Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It's Saturday, March 23. Here's what you need to know to start your weekend:
Black market in golf tee times
Dave Fink made a startling discovery. "This is what he's charging per tee time, per person. OK? $30 for non-peak hours. $40 per tee time," he said to his 200,000 followers on Instagram. "This is literally crazy and it's" very unfair.
The longtime golfer and L.A. native had just learned why it's so hard to get a tee time at L.A.'s municipal golf courses: Brokers buy them up and sell them on a secondary market for more money.
He was outraged.
"Apparently everybody knows about it. Everybody knows about it!"
Golf brokers say they aren't doing anything wrong
Within the Korean golf community, it's common knowledge that brokers book morning and early afternoon tee times and resell them for a profit, golfers told my colleague Ashley Ahn.
Popular broker Ted Kim told Ahn that he uses up to five devices and relies on unspecified "friends" to secure tee times, bringing in a couple thousand dollars a month. He also said he's on the same playing field as every other golfer in L.A. and doesn't use bots to game the system.
"I'm just helping Korean seniors, because they have a right to play golf, because all the Koreans play golf, right? Without my help, they actually struggle," he said.
It's impossible to know how much the Korean brokers are contributing to the dearth of golfing slots or exactly how many tee times that brokers in general are scooping up.
Golfers long suspected something was amiss. Now, they're suing
Fink's Instagram post set off a firestorm, my colleagues Anh and Matt Hamilton reported, as golfers had complained for years that it's nearly impossible to score a tee time. Now, they finally knew why. They showed up en masse to the all-volunteer golf advisory committee meeting Monday to demand answers.
Joseph Lee, president of SoCal Dream Golf Club, criticizes city officials for not taking action to stop brokers who sell municipal golf tee times. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Steve Brown, a golfer on L.A.'s municipal courses since 1976, urged officials to "dig down deep" and even arrest and prosecute those who may be committing crimes.
Only one city official showed up.
Chuck Ruiz, a member of the city golf division management staff, said that "the department is well aware of this issue, and at this time, we are looking into this issue with our booking engine vendor."
There's a lawsuit, too.
Five golfers filed a class-action suit against the city this week, saying that officials failed to rein in the bustling black market. According to the lawsuit, members of an Asian American golfing group had shared evidence about the black market with city officials back in October.
"To date, however, nothing has been done to prevent the illegal tee time bookings at LA City Golf Courses," the lawsuit said. "Nothing has been done to ensure the booking process is fair to all golfers who wish to play."
City officials opened an investigation
After Fink's Instagram videos gained traction, the L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks announced an investigation, roping in the city attorney's office and the staff at GolfNow, the city's online booking platform and a subsidiary of NBC Sports Next.
"I know people are frustrated," Rose Watson, a spokesperson for the recreation and parks department, told The Times. "At the end of the day, it's not right, it's not fair." She also said that "the city is on top of it" but asked for "a little more patience."
The week's biggest stories
The firing of Shohei Ohtani's interpreter by the Dodgers over allegations of illegal gambling has highlighted an issue many outside of California don't realize: Sports betting is still against the law in the nation's most populous state. (Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)
Shohei Ohtani interpreter
Apple lawsuit
'Quiet on Set' docuseries
Kate Middleton saga
More big stories
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Column One
Column One is The Times' home for narrative and longform journalism. Here's a great piece from this week:
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
GoPros, gummies, reckless abandon: Why ski slopes are getting more dangerous. EMTs and hospital staff confirm they are seeing a rise in the number and severity of ski injuries. Among the reasons they cite: the rise of selfie culture and a recklessness that set in post-pandemic.
More great reads
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For your weekend
A table of guests enjoys various Korean chicken dishes from Chimmelier with a variety of fun dipping sauces in Los Angeles. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Going out
Staying in
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Rents are finally falling in which California city? Plus nine other questions from our weekly news quiz.
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
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