England Golf drops handicap idea for nomadic golfers

England Golf has confirmed it will no longer be creating handicaps for golfers in the country who are not members of golf clubs.

The idea was initially proposed by England Golf 's former CEO Nick Pink, and it involved nomadic golfers, or pay-and-play golfers, joining a virtual golf club for a fee in return for an official handicap among other benefits.

However, it has been confirmed by England Golf's handicap and course rating manager Gemma Hunter that the proposal has been dropped, although the idea may be considered again in the near future. 

"Eighteen months ago there was a lot of discussion around this," said Hunter in a digital Q&A with 200 golf club managers this week.

"In probably the last seven or eight months that’s been canned. We’ve taken it off the table. We’re not actively working on anything regarding the ‘Independent Golfer’ [the name the project was given].

"Maybe we’ll come back to it in the future but at the moment it’s not something we’re looking at."

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The news will come as a relief to some county unions and golf club managers who had been unsure about the revised handicap plan for nomadic golfers as they were worried players would leave their clubs as a result. 

Philip Harvey, county secretary for The Lancashire Union of Golf Clubs, said: "Of course there are other benefits to their membership, but we believe there would be strong resistance to allowing non-members access to competitions and creating a virtual membership option, whilst leaving the club member as the main source of the funds which are essential to maintaining the courses and other facilities which the sport needs to operate.

"The outcome is almost universally against the concept from clubs at every level of the game."