South Korea - Gunsan Country Club (Gunsan CC) has officially announced a landmark partnership with world-renowned golf course designer David McLay Kidd (DMK) in a bold bid to become South Korea’s first true "Destination Golf Resort"—a venue where the golf experience itself serves as the primary travel destination.
The ambitious, large-scale project aims to reshape the domestic golfing landscape and position the venue to host Olympic golf events in the future.
On June 27, Gunsan CC hosted a lecture and press briefing at its clubhouse, where the DMK team unveiled the first-phase design blueprint. The master plan outlines a comprehensive transformation of the massive 1.3 million pyeong (approximately 4.3 million square meters) public golf course, which was originally built on flat reclaimed land that once served as a salt farm.
Addressing media questions regarding how he plans to introduce the dramatic appeal of traditional links and dunes courses to a completely flat terrain, Kidd offered a visionary perspective:
"Terrain is created, not just utilized."
To achieve this, the renovation will require a monumental earthworking initiative. Kidd revealed that the project's viability hinged entirely on the venue's commitment to this structural overhaul.
"Before signing the contract, I presented the requirement for significant soil to Vice Chairman Kim Kang-ho, and the ownership readily accepted it, making the project possible," Kidd explained. "We will intentionally create massive dunes terrain where players will feel like they are climbing mountains."
The newly revealed blueprints detail an organic dunescape running along the coastline, paired with a traditional links routing structure—a continuous, one-way 18-hole system.
While hosting an Olympic golf event remains a core objective for Gunsan CC, Kidd cautioned against simply making the course as punishing as possible.
"An Olympic course should not merely focus on increasing difficulty," Kidd stressed. "From the early design stages, the movement routes for countless spectators and galleries, viewpoints offering perfect vistas, and global broadcasting environments with large-scale infrastructure must be integrated into the entire resort concept."
Gunsan CC’s leadership shared this long-term vision, focusing heavily on building a world-class foundation first. Vice Chairman Kim Kang-ho, whose passion and sincerity ultimately convinced Kidd to take on the project, outlined the timeline for the transformation:
"Regardless of whether we secure the Olympic bid, Gunsan CC’s role for South Korean sports is to first perfect world-class Olympic course infrastructure."
Vice Chairman Kim confirmed that following the necessary permitting processes, construction is officially targeted to commence in the second half of 2029.
The project marks a historic milestone for Kidd, who selected Gunsan CC as the stage for his very first project in Asia. When pressed on whether the redesign was aimed at cracking the prestigious list of the world's top 100 golf courses, Kidd offered philosophical guidance.
"If you start with the goal of creating a top 100 course from the beginning, you will fail," Kidd advised. "If you build a great course that golfers will genuinely explore and enjoy for 100 years, global fame will naturally follow as a byproduct."
From its humble origins as a coastal salt farm to its current status as a popular public course, Gunsan CC’s impending transformation into a world-class championship venue has firmly captured the attention of the global golf industry.
