So, it’s official. iGolf has launched.
If you’re unaware of what this is, iGolf is Golf Ireland’s Independent Golfer scheme whereby golfers who aren’t members of an official golf club can join a virtual club, obtain an official handicap, and play competitive golf in open competitions, all for a €65 fee for Republic of Ireland residents and £55 for those living in Northern Ireland.
Similar schemes are in operation in other countries, such as the £46 annually ‘iGolf’ in England, the £50 ‘OpenPlay’ in Scotland, Wales’ £55 ‘Flexi Club’ and the $120NZD (€66) ‘FlexiClub’ in New Zealand, and independent golfers will be required to comply with the R&A/USGA Rules of Handicapping and the Rules of Golf in just the same way as all other golfers.
If you’re reading this and thinking you might abandon your current membership and take up this instead, think again. There is a three-year waiting period whereby a player can’t take up iGolf membership if they’ve held a traditional golf club membership in the three previous years – Golf Ireland have safeguarded against the risk that club members will decide to switch to the cheaper option, purely for financial reasons. They still might, but that’s a long time to wait if you like playing competition and having an official handicap.
Having an actual golf club membership also carries with it some additional benefits, including free access to tee-times, club competitions, inter-club team events, junior programmes and many other social benefits etc. So while this iGolf proposition might look enticing, it’s really aimed at those not currently in the membership system who will hopefully then come into the fold in the longer term.
Social media is rarely the place for nuanced discussion, but the initial response to the scheme launch has largely been negative. So, the question is why?
The ultimate goal, according to Golf Ireland, is to help grow the game and with an estimated 300,000 golfers who don’t hold any form of membership but play a full, 18-hole round at least once a year potentially taking it up, that’s a sizeable chunk who may be tempted to fork out €65 to have a handicap and a membership of sorts.
“In Golf Ireland’s strategic plan, we committed to researching independent strategic schemes in other countries and assessing their suitability for Ireland,” said Jane Joyce, Golf Ireland Board Member & Chair of the independent golfer working group when we approached Golf Ireland for comment previously.
“The Independent Golfer scheme is part of a wider range of initiatives that are in place to continue to grow the game of golf in Ireland and make it more accessible. Initiatives such as Get Into Golf, Golf Sixes and Golf Ireland’s recently announced Major Events Legacy program are all designed to bring more people into golf. The Independent Golfer scheme is another example of an initiative that is working in other countries, supported and encouraged by the R&A.”
Golf Ireland will administer and manage the handicaps, and again, as previously mentioned, iGolf members will be required to comply with the R&A/USGA Rules of Handicapping and the Rules of Golf in just the same way as all other golfers.
Additionally, there will be a Handicap Committee responsible for iGolf members and they will carry out handicap reviews in accordance with the Rules of Handicapping.
We’re all aware of the lower cost distance membership options that clubs have made available to golfers in recent times – some of which have financially sustained particular golf clubs for many years. For many golfers though, especially those new to the game, low-cost distance memberships aren’t an option as you must be supported for membership by existing club members, though there are some clubs whose memberships are heavily-weighted with ‘distance’ or ‘pay and play’ members whose sole relationship with that club is as handicap administrator and little more.
These clubs will likely be the big losers in the long term as iGolf is a cheaper alternative for potential new recruits, but again, the three-year waiting period should deter most of the current members from jumping ship.
Apart from these concerns, Golf Ireland assure us that iGolf subscribers will not be provided with a physical card, and their eight-digit subscriber numbers will begin ‘3992’ for subscribers in Republic of Ireland or ‘3993’ in Northern Ireland, and it will be up to individual clubs – as it is at present – to decide who they offer reduced green fees to, so they may not be eligible for the Golf Ireland green fee rates so prevalent in many clubs. This was a cause for concern among online commenters, but clubs will have the facility to include or exclude iGolf subscribers at their own discretion.
The scheme is open to Irish residents only, requires an Irish address for registration and Golf Ireland claim that checks can be carried out to ensure that the information is correct with invalid information leading to cancellation. Additionally, iGolf members will not have playing rights at any course, will not have the right to enter Golf Ireland competitions, and will not be eligible to have a say in how the body works. So it all seems fairly even handed and while these iGolf members will have a handicap it will be to encourage them to get more into the game with the eventual hope that they’ll switch to actual club membership.
And there is evidence to suggest that many iGolf sign-ups will transition into the regular club membership. Back in June, Golf England, who launched their own iGolf scheme in 2021 to target their estimated 2.3 million ‘homeless’ golfers, announced that over 10,000 iGolf members had switched to a traditional club membership. With the average English club membership fee at £1,181, this, they claimed, had brought in an additional £11 million in membership revenue to their clubs.
Even allowing for a perhaps slightly inflated estimation, this is a significant amount, but whether that would be replicated here remains to be seen as Golf England only require a six-month membership lapse to become iGolf eligible. Basically, the three-year lapse Golf Ireland require could have the opposite effect and discourage iGolf members from transitioning in case they suffer buyers’ remorse.
The elephant in the room perhaps, is the WHS system, but as long as there have been handicaps, there have been people willing to manipulate those handicaps. They are a minority, but still a sizeable enough minority that members in clubs up and down the country can all pinpoint certain individuals that they think are guilty of manipulation.
Suspicions abound when a visiting player rocks up to an open competition and walks away with top prize so it’s only natural to assume that golfers who can only play in open competitions will be viewed through a suspicious lens and winning tallies in the mid-to-high 40s could spark some form mini-revolt among club members.
Not that we don’t get those numbers anyway, but at least when they’re members of the club they’re playing in, a player’s history is generally known and their 46-pointer can often be accepted as an anomaly rather than dark arts.
The danger would be that pressure from members may force clubs to stop running open competitions – or at the very least exclude iGolf members from them, which would leave the iGolf members without regular tournaments to play in. There would be an element of cutting off your nose to spite your face in this, as the reason most clubs run open competitions in the first place is to increase footfall on days when traditionally the timesheet is far from full.
Ultimately, It’s hard to appease everybody, and maybe it’s foolish to try. But a rising tide lifts all boats, and the hope is that the scheme will bring in fresh blood and with it, fresh money, the majority of which will hopefully be invested back into the system. And with the guts of €20 million in potential revenue (300,000x€65) it’s not small potatoes. It will also extend to F&B, the pro shop, other golf shops and general spend around the game too, so it looks like a hugely positive move on that front.
We’ve written extensively about the lack of emerging talent on the pro scene in recent years, but you need resources to make widescale changes, maybe this is one way to achieve this? Also surely bringing more players into the fold will increase the pool from which this emerging talent is picked – fast forward 10 years and maybe we’ll have an Irish Touring Professional who started out as an iGolf member. What a success story that would be.
So, is the iGolf scheme something to be lauded or something to be feared. Everybody will have their own opinion, but ‘bring it on’ is mine.
And if I’m proven wrong, so be it.