A new subscription scheme that allows non-club members in Scotland to obtain a golf handicap is a “game changer”, says former Open champion Paul Lawrie.
Scottish Golf has launched OpenPlay, an online programme accessed through their app, which will open up handicaps to the estimated 500,000 unaffiliated players in Scotland.
Previously, if players wanted a handicap, they had to join a club.
“It is getting people into the game,” said Lawrie.
“There are a large number of people being lost to the game because they don’t have enough time to be a member of a club, or they don’t play a lot.
“This gives them an opportunity to have an official handicap, to feel as though they are part of something and the pathway to membership, let them see how good golf can be.
“The fact that people can have an official handicap and play five or six times a year through OpenPlay at any club they wish is revenue for the club. And a lot of these people will enjoy the scheme and think: ‘I want a bit more than that, I want to be a member of that club.'”
Scottish Golf is the first governing body in Great Britain and Ireland to introduce the scheme, with England and Wales set to follow suit.
Golfers who subscribe to OpenPlay will be required to submit scores from 54 holes before receiving their handicap.
It’s hoped the initiative will also allow clubs to connect with the country’s independent players.
Scottish Golf’s head of digital, Martin Hopley, said: “In New Zealand for instance, 20% of the people who signed up to their independent golfer scheme went on and joined a golf club in that same year.
“The average age of those golfers was 43, which was 20 years younger than their average for club members.
“The evidence we have seen has demonstrated that it does encourage people to get more engaged with the game.”
