England Golf are not "the association of existing golfers with handicaps"...they are the governing body of the sport of amateur golf in England, and as such their remit goes way beyond solely representing the interests of the club golfer. They didn't just have a responsibility to the clubs and club members, they have a responsibility towards ALL golfers and the wider sport and, at the time of iGolfs implementation, the number of "independent golfers" (estimated around 2.3 million) vastly exceeded the number of "club golfers" in England (approx. 647,000 in Feb 2021).
To suggest that England Golf should have only been considering the needs of "club handicap golfers" is simply wrong, and for them to have done so, would have been a dereliction of their duty to the wider sport.
As for whether England Golf should have stood by and let the R&A implement their own scheme....what a potential waste of income that would have been...46,000 current IGolf members, each paying £46 a year...just over £2.1 million, tossed away into the pockets of the R&A instead of their own....now that would have been a disservice to golf.
