California bans tee-time brokers as twin resellers plead guilty

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1954, the Protecting Access to Reservations (PAR) Act, on 27 September. It makes reselling tee times at California’s publicly owned courses illegal without the operator’s consent. At Los Angeles municipal courses, weekend tee times vanish within seconds of release and reappear on third-party sites with a fee on top.

Two days after the signing, in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles, two brothers who ran exactly that kind of brokering business pleaded guilty to tax crimes.

$2,500 per violation

AB 1954 was introduced in February by Assemblymember Chris Ward, a San Diego Democrat, and sponsored by the California Alliance for Golf. It covers the state’s more than 220 golf courses owned by cities, counties and the state itself, including their clubhouses and ranges.

• Third-party websites and brokers can no longer list, advertise, sell or transfer tee times at those courses without the operator’s written consent.
• Booking partners that already have an agreement with a course can carry on.
• Individual golfers can still pass on a reservation, as long as they don’t charge more than they paid, unless the course has posted a cancellation policy at the point of booking.
• Breaches count as unlawful business practices under California’s Unfair Competition Law, with civil penalties of up to $2,500 per violation, according to AmateurGolf.com. Public prosecutors or the course operator can bring a case.

Private clubs, resorts and privately owned daily-fee courses are not affected.

Two MRI technicians and thousands of tee times

According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, identical twins Se Youn “Steve” Kim of Buena Park and Hee Youn “Ted” Kim of Pomona, both 42 and both MRI technicians, admitted that from 2021 they had reserved thousands of tee times at courses across Los Angeles and Orange counties and resold them for a fee.

Prosecutors say the brothers paid the booking fees into personal accounts rather than their business account and reported none of that income to the IRS. Steve Kim pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return, having failed to report about $810,919 in income between 2021 and 2023. Ted Kim pleaded guilty to tax evasion over about $496,998 of unreported income in 2022 and 2023. Combined, the tax loss was more than $580,000.

Sentencing is set for 12 January 2027 before US District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. Steve Kim faces up to three years in federal prison and Ted Kim up to five.

#FreeTheTee

In 2024 Los Angeles teaching professional Dave Fink began documenting how bulk-booked municipal tee times were being resold. His posts grew into the #FreeTheTee campaign. When Ward introduced his bill, his office pointed to the federal case against two brokers who had made about $700,000 from reselling tee times at 17 Southern California courses.

Sources

• US Attorney’s Office, Central District of California: Twin brothers plead guilty to tax crimes from their MRI technician jobs and their golf tee-time brokering side hustle
• Assemblymember Chris Ward: Ward introduces legislation to protect California’s publicly owned golf courses
• AmateurGolf.com: California outlaws tee time brokering at public golf courses as Newsom signs AB 1954
• Forbes: California passes law banning tee time brokers at municipal golf courses
• Golf Digest: California golf tee-time scheme busted, twin brothers facing prison time