026 survey; Korea Golf Course Owners Association, 2025 visitor survey. Cart and caddie fees are typical published rates at public courses and vary by course.