Can you believe that the 2013 season begins in just a little over 2 months? I know I can’t believe it but I do know that I am excited for the season to begin. We have worked hard on making changes for 2013 season in hopes to get more players and to make the tournament season more enjoyable for you the player. Below I have broken down the changes that we have made. Feel free to email or call me if you have any questions.
Schedule
Our 2013 schedule is the best schedule that the Hilton Head-Savannah Tour has ever had. We have decreased the number of tournaments that we are playing in 2013. Last year we played 20 tournaments and averaged 22 players per tournament. In an effort to increase our numbers per tournament, which means there will be more in the prize pool, we have decreased our number of tournaments to 14 for 2013. We will have 2 2-day tournaments, the Ice Breaker and the Southern Regional. We will again have 5 major tournaments.
Trophies
Over the past month, I have been keeping track of the responses to the survey that I put out for everyone to respond to if you wanted. One of the biggest issues from last year was the trophies. Some players wanted to get rid of them while others wanted them to be bigger. After much conversation we have decided to keep the trophies in place. For the regular tournaments, the trophies will be a smaller oval trophy with all the information engraved on it (course, date, flight, Golfweek tour logo). For the major tournaments we will be handing out silver plates with all the engraving on it as well.
Prize Fund and End of Year Prize
Another issue that was expressed to me throughout the 2012 season was winning more money. In an effort to accomplish that, I have made the following change. For each tournament an extra $5 per person will go into the prize fund. Now $25, instead of $20, of your entry fee goes into the prize fund. This means that if you have 4 players in your flight, the winner will win $100 instead of $80. As always, the more players you get to play, the more you will win.
Last year the winner of each flight won $163 (1/2 the entry fee into the national championship) at the end of the season. This year we are going to change things up a little. We are going to do something very similar to what the Columbus tour did last year. At each tournament $5 per player will go into an end of the year prize fund. At the end of the season, we will take the total in the prize fund and divide it by 5 and that will be the flight winner prize (example: if we have 30 players per tournament the prize fund would look like this: 30 x 5 = 150, 150 x 12 = 1800, 1800/5 = 360 to the flight winner). Now if we have more players we will be able to pay out first and second place (Columbus paid out the top 3 in each flight with 1st getting $600, 2nd getting $400 and 3rd getting $200).
Final Thoughts
1) I encourage everyone to go out and spread the word about the tour. I have said it numerous times and I will say it again, the more players we have, the move we can win. Go out and recruit players to join our tour. The best way to get players and to spread the word is by word of mouth.
2) Last year we had 61 members on our tour. That is up from 50 the year before. I have set a goal of hitting 75 members this year. I truly believe that we can hit 100 members if we get out and spread the word.
I look forward to seeing everyone next season and I hope to continue to build our tour and make our tour one of the best tours!
Keith Weaver
Kweaver1976@gmail.com
419-631-1151