Cant say Im happy about this, either.
I think I represent the exact player that really has no shot of making a profit in these tournaments.
I dont play ready go's often, but dabbled in the old scoring system and played a couple this past week without really looking at how the payout changed.
Shot a 64 (-8) at St. Andrews and finished tied for 8th, with 4 others shooting 63 in front of us, and then a 62, a 59 and a 57 (really -15?).
If I cannot turn a profit with one of my best rounds in the clutch, there is absolutely no reason to continue playing them. I am actually losing money by breaking even because I have to think of the cost of the balls that I am playing as well.
I cannot possibly think how this could be considered a good thing for your player base. Take a look at Multi-Table Poker Tournaments, with respect to payouts. Nobody is playing to hope to lose a "little" bit of money. All payouts should be equal to or better than your buyin, IMO. Even if this comes at the expense of the top payout, as there is variance with respect to wind and pin placements, so even the top players should be in agreement that the best player will not win every ReadyGo they play.
If you are worried that players cannot afford to lose 5 Ready Gos before they place in the money, then why not offer 25 credit satellites to the 100 credit ready gos?
You can have 11 people who qualify for the 100 token ReadyGo, with 12th place getting another 25 credit satellite entry.