Sorry I don't have a Funk and Wagnalls handy but *I* feel that elitism is
the difference between the haves and the havenots. Therefore it seems to me
that raising the price even more is a worse form of elitism. I'm not young
any more (to most people) I've made one event this year (I take care of the
purse strings not my SO), and I find the entry fees somewhat of a barrier
but not as much as the cost of tires and travel (thanks to the 60%-80%
increase in fuel in Indiana). Still I plan to attend a Divisional, and
National (as I have since 1978) because of the people that are there. Have
I *ever* stood a chance at winning????? (ok those that know me can stop
laughing) NO. The suggestion of making the events a mini-national with two
courses I think is the best one made. If this caused the entry fees to rise
by 15%-20% that would be manageable and *well* worth the extra money. Being
not sure how the Tour events are managed (whether it is done entirely by
National, or "sub-leased" to a region to do) it seems that if we have more
events things will go the way of the roadracers....burnout and having to
choose which ones to miss. Also if the events are primarily staged by
National there may be a definite limit to the resources they are allowed to
allocate to Tour events. For this reason the two course format would allow
more entries, and really give the new entrants a flavor of what National is
about.
I remember seeing this growth a problem at Nationals about 10-15 years ago.
That was when they went to the 4 day format. When we had 200-400 entries it
seemed that the 2 day format worked well with the two courses.
in HIS grace thru Jesus,
Don
It was written....
>Should there be some sort of additional prerequisites needed to enter?
>
No!!! that is elitism and other sports have that problem already. Simply
raise the price
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