SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ENTERPRISE : Koreatown Is in the Swing of Indoor Golf : Sports: Patrons wanting to socialize flock to the ranges, which cater to the urban duffer.

Golf is the in thing in Koreatown. Literally.

The only indoor driving ranges in Los Angeles County, and maybe in all of Southern California, are a mile apart from each other on Olympic Boulevard in the heart of the Korean American business district. And they are so popular a third driving range is going up between them.

Indoor driving ranges are rare in the United States--only 100 exist, and mainly in cold Northern states such as Minnesota, said Steve di Constanzo, founder of the Golf Range and Recreation Assn., based in New York.

But they are quite popular in South Korea, homeland of most of the patrons who flock to La Ma Golf Driving Range and L.A. Driving Range & Pro Shop. Their clientele, 95% Korean immigrants, comes from a country where golf is one of the most popular forms of recreation and 10-story indoor ranges are common in big cities such as Seoul, said Jake Park, manager of the L.A. Driving Range.

There are 50 golf courses and 20 driving ranges to choose from in Southern California. But the La Ma Gold Driving Range and L.A. Driving Range cater to urban duffers who are determined to practice their swings but can’t make it out to the suburban links on their lunch breaks.

“Koreans are golf-crazy,” said professional golfer Im Kuang Bin, who teaches beginning skills at L.A. Driving Range. He said the busiest hours for the year-old range are early morning, noon and after 5 p.m.: before, during and after his clients get off work.

Margie Han, a Koreatown clothing manufacturer, says she goes to the L.A. Driving Range with friends about three times a week, before work or during lunchtime.

“It’s how we socialize,” she said.

Shelly Hale Young, an analyst with San Francisco-based Hambrecht & Quist, said indoor ranges are most common in large Asian cities where golf is a popular pastime but land for outdoor facilities is scarce, and in other cities worldwide with poor weather.

Indoor ranges “have never been common in the United States,” with its wide-open spaces and warm weather regions, di Constanzo said. “If anything, the trend has been away from indoor ranges.”

Instead, there is an abundance of outdoor driving ranges--2,000 nationwide--not to mention 15,000 golf courses, the analysts said.

Though the popularity of golf has remained steady among white Americans in the last five years, di Constanzo said golf store and golf course owners have reported a dramatic increase among minorities, especially Asian Americans.

Part of the reason, he said, could be that Asian immigrants have brought with them the golf craze that has recently ignited in Asian countries, where most of the golf facilities worldwide have been built in the last few years.

Sean Ni, 47, who takes breaks from his job as a restaurant manager at the 6-year-old La Ma Golf Driving Range, said his hobby, at about $10 a visit, is much cheaper here than in his native Seoul, where a couple of hours at a range cost him $150 five years ago.

“There’s too many people and it’s too expensive,” he said.

Up to 400 golfers visit the two Los Angeles indoor ranges each day, spending up to $40, Park said. Golfers practice their swings in 24 double-decked stalls, hitting balls up into a net 60 yards away. The “range” is covered with artificial turf.

During the busiest hours, when patrons wait three deep in line at some stalls, the quiet chatter between players is constantly interrupted by the whacking of balls.

The golfers purchase buckets of 60 balls, thousands of which are cleared periodically from the floor after bouncing off the safety net.

The golf shops at the ranges sell equipment including clubs, balls, bags, shirts, pants and shoes that can be used when the players move on to full golf courses.

Park said his business plummets on weekends, when more of their patrons have time to visit suburban outdoor ranges or play a round of golf.

The indoor range “is just to practice your form,” said Michael Nam, a 40-year-old landscaper recently showing his beginner sons, Adrian, 10, and Thomas, 11, the ropes.

He said he practices his swing at the L.A. Driving Range nearly every weekday, but prefers his weekend trips to suburban outdoor ranges and golf courses.

Soon, the two indoor ranges will be getting some competition closer to home: When the Olympic Driving Range opens next year, Koreatown residents won’t have to wait until the weekend to swing outdoors. Manager Robert Ha says the small outdoor facility will be equipped with backstops much like the indoor ranges.

“We’re going to lose,” Park said.