| At a meeting of
the South African Golf Association’s (SAGA) National Executive
Committee, held in Benoni on Sunday (6 December), it was agreed
to conclude a contract with National Golf Network (Pty) Ltd (NGN),
in terms of which the SAGA would buy out the agreements NGN has
with individual golf clubs for the provision of handicapping services
and systems, pursuant to which NGN’s existing agreements will
be assigned to the SAGA, with the various golf clubs’ consent,
where necessary.
"It is intended that this will come into effect as from 1
January 2010, although the implementation of the SAGA’s Handicap
Server is likely to be early in February 2010,” said Enver
Hassen, SAGA President.
"We are really pleased to have secured an important property
belonging to amateur golf,” explained Hassen. "Every
golfer has a handicap determined by the SAGA Handicap System. The
formalising of our negotiations with NGN means that we not only
determine how handicaps are calculated but how they are implemented.”
"NGN and the SAGA have been working on this solution for the
last couple of weeks. We are also pleased that the SAGA have reached
this agreement. We look forward to working with the SAGA and our
clients in ensuring a smooth transition to the SAGA Handicap Server
early in the new year,” said Paul Smulders, the Chief Executive
Officer of NGN.
"What this agreement effectively means is that the SAGA undertake
to fulfil NGN’s obligations, through the implementation of
its SAGA Handicap Server,” explained Hassen. He went on to
say that this change should not have any detrimental effect on the
golfer. "The only evident change to the golfer will be the
look and feel of the terminals at golf clubs and how a player captures
scores on these terminals,” concluded Hassen.
"We are busy preparing a more detailed communiqué for
stakeholders in the golf industry in which we will explain this
agreement in more detail. This should be ready for distribution
by Wednesday,” explained Hassen.
For further information please contact:
Enver Hassen (SAGA President) Cell: 082 374 3454
Bruce Younge (SAGA Executive Director) Cell: 082 374 3455
Paul Smulders (NGN CEO) Cell: 083 457 3165
Marcel Smulders (NGN Managing Director) Cell: 082 574 9961
How this affects Golf in South Africa is yet to be figured
out. In the latest GCM
Magazine pages 28/29 it briefly covers how the new system will
work. But not how it affects other service providers. |
