The National Golf Association of the Philippines has announced the new handicap service provider which has far more features than the previous one — for a lower cost.

NGAP secretary general Bones Floro and executive director Myka Romulo on Wednesday said the new provider, DotGolf, is fully certified by the World Handicap System which is co-owned by the R&A (the world governing body) and the United States Golf Association.

It is also a subsidiary of Golf New Zealand, among other national federations.

"This is more technically advanced and cheaper," said Floro who bared that there are only 27,000 Filipino golfers registered with the WHS.

It's a far cry from 800,000 individuals with WHS accounts in Malaysia and two million in Japan.

"There was a time when only golf with club membership can register, now we are pushing for everyone so we can truly grow the game," said Floro referring to the wave of pandemic and returning golfers.

Romulo said the beta version of the system will eventually upgrade to feature player profile.

"You will see how you did in your past games, your handicaps, locations and even search for your friends' handicap profile," Romulo said.

"It's like Facebook of golf. It has capacity to do daily handicap system in real time to avoid sandbagging."

"Basically, we just want to provide world-class service to the Filipino golfers," added Floro of the new system they unveiled last 12 January.

"Especially now that there are tournaments left and right."

There will be no increase in fee for members trying to register, he said, which is still P500.