golfweek.com/news/2012/jan/1 … es-needed/
Of course I have a better idea! 
Lag.
Would love to here your ideas going forward and also would like to know what you had to go thru when you graduated college was it different from today… and in which way harder,easier etc etc,
When i started on the Australian Tour in 1989, there was no Q school. You pre qualified on the Mondays of the Tourn, and if u made the cut, u got into the next event. Thats how it was. How I wished there was a place i could go, play 4,5, or 6 rounds and see if I made it. This travelling from state to state, pre qualifying on Mondays is for the birds.
Of course there were exempt players, but for all non exempt players, It was Mondays at some obscure course whose match committee wanted to protect their course records, so to add to the pressure of pre qualify, we all had to contend with tiger tees ( new area the captain mowed ) and crazy pin posistions.
Steve
Golf should be about who is playing good NOW!!!
All tours should have a healthy Monday rabbit culture. If you find a swing key, a magic touch on the greens or whatever, then you should be able to put that to use NOW!
Golf is fleeting for everyone who has ever played the game. If you feel hot, you should be able to go to a Monday Q and play your way into an event. Shoot 66 and you are in… and take that game into Thursday, and if you can do that again, and shoot another good solid round, you will be on the weekend board. Who doesn’t love a Cinderella Story?
There have been plenty of Monday Qualifiers who WON on Sunday. I remember Kenny Knox doing it.
Here is how you do it…
You exempt the top 50 Money list guys from the year before. If you are a star, you will be in the top 50 every year. Ditch the whole Q school thing, and open back up the Monday Q so you have 50 open spots every Monday. All the guys making the cut the week before are in… and make that number 60 and ties. Of course there will be some overlapping between the top 50 money list guys and the guys making the cut.
Those extra spots are given to the sponsor. Some guys won’t play every week… and let them take off when they want. They can come back to play if they made the cut in their last event as long as they are not taking off more than two events. Life happens and sometimes players need to take care of matters at home. If they take more time off… they can write for a sponsor exemption.
So typically on any given week, 35 of your top 50 are playing. 25 of those guys make the cut on average. So of course the other 25 non exempt guys are in also who made the cut. That’s 50 guys in. The Monday gets the another 50 guys in. That’s 100 guys. Now the sponsor can have about 25 spots to invite whomever they want. It’s their event, they are putting up the money, and let them put whomever they want in there. Star players from the past, celebrities, the winner of their corporate event… doesn’t matter. Let them have fun with it.
But the sponsor exceptions guys always are paired together the first two days and always get the last tee times, in the event they give spots to hackers.
Play TRGA Rules so golfers easily play tournament rounds in 4 hours or less.
Limit the overall field to 126. Tee off in threesomes. Seven groups per hour (21) for six hours. First Tee time at 8:AM. Last group off at 2 PM. 7 am is too early in my opinion. For a pro athlete to take the proper time to wake, stretch, warm up, eat, digest, drive to the course, hit a few balls and putts… that takes 2.5 hours minimum. No one should have to wake up at 4:30 am for a 7 am time.
So how many Monday Rabbits are there? As many as can get in a car and drive there. Put a 120 guys on 5 courses. That is still 10 spots on each course. Let the market demand dictate the entry fee. If 600 guys are traveling the circuit each week, and you charge $500 a player,
that’s $270,000 cash cleared after paying $50 to the Monday Q course per player. Remember, you still have another $38K coming in from the rest of the exempt field. $308,000. That’s a nice sum of money to rent a nice course and have a decent extra fund coming in for administrative costs and promotion. Some could go into the purse as well.
Am I Hired? 
or Fired? 
Hired 
I see professional golf as a privilege not a right. There is always somewhere to play. Too many exemptions lead to complacency and ultimately mediocrity. With a Monday culture… a semi star might be humbled into having to Monday in more often than they would like… but if there are 50 spots… then they should be able to do that. If they miss… they have another week to practice… or relax or whatever they want. I know I really got re focused during weeks off… even when out on the road. I would take time to play great tracks in the area… and see sights…take in culture and simply enrich the entire experience. 50 exemption spots is plenty. It’s tough, but it should be. Each week should have the best players and the hottest current players in the field. Best for both the tour, the players, and it keeps the dream alive for everyone.
Agreed
I agree
The Masters although one of the greatest venues in Golf very seldom has the best players playing........... The highest ranked players but not the hottest players in the field......... Read somewhere when Tiger was playing his best he felt there was only 10 guys he had to beat in the Masters.
The Open on the other hand allows someone to work there way in so in reality the hotter player wins or has a chance.
I like the Monday rabbit Qualifier idea you would have great players from all over driving in scooby - doo vans again! The sponsor idea has always irked me for some reason i understand they put the money in so they can choose but the chosen one is is very seldom a player who can make it ... a friend of a friend idea.
On another note Rankings bother me Luke Donald is our #1 player in the world not to take anything away from what he's accomplished so far but.......... we now live in a society where you have 0 majors and 1 U.S. victory and are ranked higher than others......... hence who's hot now idea would make more sense.In my book Wagner would be #1 after his victory this yr and would have to play great to stay there.
The best and hottest should play every week now you would have a true Golf Rankings.Every week, it’s like the bowling pins are reset and rankings and all that mean nothing as far as what is going to happen this week. Every round is a new day and opportunity. Even though I wasn’t playing in a tournament today, I struck the ball extremely well and carded a nice round. I would guess if the top 100 guys were out there today playing with apples to apples gear, less than a handful would have beat me… maybe a couple… maybe none. In golf we are playing the golf course, then only really comparing scores when it’s over. We are not really playing other people like other sports, tennis and team sports.
Lag,
Do you think your Monday qualifier idea would promote better golf swings? Do you think exemptions allow players to get away with questionable technique…if they hit it bad and miss a cut the just fly to the next event and hit the range with their instructor to iron out timing issues since they’re already in the event? Would your idea promote playing golf and hitting shots over driving range time and putting?
I’m not sure about the golf swing directly, but it would create a more competitive environment which is kinda what it is all about. If you really want a safe career with picket fence and a guaranteed pension plan… I think one would be wise to choose a different career. Golf doesn’t owe anyone anything. You can make a lot of money if you play well… but if you don’t play well, you just need to hope you made enough in the past to keep going. You can really burn through the cash living the pro golf life in a hurry.
I think you should turn pro because you love golf, and enjoy a much more volatile existence. It’s an adventure, and you need to have that kind of adventurous spirit to pursue it seriously. You need to love traveling, and committing yourself to the grind it can become… especially if you are not playing well.
I just don’t see pro golf as a game of entitlement.
The spirit of the game is about who is playing well now. Unfortunately, the spirit of the game and what makes $$$ don’t always jive together. Making money on Tour is about constantly developing and promoting new stars. I think that the Tour is finally realizing this and that’s why they made the attempt to change Q-School. The spirit of the game says Marco Dawson should get hot at Q-School and re-gain his Tour card. But, the business aspect says that the Marco Dawson’s of the world really don’t do the Tour much good.
I don’t think the Tour does a good enough job of promotion. Somebody like Kyle Stanley should be pumped up like the next great golfer. Even if he isn’t, the illusion is more important than the reality. They’ve done a good job with Rickie Fowler, who has not won a PGA Tour event. They’ve made him look like a bona fide superstar and people come out to watch him despite never having won an event. But, the Tour, from a $$$ perspective needs to do a lot more of that. And they won’t even have to worry about Q-Schools.
3JACK