Further to our news that Social Golf Australia (SGA) had lodged a formal complaint against Golf Australia (GA) with the ACCC, Australian Golf Digest has published a response by Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland

“Golf Australia Club was created to address a clear gap in the golfer journey between casual round players and club membership,” Sutherland said.

One might have thought that the opportunity to sell handicaps to social golfers has well and truly been taken up by SGA and others over the last couple of decades, so there is no longer a clear gap.

“It is designed to complement the existing golf ecosystem, not replace or compete with clubs or virtual operators and early results show it is already achieving that purpose.”

Surely offering a handicap directly to social golfers DOES COMPETE with SGA and other virtual operators who do exactly this?

“Importantly, the introduction of Golf Australia Club has not changed the way existing social or virtual clubs operate. Their ability to offer handicaps and services to golfers remains exactly the same as it was previously”

As we reported the new GA Club offers social golfers the ability to submit conforming scores directly via the GA App whilst all other golfers are DENIED this functionality – a functionality that they have helped pay for! Why has GA done this if not to leverage an unfair anti-competitive advantage using their monopoly power in the handicap market?

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