Currently, handicap 9’s and above come into TAP as H/C 7’s. We do not get many 10’s, 10+1’s, 10+2’s.  We have all of the State rating sheets and will diligently monitor every new player coming into the league. Before any new player is added to a team roster, those lists will be checked to ensure someone isn’t coming in under the radar. The penalties for this form of cheating are severe as they have always been. Any player discovered to have come in at a rating that is under what they should have started at will forfeit all previous win points for their team, the points will be given back to the teams they beat, and be immediately raised to the correct handicap. In addition, to protect the league from stacked teams of super players, all 10’s and above will receive a H/C of an “8.” The 8 will be counted towards the team total 25 rule; however, that player will play the same race-grid as a “7.” This is a national rule that will be implemented soon to protect all teams and players.

As an example, if a team tried to have two 8’s on their team, which equals 16, that would leave them 9 points and 3 players, so they would have to have three 3’s or a 4, a 3, or a 2 – and, if anyone went up, they would be done. The other thing to remember is that these high-rated players are not league players, for the most part, and will have to play for an entire year under our H/C rules.

That would be a great idea; however, during this time of economic stress, we believe that would be a difficult “sell” to the players. We have had other players the dues are too high now, and we should reduce them. Remember, two years ago, we raised the dues by one dollar and we had numerous complaints about that. And, when we did so, we still only kept .40 out of that dollar and gave .60 back to the player payback – and there was still complaining. This player doesn’t want to pay any extra money and wants a free ride, but is willing to pay extra money all year long in hopes to getting one of the National spots.

Remember that we have implemented 4 other programs to generate additional national funding; but, with the costs of hotel and airfare going through the roof and no expectation of it decreasing in the future, it’s unlikely that we will EVER be able to send more than 4 teams to the Nationals if we continue to follow the same path. The new program will allow us to offer 12 National spots, even though the teams may have to pay part of their expenses.

If we lower the dues by $1 per player that would, in essence, eliminate the entire National Fund with the exception of the four new programs we developed to help increase it. If that were the case, then we would have no reason to hold a “Titleholders” or the “Masters” and we would have absolutely no National participation.

We have evaluated this option and have come up with a new plan that I think will be to the benefit to most players. In the past, it has always been difficult for many players to get two weekends off in a row due to work schedules. With the format we will be using for the Masters, we can hold the entire tournament over the course of one 4-day weekend at local bars not a casino. It will work like this; 50% of the teams will play 3 rounds on either Thursday and the other 50% on Friday. This means that you will only have to get one of those two days off in addition to the weekend. Because we are holding this event on one weekend, we will be able to give you plenty of advance notice to request that time off. All teams will play two rounds on Saturday, but we will stagger them throughout the day. Saturday will be single elimination, so once the first round is completed, 50% of the teams will be knocked out freeing up tables for the remainder of the day.  Sunday will be the final 8 of the champion board and final 4 of the second chance. The money saved and any other money over and above the $20k payback will be used to support teams that get into the money on the Championship board in the form of National vouchers. For example, vouchers will be worth the cost of team entry fees ($700+) and hotel rooms ($1400+) = $2100 that are reimbursable for cash as long as the team goes to the Nationals. This will give more teams an opportunity to go to the Nationals and encourage teams to use their winnings to participate in the National event. If a team chooses not to use the voucher, it will default to the next team in line that does.

With the voucher program explained previously, this is part of our plan. Keep in mind the letter we sent to the players in the packets is our initial proposal and nothing about that is set in stone.  Since that letter was sent, we have already made several modifications to the program and will continue to look for better ways to improve it. Our goal is still to be a Nationally-driven league. We want our players to go to the Nationals and believe this program for the future will allow us to actually send more teams than the current design.