Editor Emma Ballard and four friends sign up to iGolf. Follow their journey towards achieving official Handicap Indexes. This time we're taking a look back over the summer and hearing about Lucy's iGolf experience.
And just like that, the summer is over and the children are all back to school. The school summer holidays seemed to go by in a blur. In the last iGolf blog, we were nearing the summer holidays and were nearly at our five-week deadline to get our first Handicap Indexes.
As I revealed at the time, I achieved mine in under four weeks. Starting on 28.9, I have remained pretty steading since then, putting in my causal rounds over the last six weeks, I have crept up a little to 29.4.
I’m also happy to report that both Debbie and Tamsin managed to secure their first handicaps by the initial five-week target. With indexes of 44.5 and 50.8 respectively, they had both hoped to start lower but are pleased that they have a number to work from.
Our five weeks were up!
The five-week deadline proved not long enough for Lucy and Anna, but that doesn’t mean that they were any less determined. Lucy took eight weeks after a bout of Covid stopped her ability to get out and play, whilst Anna dedicated more of her time to one of her other sporting passions, cricket. We’re just going to have to wait a little longer to have a complete group of handicaps as Anna gets back on the golf course.
Every summer, as a group, we always have great intentions to play more golf. Unfortunately, like most other years, juggling work and childcare got in the way a little.
The times we did play, we continued to see improvement in our scores and found that using iGolf has made our course management better, highlighted our weaknesses and increased our enjoyment of the game. How long the enjoyment feeling continues remains to be seen, as the wet and cooler weather rolls in!
Lucy’s iGolf experience
In previous blogs, we heard from Debbie and Tamsin on their iGolf experiences. Now it’s time to hear from Lucy.
Lucy came to golf six years ago when we started group lessons at Bromsgrove Golf Centre. An accountant and Mum of two, she had never played golf before. At the time golf sounded like a good sport to play:
“I like being outside in the countryside and being with other people. Although not a team sport, I wouldn’t want to do a sport on my own and I liked playing together as a group.”
Getting a handicap didn’t seem viable to Lucy until she found out about iGolf. She admits that she didn’t really understand the whole process of getting a handicap. Plus she thought that as she wasn’t a member of a golf club and didn’t play with someone who had a handicap, it would prove too tricky to get one.
iGolf gave Lucy the opportunity to gain a handicap
Fast forward to June 2022 and Lucy fully embraced iGolf and was well on her way to achieving her handicap index, that was until she caught Covid. Although, at the time, she may not have been on the course, she still felt she was involved with the rest of our group:
“I love iGolf, it’s great fun. Unfortunately, I had a massive timeout, because of Covid. But I was still able to follow you guys via the iGolf app. When you were on the course getting your handicap, I could see how well you were doing. Which made me even more keen to get mine.”
In mid-July Lucy managed to get back out on the course and by the beginning of August secured her handicap. Which currently stands at 37.7.
Having all the scores in one place has proved really useful:
“I like being able to see all my scores. Before iGolf we weren’t properly recording when we were on the course. There was no consistency, I couldn’t see how I was doing or whether I was making any progress. It’s great to have it all in one app.”
Could using iGolf justify becoming a golf club member?
The whole process has even ignited conversations at work where Lucy has told colleagues about how great the app is.
As we head into Autumn, Lucy is more determined than ever to play more golf alongside our regular weekly lessons. A sentiment that is shared by all our golf group. However, unlike Tamsin, Lucy doesn’t feel that she will make that leap to club membership just yet:
“Although I do hope to play more golf going forward. I don’t think that I can justify having a club membership at the moment. I need to prove that I am playing enough. I’ll be able to see via the iGolf app how many rounds I’m playing and give me a better idea of whether being a member of a golf club is for right for me. I’ll definitely be renewing my iGolf membership though.”
If you are interested to find out more about iGolf please visit the England Golf iGolf website here.
