The sprawling clubhouse at Haesley 9 Bridges, which can host subsequent week’s Bridges Cup.
Courtesy Photograph
Golf shouldn’t be a sport that many individuals wish to rush. But it surely’s performed at completely different clips somewhere else. And in South Korea, the place the Bridges Cup, an elite novice occasion, is going down subsequent week, customs favor a leisurely tempo.
This is applicable even earlier than a spherical begins. As a result of most programs are located removed from metropolis facilities, outings are usually all-day affairs. Golfers give themselves a variety of leeway, arriving early to alter garments within the locker room, linger within the clubhouse and limber up. Trunk-slamming in South Korea shouldn’t be actually a factor. Few gamers wind up sprinting to the primary tee, breathless. Nor does the typical spherical break land-speed data. No less than 5 hours for 18 holes is to be anticipated. And that’s not together with one other relaxed ritual: the customary interlude between 9s.
Not like within the U.S., the place most breaks on the flip barely drag on lengthy sufficient to seize a chunk and beer on the go, each spherical in South Korea features a extended cease after the entrance aspect, the place golfers sit for a snack and a drink. These breathers, which usually final upwards of 20 to half-hour, will not be thought of elective. They’re additionally not one thing you need to miss.
At 2023 Bridges Cup, an elite mid-amateur occasion and Les Bordes shared the highlight
“For starters, golf programs in South Korea have among the most spectacular clubhouses and eating services on this planet, so the environment alone are just about at all times hanging,” says Tom Brown, a GOLF Journal course-rater who has performed golf in additional than 35 nations. “However there’s additionally the truth that golf may be an effective way to expertise different cultures. That’s definitely true of South Korea. Once you spend a day on the course there, you actually get a way of South Korean heat and hospitality.”
What you eat and drink is usually memorable, too. Menus range, relying on the membership and the time of 12 months. Some programs lay declare to signature dishes. On the peak of summer season, on a damp day, the featured mid-round snack is likely to be chilly buckwheat noodles, or syrup-doused shave ice, piled excessive on a platter and served family-style, over ice cream and candy pink beans. It may be fried hen, crisped in rice-flour higher, or a South Korean staple comparable to bulgogi (grilled marinated beef) or bi bim bop, a rice bowl with meat and veggies that you just combine when it arrives. And at all times, there are drinks, together with beer and rice wine, which assist lubricate the dialog. At most tables, the chatter is vigorous. Camaraderie abounds. The service, in the meantime, is brisk and environment friendly. Most programs deal with these respites as some extent of pleasure.
Although the stops last more than a visit to the flip stand at a State-side course, they aren’t infinite degustations. Food and drinks are scarfed down rapidly, and earlier than it, it’s off to the tenth tee. Simply hope you’re hungry some three hours later, after a bathe and alter of garments, when customized calls so that you can collect together with your enjoying companions as soon as once more, normally for a extra elaborate meal.
