Chungnam Province Drafts Plan to Develop 'Park Golf Course' at Former Gubong Mine

Chungnam Province is beginning to draft plans for the establishment of the Chungnam Provincial Park Golf Course (hereinafter referred to as Cheongyang Park Golf Course).

On the 24th, Chungnam Province held a kickoff meeting for the basic design and preliminary survey of the Cheongyang Park Golf Course at the provincial government office.

Club members are participating in a game at the park golf course. Photo by Asia Economy DB

The Cheongyang Park Golf Course project is being promoted to create a park golf course with 108 holes, along with the office and education center of the Korea Park Golf Association, on a 146,125㎡ site in Guryong-ri, Namyang-myeon, Cheongyang-gun, located in the former Gubong Mine area.

Earlier, in March, Chungnam Province took the first step toward establishing the Cheongyang Park Golf Course by signing a relocation business agreement with the Korea Park Golf Association.

The survey will comprehensively investigate and analyze the current status of the project site and surrounding areas, as well as regional development conditions, to identify potential issues and improvement measures when establishing the Cheongyang Park Golf Course.

It will also propose appropriate facility sizes and layout plans, including perspective views, site plans, and floor plans, and develop plans for nearby transportation networks, pedestrian routes, and other road facilities, as well as landscape plans that harmonize the site’s topography with its surroundings.

In particular, Chungnam Province plans to prepare financial procurement plans, phased development plans, budget securing methods, development priorities by construction type, and investment plans by funding source through this survey.

Chungnam Province expects that once the relocation of the Korea Park Golf Association and the Cheongyang Park Golf Course project are completed, Cheongyang will emerge as the domestic center for park golf.

It is anticipated that approximately 18,000 people will visit Chungnam annually through education and training programs for Korea Park Golf Association leaders, referees, and senior instructors.

Additionally, with more than 10 national tournaments held annually, including the Korea Park Golf Association President’s Cup, the Korea Sports Council President’s Cup, and the Chungnam Governor’s Cup, over 6,000 people are expected to visit the region each year.

For example, the Sancheoneo Park Golf Course in Hwacheon-gun, Gangwon Province, which opened in July 2021 with 54 holes, currently records an average monthly usage of about 8,800 people, with roughly half of the visitors coming from the Seoul metropolitan area and other parts of the country.

Separately from the Cheongyang Park Golf Course project, Chungnam Province is also undertaking a project to newly build or expand 30 park golf courses with 18 holes each across the region by next year, with a budget of 30 billion KRW.

Upon completion, the number of park golf courses in Chungnam will increase to 60, making it the province with the most park golf courses nationwide.

Currently, there are 144 park golf recreational clubs active in Chungnam. Registered club members have steadily increased from 2,890 in 2020, 4,375 in 2021, 6,391 in 2022, to 7,130 in the first half of 2023.

Meanwhile, park golf is played on a course of about 20,000㎡ (18 holes), using a single wooden club similar to a golf club (86 cm, 600 g) to hit a plastic ball about 6 cm in diameter (compared to a regular golf ball of 4.2 cm) into the hole.

It is usually played in groups of four, and the player with the fewest strokes at the end of the course wins the game.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.