Our Korean women vs your Korean women

[Sandbelted]

Have been watching the australian Women's Open and have been pondering the Olympic Games Golf gold medal battle in Rio We on Australia have our clutch of " ozzie" Koreans and have noted many representing other nations !! What are they doing right in Korea with ladies golf ? Obviously a lot going right ! The men left far behind ! What is it ? What's going on ?

[boogielicious]

Have been watching the australian Women's Open and have been pondering the Olympic Games Golf gold medal battle in Rio

We on Australia have our clutch of " ozzie" Koreans and have noted many representing other nations !! What are they doing right in Korea with ladies golf ? Obviously a lot going right ! The men left far behind ! What is it ? What's going on ?

Golf is an important sport in Korea for women and men.  When you focus on a sport, you become good at it.  Add to that Korean players can go to the US and compete in college golf if they are not ready for the LPGA level yet.  So there are ample ways to improve.

It is refreshing and really is helping Women's golf in my opinion.

[Chilli Dipper]

Korean men aren't that far behind: granted, there more than a dozen ladies placed higher than the Rolex Rankings than the highest man of Korean descent in the men's world ranking (Kevin Na, 28th), but there are still plenty of them teeing up on the major tours week after week. The difference is that the women's professional ranks are not as the men's, which shines a light on how comprehensive the Korean system is compared to the U.S. and Europe, and that women, unlike men, are exempt from South Korea's compulsory military service, which takes years out of young Korean men's development. The first wave of Korean men (Choi, Yang) didn't start their pro careers until after serving, but when today's crop turn pro as teenagers, the options are to take an extended break from one's career just as it's getting started, or hope the government grants an exemption sometime down the line. If you've read any of the recent news about Sang-Moon Bae, the latter is a tough proposition.

[NJpatbee]

Looking at the small % of golfers that are of Korean ancestry and their success on the LPGA, to me it must be the amount of drive and dedication, disciplined values, obsession to excel, and love of the game that drives the Korean women.  I would put some of PGA Tour players from tiny Northern Ireland, Scotland, and South Africa in the same category.  Of course, most successful golfers have these attributes including Tiger, Bubba, and a host of others from the US, but for some of these small populations to perform so well is a fine accomplishment.

[rkim291968]

Men's golf is orders of magnitude harder to succeed given vastly larger competition.   If LPGA becomes a  household sport that attracts as many would be pro golfers as PGA does globally, you will see more parity.    For this reason, I don't see Korean men having any chance of matching their counterpart's success in LPGA.

Watch out for Chinese women.   They got population and money to replace Korean women's dominance in 10 - 20 years.

[Lihu]

Men's golf is orders of magnitude harder to succeed given vastly larger competition.   If LPGA becomes a  household sport that attracts as many would be pro golfers as PGA does globally, you will see more parity.    For this reason, I don't see Korean men having any chance of matching their counterpart's success in LPGA.

Watch out for Chinese women.   They got population and money to replace Korean women's dominance in 10 - 20 years.

I disagree, I mean look at James Hahn, K J Choi, Y E Yang, etc.

Also, can you imagine the son's of all these LPGA Korean women from all over the world?

I play rounds with some older Korean women who are super serious about golf. If I break a rule, they're all over me. Just short of getting my head smacked. . .

They're some pretty deadly serious golfers.

[Zeph]

Anyone know if the practice regimen in Korea is much different from the rest of the world? Asians are good in a lot of sports and games because they put a lot of effort, dedication and money into it. They are better because they work harder and more structured. I've wondered if this is the case with female golf, too.