ON JANUARY 29th, Lydia Ko (pictured) became the youngest woman ever to win a professional golf tournament. At 14 years old, she’s not yet old enough to drive a car. But she can drive (and putt) a golf ball well enough to beat a pack of adult pros. This staggering achievement provokes a question: Why are Korean women so good at golf?
South Korea is a small, crowded country. It has only 0.7% of the world’s population, and hardly any room for golf courses. Yet four of the top 10 female golfers in the world are Korean, as are 38 of the top 100 and 144 of the top 500. And these extraordinary numbers do not include women of Korean ancestry, such as Ms Ko herself, whose parents moved to New Zealand when she was six.
One theory is that modern Korean society is so competitive—think of the effort Korean kids put into passing exams—that it breeds champions. There may be something in this. I once played with a Korean friend on a course near Seoul. A few holes from the end, lightning started stabbing the hillsides around us. I suggested abandoning the match—who wants to walk around in an electric storm waving a long piece of metal in the air? But my Korean opponent would have none of it. He’d fought in Vietnam, and wasn’t scared by the mere threat of electrocution. He insisted on finishing. Naturally, he won.
Another theory is that Korean fathers push their daughters harder than dads elsewhere. The father of Se-Ri Pak, who has won five major tournaments and 25 LPGA tournaments overall, made her get up at 5.30 every morning and run up and down the 15 flights of stairs in their apartment block to build up her strength. He made her practise in the cold until icicles formed in her hair. And to overcome her nerves, he made her sleep all night in a cemetery. Small wonder Ms Pak has been so successful—and was hospitalised for exhaustion in 1998. (Biographies of Ms Pak and other Korean women golfers can be found at Seoul Sisters, a fan website.)
My theory, for what it’s worth, is that three forces are at work. First, Korea’s lack of space means that golfers start off hitting balls at a driving range instead of playing a proper course. This means they hit a heck of a lot of balls. (A proper round of golf consists mostly of walking between shots, which is not good practice for anything.)
Second, Korean culture stresses constant repetition in pursuit of perfection. That’s how calligraphers and taekwondo masters train. It’s also a good way to develop a reliable golf swing.
Third, Koreans have a tendency to follow trends. Before 1998, when Ms Pak won the US Women’s Open and became a national heroine, not many Korean women played golf. Immediately afterwards, legions of Korean girls took up the game. Within a decade, they were dominating it.
Sports
Game theory
Korean golfers
