chrisironsbones:No one can ever say that Corwyn never puts a lot of effort into things
I'll take that as a compliment, Chris! Thanks!
chrisironsbones: All this work and effort should lead to something and deserves more not just recorded for the sake of it in spreadsheets. WGT, and other members should donate credits/ prizes to make It worth while for both Corwyn and players and kick start an uneven lie tour which players will want to play as It gives them even more incentive and all Corwyns efforts could lead to a proper tour
CerinoDevoti: I believe a proper UEL tour is the goal Corwyn is working toward.
You're right Chris and Cerino. A proper UEL Tour is my goal. I want there to be a way for the players that love this format to really test themselves against the best in the business. UEL is the most challenging format we can play on WGT, and so my argument is that I want there to be high-profile events, and top-quality fields showing their skills. And, I want merit-based qualification for events like the UEL Ryder Cup.
Also, I've put all this work into the spreadsheet for 2 other reasons: 1. As a learning exercise for myself, in how google sheets works, and 2. As an open-source resource for others wanting to set up tours of their own, within cc's, or in the community-at-large. There's no point in reinventing the wheel every time, and I'm ever so grateful to the excel geniuses that have pointed me in the right direction, and want to share what I've learned.
Unfortunately, this Tour initiative has coincided with two other developments. Firstly, the return of Elite gift cards, making it more likely that the top players will focus on tourneys with the biggest payouts only, and find it hard to justify playing free weeklies where only the top placed players will even return their ball usage costs... and, secondly, the introduction of yet another level of expensive ball (700cr), making the above economics even harder. I fear there'll be less likelihood of finding willing donors to sponsor community tourneys...
... and so far, there has been no news from WGT in response to the many suggestions we've made asking for higher purses for these UEL weekly single-play tourneys. My hope was that they could be assigned WGT Nation double-prize fund status, as a way to help incentivize this tour. Or, might WGT sponsor end-of-tour prizes... even for tour standings that were being held independently by a community member. Not sure if they would... ?
One other thing WGT could do is help promote the existence of this UEL Tour by doing a pop-up News item on it (as an example of what's happening in the community forums). If that helped get 100s, 1000s, more players to try UEL, perhaps that added ball usage could support increased prizes.
And, finally, I'm certainly open to offers of prize sponsorship for this Tour, so let me know!