Independent Golfer Ireland

Does such a thing exist? I was pay&play in my prior club and had a standard GUI

The index or handicap only means that you've submitted scorecards on record. For some reason, our club has a number of members who don't keep a handicap. Either pavilion members who basically don't golf or full members who don't play comps but do some casual golf.

Once you have paid membership and received a GI number, you are 100% considered a club member. The fact that you never submitted cards to hold a handicap unfortunately is a moot point. 3 years apply from the date your membership lapsed. Eg to join iGolf today your membership would have had to expire on 3rd October 2021 or more realistically it was 31st December 2020.

If you have an index on your GI number, it will import to iGolf when you join. There will be people who had an index from CONGU (before WHS) but gave golf when WHS was introduced. They'll be using that as their starting point if they join iGolf as it's attached to their GI number.

Nice, is that a Dublin club?

I bet getting around the 3 year rule is as simple as using a different email address.

Why would a member of a golf club that didn't have a WHS Index have a Golf Ireland number (GUI number in old money)? And why would a member of a club that doesn't hold a WHS index want to become an igolfer in the first place?

I think it depends on the way the club uses the GI platform and categorises members. I'd imagine some clubs are not correctly applying the category and I'd be curious if they're paying appropriate fees to GI (or even realise it tbf).

GI has a bunch of affiliation fee categories, one of which is called "non-playing" for example. So it's possible to enter your non-golfing members on GI database. You'd therefore have possibility of a record of membership and a GI number.

I've a mate who took a leave of absence for a year (baby due early in the year). He has to pay pavilion membership for the period. As an aside he has to re-join next year or he loses his club membership meaning re-applying from scratch in future. Although I think he can appeal this to the committee for an extension if circumstances changed.

The likes of my mate mentioned in the post above, he's a de facto pavilion member now. He may not have time to play much golf and may have liked the option of iGolf for opens.

Also quite a few people add their spouse as a clubhouse/pavilion member but they don't play golf. Perhaps they decide to take up the sport at some point but are put off by the initial membership cost. It wouldn't be that unlikely for them to consider dabbling in the sport.

I'm in the same region as well and would be involved on committees and councils in my club.

Just curious why you think that an igolfer should be given a discount from full green fees in an open comp?

The rational for giving members of other clubs a discounted rate whether it be in opens or reduced rate green fees is obvious. They pay subscriptions to maintain their course, we pay subscriptions to maintain our course and there is a reciprocal benefit to each of us being allowed to play each other's courses.

This does not exist for igolfers, even at full green fees an igolfer would already be getting a discount if they weren't asked to pay a further competition entry fee.

Not against the idea of igolf for new or casual golfers so that they can track their handicap, but the idea that they would be able to benefit from discounts available to normal club members seems unfair.

Just to put some context around the Facebook comments I was referring to... "I hope all golf courses charge independent golfers through the nose" was one expample. I'm firmly against that attitude and i think its ridiculous.

And just to clarify that I was only talking about open fees. I know for a fact that our course let non GUI members play in open days for the open rate. So I'm not going to get overly fussed about letting iGolfers out for the same rate. If it was my call, a premium would be charged.

I would be strongly in favour of not giving monetary prizes to iGolfers, I think this would allay much of the fears that the system may be abused.

Re the contribution for maintaining the course(s). I'm well aware of that and mentioned it in my own post. (Nearly all) Clubs won't survive without members. That said, "unfairness" has been part of golf membership for a long time so I'm not going to get too hung up on it. Our club offers new members/golfers a very reduced fee for 3 years to get them into it. They get full rights in year 3 for two thirds of the membership fee. Senior golfers get a discounted membership, they're probably the most active membership. I've no issues with these examples of "unfairness" as there's logic and reasoning around them.

I think there's some logic around iGolf. I think the fear and panic that I've seen from some is an overreaction. If done right, then iGolf should be a pathway to full membership, rather than a threat to membership. For e.g I would have no problem with there being a time limit around iGolf of say 5-7 years.

People people just don't like change, especially golfers where it's usually played by older people with conservative views.

We had the same situation regarding the new handicap system. People saying it was going to end golf as we knew it yet here we are, very little has changed and the system is much improved.

I've no doubt that in 12 months time it will be mostly forgotten and will be accepted apart from the few bitterheads around.

I think I'm in somewhere between or around both the opinions of @Scarab80 and @PARlance

I think its not bad a idea where it facilities people getting into golf or golfers who are just that little bit more serious about golf than society golf, but may have to step back from the game for a while due to family or career etc. Propably coming back to a club when circumstances change. If I was in that position I'd probably like a 'proper' handicap and the odd 'proper' competition myself. These categories I'd class as grow the game.

I wouldnt like it so much if it was used to evade club membership to go perceivably 'cheap'. All golfers, club members or iGolf or dodgy distance, want to enjoy the golfers paradise which is Ireland due to its large landscape of great quality golf courses. The reason we have that is because of the support from the memberships who make these clubs viable. Open fees play a part in the budgets, but it's a relatively small part. Clubs need mostly full financial support from their golfers to be viable, clearly golf is not a cheap operation to run.

And the clubs obviously expressed concern hence the 3 year required hiatus. On top of that, while I would like to see iGolfers getting some small advantage over green fees - they clearly are players who love golf and support the game in some fashion and may well become full members again - but not the full open advantage.

So maybe one or the other.
Give them the open fees but not let them win anything monetary. Or else let them win but charge them full green fee plus the comp fee.

Either way they can enjoy 'proper' open golf have a GUI handicap and compete against other GUI handicaps which is probably what matters most to them.

I think it will be cheaper for the 10 rounds per year folks. At 20 rounds per year not so sure especially when you factor in limited flexibility and travel efforts. Not so many opens at weekends. The one things that will always be in favour of the local club is proximity and you dont need an open. You can play all the club comps and you can sneak out for a quick nine after work in the summer etc. Hard to beat that IMO.

It’s pipe dream stuff from people that are strong again iGolf for whatever reason.

In reality clubs would be stupid to start trying to charge extra in opens for iGolf members. That money will just end up going to a different club.