This month England Golf allow non members to obtain an official handicap. For £40 a year the official handicap allows access to the My England Golf app where players can post scores and track indexes. The subscription model follows the Open Play scheme running in Scotland where non members can obtain and maintain a handicap for £5.99 a month.

County and national competitions remain open to golf club members only. But at club level independent golfers can be integrated.

England Golf’s website has a new Hole In One club for recorded aces.

The R&A’s Rules of Golf app is also extremely useful to take with you on the course. Free to use in ios or android it has 10 essential rules videos 30 diagrams and 25 how to videos with special sections for juniors and golfers with disabilities.