Matches made on the green
Members of the social group Gaijin Golfers get in some putting practice on the manicured greens of the Windsor Park Golf and Country Club in Ibaraki Prefecture. (Edan Corkill photo)
No, this isn’t a kind of confidence trick, but rather a new trend in the dating scene. An amalgam of the words golf (gorufu) and gokon (group dating), the gorukon scene is a natural progression from the recent craze for golf bars, where you go to play a virtual round of golf while enjoying a drink. They became popular last year with the invention of a simulated software system that mimics the experience of playing out on the links.
A gorukon date would typically involve a group of single men and women, evenly matched in numbers, if not by their golfing handicap, meeting up at a golf bar to see if they can make a match. Gokon is a group blind date in which some of those attending are mutual friends, with liberal amounts of alcohol taking some of the awkwardness out of the experience. Typically people might play drinking games to ease their embarrassment, playing golf therefore comes in handy as a good conversation starter, as well as taking away the necessity of drinking heavily.