Recreational multi-week league advice?

[12StonesScott]

So we have small (~10-20) but loyal group of advanced ams and pros who regularly play our Monday night singles and Thursday night random-draw doubles action at our local course. We'd love to get more people out, but newer players are reluctant to show up just to donate to the hot shots for singles, and they're all so intensely concerned with cashing that they can be overly critical of or intimidating to anyone who's not up to their standard as a doubles partner. Just taking the 10 or so I know offhand who're regulars, the average rating is just a shade under 950 (946.5, to be precise). There's only two or three who're under 900, and those are in the 890s. There is one 1000+ player among the regulars.

We've tried adding a plastic-only rec/novice division to singles, but haven't succeeded in getting more than one or two at most to show up. There's no lack of players around -- at any given time after work hours or on weekends, there are groups on nearly all 18 holes, and there are always plenty more non-action groups on the course during the Monday and Thursday night events.

At the same time, our parks and rec dept is pushing for our local club (affiliated with the dept) to come up with more regular events and such that would involve registering through their formal system for leagues, classes, etc., both to demonstrate a certain level of interest and to open up a regular revenue stream, however small.

One idea we've kicked around a bit would be to have a separate, rec-only weekly league, with no cash payout -- some sort of nominal prize for each weekly winner and the next couple of places, and a bigger prize at the end of the league season based on some kind of points for the entire season. We're thinking that by having it on a different night from the other action, and eliminating any cash payout, we can reduce the intimidation factor and

So, my questions are: has anyone succeeded (or failed) with something similar? What strategies have worked for getting people to turn out? What sort of points formats have you tried, and what has worked or not worked? As an individual player, what would motivate you to come out for something like that? What would be a reasonable fee to pay for the full 6- or 8-week season (and is that too long or short?)? Any other thoughts or ideas welcomed, of course.

[Keokuk Discer]

Why not try a handicapping system? That'll allow the less skilled players to compete with the good players and they may even win a few times. Most handicapping systems I've looked at reward consistency and the better players will be the ones that throw more consistent in the long run.

[ERicJ]

Why not try a handicapping system? That'll allow the less skilled players to compete with the good players and they may even win a few times. Most handicapping systems I've looked at reward consistency and the better players will be the ones that throw more consistent in the long run.
A lot of higher ranked players don't like handicap systems because they can get beat by lesser skilled players who threw 20 strokes worse than they did.

It's the inconsistency of the lesser skilled players that makes it difficult to devise a handicap system that is fair across a wide range of skills.

Playing devil's advocate there because I do run a weekly handicapped mini/league and it has taken a decent amount of work to get a system in place that enables competitive play across the field.

[Roc1Time]

A lot of higher ranked players don't like handicap systems because they can get beat by lesser skilled players who threw 20 strokes worse than they did.

It's the inconsistency of the lesser skilled players that makes it difficult to devise a handicap system that is fair across a wide range of skills.

Playing devil's advocate there because I do run a weekly handicapped mini/league and it has taken a decent amount of work to get a system in place that enables competitive play across the field.

I agree and I agree. They have tried that crap up here at one of our local courses and its just takes to long to get a good average. And yes the inconsistency is what kills it

[12StonesScott]

A lot of higher ranked players don't like handicap systems because they can get beat by lesser skilled players who threw 20 strokes worse than they did.

It's the inconsistency of the lesser skilled players that makes it difficult to devise a handicap system that is fair across a wide range of skills.

Yeah, that's been my impression. And while I'm a believer in the proposition that lower-skilled players can learn a lot and benefit from playing with better players, that's not happening around here -- they just get run off by the attitudes of the big dogs, or get tired of putting money in their pockets. That's one reason I was hoping to come up with something that would draw in the newer players and get them interested in competitive play in an environment free of all that, and of the emphasis on cashing, while being structured in a way that would make it of little or no interest to the more advanced players (no cash payouts, and probably held on a night that would deliberately conflict with advanced-level action elsewhere in the area).

Playing devil's advocate there because I do run a weekly handicapped mini/league and it has taken a decent amount of work to get a system in place that enables competitive play across the field.

Out of curiosity, would you be willing to share any details of what you've found to work?

[ERicJ]

Out of curiosity, would you be willing to share any details of what you've found to work?
See your PM's.

[mashnut]

What about doing A/B pools in doubles so that the best players are always paired up with less experienced players. That way there's the expectation in the A pool that they won't be getting another 950+ player to rack up the birdies with.