You've been there much longer than me, what would you do and what would you advice? I know the nature of your post there was far different than vacation so maybe that taints your views on that seeing it as work?
I lived in Korea and didn't play the top courses, so it would be hard for me to make the recommendation to others to make a golf trip to Korea. I didn't have connections that provided access to private clubs. The logistics of golf in Korea is not straight forward. I'm assuming you traveled in a somewhat official capacity and not really as a tourist. Not knowing the language is tough and most courses require booking a full tee time.
I really enjoyed certain aspects of life in Korea, but generally it's not a good fit for what I value. Cycling and golf are my two hobbies and I'd recommend Korea for a cycling trip (it's a beautiful country), but not so much for a golf trip. I think golf is a pretty good representation of the people that play the game and my opinion is the upper class of Korea is a bit superficial (golf is really only played by the upper class of society).
Joe, thanks. I think it's tough to make that specific call. We can certainly argue that outside of the UK and Ireland perhaps golf is elitist everywhere. I don't see Korea, or Japan or anyplace else in Asia I've been any different in terms of the top clubs whether public or private.
Sure one could are to a lesser extent this is the case in the US but then again look at any of the top clubs, private are closed off to all but a few people willing to pay very high unaccompanied prices and public courses often leave a lot to be desired. When they don't then the prices are as high as anyplace in the world. Read - Pebble Beach, Florida's top privates, even Bandon Dunes resort.
Hard to argue Korea/Japan are any more elitist than we are in the US in my opinion.
I think the same thing goes for the superficial aspects. As soon as you know someone at one of the clubs I assure you it's anything besides superficial in Korea, but the barrier of course is knowing/meeting someone. I met a lot of members of 2 of the clubs and based on short conversations I know I will see them again and welcome them to The Netherlands some day. To me that's hardly superficial. But again, experiences vary greatly.