This is a much simpler version of the International Golf Association; in fact, it has very little resemblance to it at all. The IAGP Tour will be a season of group tournaments, meaning that teams will be made and players will play rounds to rack up points for their respective teams. Each week, a new tournament will be announced; each team will be alloted 32 rounds to play throughout the week. Tournaments could be like, "The Kiawah July Open". Teams will be made up of eight players, of varying skill level. The ranking system for the IAGP Tour is one that allocates points based on how much under par a player was in a round, and how close to the leader in a tournament a player was. Like the IGA Tour points system, points allocated are relative to the tournament's average: above average = more points, below average = fewer points. Some tournaments may have more points pools than others; for instance, tournaments that are "International Challenges" are the equivalent of majors (and so more points can be allocated), but those that are "Tiered Opens" are like qualifying school, or Q-school (and fewer points are allocated). Individual rankings will also be posted; ranking high in this section nets your team extra points. Depending on the amount of players that enter, the IAGP Tour will be broken down into conferences and divisions, like most major sports (at least in America!). Each team will have a general manager that basically runs everything, like collecting and submitting scores. The twist to this game: everybody has a monetary value. That's right, you have to pay for your players. Just like baseball, hockey, football, basketball, and almost every other sport in the world, general managers have a budget which they can spend on any players they like. If you go over your budget, you will have to pay the IAGP Tour a luxury-tax, which may affect your budget for the next season. General managers must negotiate contracts with players; these can be for a period of time ranging from 1 week to 20 years. The first-year draft will take place at 8:00 AM on a date to be named later (obviously, we need time for people to start signing up and so on). Some people may sign up in the middle of the season; these golfers will be placed in the free-agent pool. Because we are shooting for an August start (and seasons will last eight months), free agents may be signed from August 1 to February 31, and again from April 15 to July 31. Trades may be made from August 1 to January 31, and again from April 15 to July 31. However, general managers may decide to place players on waivers; this means that the player is available to any team who wants him for two weeks, although he continues to play for his current team until he is picked up. If no team takes the player, he is released, and paid half of his current salary. If a team does take the player, that team pays the player half of his current salary, and the former team pays the other half. Waivers can be made at any point throughout the season. Players do not receive any money, but they receive all-important ... bragging rights! Being worth $30 million is basically like being the best player in golf. During the draft, and during the free-agent periods, each player will have two dollar values beside his name: the money he deserves, and the salary he last had. Obviously, first-year players will not have the latter, but the former can be key: even draft picks must negotiate contracts with their drafted teams! Teams will have one month to sign their draft picks; if they are unable to do so, the draft picks will be placed in the free-agent pool, available to everyone. Contracts may include extras like increasing salary (i.e. earn $5 million one year and $6 million the next), player options (i.e. two-year contract with player option for third), team options (i.e. four-year contact with team option for fifth), no-trade clauses (self-explanatory, although no-trade clauses can be restricted by amount of teams unable to be traded to), and free-agent restrictions (players are available to be signed by other teams, like a free agent, but if they are signed, the signing team must pay the former team a fee, depending on the size of the contract; if they are not signed, they return to their current team). Draft picks can be traded (i.e. trading a team's second- and third-round picks for another team's first round pick, or trading a player for another team's second-round pick), but compensatory round picks cannot. The compensatory round is an extra round for teams who have lost major players to free agency the previous offseason (the threshold for "major players" will be determined later). Playoffs will be held in March; the world championship will come later that month. There will be a two-week hiatus during the season (dates TBD) during which the Tanks Cup will be held: similar to the Ryder Cup, it's a four team event between the U.S., the rest of the Americas (aka the Americas), Europe, and the Africasia region (Africa + Asia = Africasia!). This has no effect on the world rankings, but like the Ryder Cup, winning the Tanks Cup is a cause for major bragging throughout the WGT website. Please start signing up today, and we would d love to hear any comments or questions you have.