Date Published: 05/12/2022
Alex Mongan-Barker is new to the golfing scene having taken up the sport during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. As a newcomer to the game, Alex didn’t feel confident jumping straight into golf club membership but still wanted to track his progress through an easy-to-use platform under the World Handicap System (WHS).
This made iGolf the perfect fit, as the only place you can access an official handicap index under the WHS, the same as club members, for just £46 a year.
Alex’s route into the game was quite an unusual one. As the country shutdown to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, like most of us, Alex found himself spending a lot of time on the sofa.
Scrolling through the internet, he came across YouTube legends Rick Shiels and Peter Finch, creators of golf videos designed to educate and entertain golfers around the world.
After watching hours upon hours of golf tips, drills, and advice on how to improve his game, Alex decided to take what he learnt out onto the course.
“For some reason, I spent the full two weeks watching Rick Shiels and Peter Finch videos on YouTube. No idea why, but that’s just what I did and got totally obsessed with them!
“When lockdown happened, I decided to go out and learn how to play,” he said.
His newfound obsession didn’t stop there, as he chose to start documenting his journey through the social media platform, Instagram.
“I started an Instagram account to track my golfing journey so I could look back on what I was doing.
“It turned out there was this big golf community and that’s been crazy to discover and enjoy.”
iGolf is renowned for being a digital community and for golfers like Alex, it’s been a revelation to connect and share experiences with fellow non-club members.
“The support has been excellent. There are loads of people at similar stages to me, but also others who are at different stages of their golfing journey.
“I’ve met quite a few friends since joining iGolf. There are people that I speak to regularly online and I’ve met up with a few of them to play golf with, which is very cool. I’m sure that’ll only grow over time as well.”
Now surpassing 3000 followers, Alex hopes to keep his channel growing, but for now, he is solely focussed on improving his game and lowering his handicap index through iGolf.
“I want to work on my handicap and get more scores in.
“In general, I want to get down to an 18 handicap because there are a few amateur tournaments you can play in. My dream would be to get down to scratch and open qualifying.”
To find out more about iGolf, get in touch at igolf@englandgolf.org