As of this morning, we have 58 players registered on the Sand Trap Tour. By the next tournament, all but three of them will have participated in at least one event. In January, when I began working on the schedule for this season, I was scheduling 28 slots at a tournament, thinking we'd be lucky to fill them. Boy, was I way off!
My number one goal in starting the Sand Trap Tour was to keep it affordable. The Sand Trap Tour is kind of a blue collared tour. Our goal is promote the game, but keep it affordable for those of us with families and bills. If you look at our homepage, there are only 2 times on our schedule where the course fees and tournament fees combined exceed $50.00. Both of these occur in months when we only have 1 tournament. Of the 3 months that we have 2 tournaments, you will never spend more than $100.00. In fact, the most you'll spend in any moth this season is $82.00. It is my goal to grow the tour to the point that we have enough leverage with courses to receive substantial discounts, but until that time, I have to continue to schedule us at more reasonably priced courses.
It amazes me when I think about the fact that we have grown 930% from where we started last April, and 350% from where we finished. That's 52 new players since last April, and 42 since November. Believe me when I say that we are already looking towards next year and how to make the tour better for everyone involved. The most ambiious goal we have is to field a minimum of 75 players per event in 2009 and have all shotgun starts. The next, and only slightly less ambitious, goal is to secure enough sponsorships to cover all prizes without players having to put in the $10.00 fees at each tournament. We will also be starting a South Carolina chapter and having some events in which members of both groups would participate, culminating in a post season Ryder cup format tournament between the tour groups.
If you have not had a chance to do so, please check us out at http://www.sandtraptour.com, and feel free to ask any questions you may have. We will continue to do our best to provide the best possible experience for our players, and we'd love to see you "on tour."
