Never Held a Club? Four Beginners Finish 18 Holes in Two Hours! Screen Golf in Its Korean Homeland Costs 15,000–37,000 Won a Head—Play as “Guest” to Skip the Membership Snag, and Order Fried Chicken and Soju to the Room [Things Worth Doing in Korea #22]

Even if you have never held a club, screen golf is worth an hour of your Seoul trip. A room in an office building, real clubs and balls, a wall-sized screen, and sensors that read your shot and drop it onto Jeju Island or Pebble Beach. Korea invented this, and now runs 8,700 venues and 100 million rounds a year. Golfzon, the market leader, also operates about 600 facilities in Japan, so many Japanese readers will already know the green logo.

This guide explains how pricing works (per person for 18 holes, or per room per hour), the membership problem that trips up foreigners, beginner settings, the Korean habit of ordering fried chicken and soju to the room, and venues in Gangnam, Hongdae and Jeongdong where a visitor can walk in without fuss.

“Can I just pick a venue by Google rating?” Here’s the honest note: screen golf venues have very few Google reviews, because Koreans find them through Naver and the Kimcaddie app. The venues here are the ones we could verify on Google, and we print the review counts as they are. Let’s get into it.

8,700 Venues, 100 Million Rounds a Year! A Game Korea Invented: the Market and the Three Brands

✔ A 6:2:1 split that has held for five years
Screen golf was commercialised by Golfzon in the 2000s and has been a fully non-smoking activity since December 2017. The market has held a 6:2:1 split for over five years—Golfzon around 60 percent, Kakao VX (Friends Screen) 20–25 percent, SG Golf about 10 percent. Golfzon alone counts more than 6,000 Korean stores (2,760 Golfzon Park plus 3,299 Vision Plus as of March 2025); nationwide there are about 8,700 venues, 100 million rounds a year and 5.5 million online members. Kakao Games sold Kakao VX for roughly 210 billion won in October 2025.

Golfzon’s current machine, the TwoVision NX, offers Normal, Semi-Tour and Tour modes plus driving-range, short-game and putting modes, and recreates real championship courses. The company runs 4,207 venues abroad (Q1 2026, up 673 in a year); GOLFZON Japan, founded in 2009, operates about 600 facilities with 1,300 machines, and in Taiwan Golfzon GDR is the standard simulator in golf academies—so if you have played at home, the controls will feel familiar.

There is a professional tour too. GTOUR, sponsored in 2026 by Shinhan Investment, holds its finals at Golfzon Joymaru in Daejeon with free admission and streams on YouTube, Naver and SBS Golf 2; the top two earn spots in the KPGA Golfzon Open (17–20 September).

Screen golf in Seoul: prices and how it works (checked September 2026)

Item	Details
Price (per person, 18 holes)	Golfzon 26,000–37,000 won, Kakao VX 20,000–30,000, SG Golf 16,000–27,000 (2026 estimates). Measured in Gangnam: weekday mornings 15,000–19,000; weekday evenings and weekends 15,000–25,000
Billing	Per-person-per-round and per-room-per-hour both exist. Hotels bill by the hour (Banyan Tree 33,000 won/hour, guests only)
Time needed	About 1 hour solo, 1.5 hours for two, 2–2.5 hours for four
Rentals	Men’s and women’s club sets, shoes and gloves free as standard. Left-handed sets vary by venue
Hours	Mostly 10:00–02:00; 24-hour unstaffed venues are spreading
Food and drink	Most rooms allow delivery and outside food; alcohol sold; smoking banned since December 2017
Booking	Phone, the Golfzon app (Korean only) or Kimcaddie (English, compares all brands). Weekday daytime walk-ins are fine

✔ There’s another way to do this. Read it against “The PC Bang and Esports Pilgrimage That Links T1 Base Camp in Hongdae to LoL” and you’ll see which fits you.

Play as “Guest” and Skip the Snag! Prices and How to Play: the Membership Problem and Beginner Settings

✔ Ask on arrival: per person or per hour?
Pricing is mostly per person for 18 holes: 2026 estimates run 26,000–37,000 won at Golfzon, 20,000–30,000 at Kakao VX and 16,000–27,000 at SG Golf. Measured at a Gangnam Golfzon Park, though, weekday mornings cost 15,000–19,000 won and weekday evenings and weekends 15,000–25,000, so the venue’s own pricing matters more than the brand. Ask on arrival whether you are paying per person or per hour. Clubs, shoes and gloves are free to borrow; a glove of your own is nicer.

The membership snag: registering a Golfzon account requires Korean mobile-phone identity verification (PASS), which visitors cannot pass. It does not matter. Choose “guest” (게스트) on the machine and you can play everything—you just lose swing videos and saved scores. The Golfzon app is Korean-only, but Kimcaddie (김캐디) works in English, compares prices across all brands and takes bookings, and Trip.com has started listing tickets such as Golfzon Park Haengdang Lemon Screen.

Beginner settings: Rookie difficulty, white or ladies’/junior tees, 2-metre concedes, a mulligan, and wind set to weak. With that, four first-timers finish 18 holes in about two hours. There is no dress code. Machine menus vary by venue; we could not confirm official English or Japanese menus, so if you are worried, ask staff to set things up—Golf Digest’s reporters played through in Korean without trouble.

Hongdae Has a 24-Hour Store! Venues a Visitor Can Walk Into: Gangnam, Hongdae, Jeongdong and Hotels

✔ Treat the review counts as a rough guide
Google ratings are as of 6 September 2026. This is a low-review category, so treat the numbers as a rough guide.

Golfzon Park Seocho Gangnam Station (골프존파크 서초 강남역점) — 4.0 (131 reviews), 1322-12 Seocho-dong, one of the few venues near Gangnam Station with over 100 Google reviews. Golfzon Park Yeoksam Gangnam Station — 4.4 (46). GDR Academy Gangnam Centerfield — 4.6 (8), Centerfield EAST B2, 231 Teheran-ro: Golfzon’s own practice studio, Tue–Fri 6:00–23:00, Mon 12:00–23:00, Sat 10:00–19:00, Sun 10:00–24:00, for people who would rather hit balls than play a round.

GolfzonPark Hongdae — 4.8 (17), 353-2 Seogyo-dong, open 24 hours—a rare place to end a Hongdae night. Golfzon Park Ewha (이화골프존점) — 4.2 (82), 17 Jeongdong-gil, Jung-gu, 8:30–24:00, walkable from City Hall and Deoksugung and an easy trip from Myeongdong hotels.

Hotels: Four Seasons Seoul (five Golfzon bays), JW Marriott Seoul (Golfzon), Grand Mercure Ambassador (12 GDR bays), Banyan Tree (33,000 won per hour, guests only) and Ambassador Pullman (20,000 won per hour, guests only). If your hotel has one, it is the least intimidating first try.

Fried Chicken and Soju to the Room! Playing It the Korean Way: Delivery, Drinks, Left-Handers and Screen Baseball

✔ The joy is delivery to the room
The joy of Korean screen golf is ordering delivery to the room: fried chicken and soju, pizza, gimbap, eaten between holes. Many venues allow outside food as well. The unwritten rule, even among Koreans, is one drink—past that your swing falls apart and the room next door suffers. Smoking is banned everywhere.

Left-handed clubs exist only at some larger venues—ask “왼손 클럽 있어요?” when booking. For non-golfers in the group, the same technology powers screen baseball (Strike Zone at Gangnam Station, Jonggak, Itaewon and Hongdae), which has run 9,900 won-per-person promotions. And on a rainy day, in August heat or January cold, screen golf is a two-to-three-hour indoor plan worth keeping in reserve.

Start From Seocho Gangnam Station! On the Map: Venues and Google Ratings

✔ Double-check on Naver Maps
The map is centred on Golfzon Park Seocho Gangnam Station. Because Google reviews are thin in this category, double-check on Naver Maps. Ratings as of 6 September 2026.

• Golfzon Park Seocho Gangnam Station — Google 4.0 (131)
• Golfzon Park Ewha (Jeongdong) — Google 4.2 (82)
• GolfzonPark Hongdae (24 hours) — Google 4.8 (17)
• Golfzon Park Yeoksam Gangnam Station — Google 4.4 (46)
• GDR Academy Gangnam Centerfield — Google 4.6 (8)

FAQ

Can complete beginners enjoy it?

Yes. Set Rookie difficulty, ladies’ tees and a mulligan and four beginners get through 18 holes in about two hours. No dress code, and clubs, shoes and gloves are free to borrow.

Can foreigners register as members?

Golfzon membership needs Korean phone verification, so almost never. Choose “guest” on the machine — you lose saved records, nothing else. Book through Kimcaddie (English) or by phone.

How much does it cost?

15,000–37,000 won per person for 18 holes. Weekday mornings are cheapest, weekday evenings and weekends dearest. Confirm whether billing is per person or per room-hour; four people for two hours runs around 100,000 won.

Do I need to book?

Weekday daytime walk-ins usually work; evenings and weekends, book by phone or app. Groups of five or more can ask for two linked rooms.

Can we drink and eat?

Most venues allow delivery to the room and outside food, and sell alcohol. Smoking has been banned since December 2017.

Are left-handed clubs available?

It depends on the venue — only some larger ones stock them. Ask “왼손 클럽 있어요?” when booking.