“They need to spread the wealth or my fear is that the PGA Tour may become the tennis tour"

Jon Show considers the many ways the PGA Tour could beef up the client-player experience, and while I enjoyed reading about the need for players to attend more cocktail parties so they could hear inane stories and share tips that won't work, this part is really what it still comes down too:

Players must commit to a minimum of 15 events to keep their tour cards. Most top players average around 20 events; Woods played 15 and 16 events his last two full seasons, down from a high of 21 in 2005.

“The power in golf is shifting into the hands of the players at a time when the players need to understand their importance to each community,” Seymour said. “That’s critical because they will kill the golden goose if they do not give back.”

Players have opposed the creation of a rule requiring them to play in every event within a certain number of years; Davis Love III, a player advisory council member, most recently voiced his resistance. But support is growing outside the locker room for something similar to the LPGA’s rule requiring the women to enter every tournament at least once every four years.

“They need to spread the wealth or my fear is that the PGA Tour may become the tennis tour,” said Bill Colvin, who consults on marketing for a number of PGA Tour sponsors.

So there is one good bit of news in this economic crisis: fewer (if any) competing events in the vein of Milwaukee or Reno in the coming years should help free up a few weeks on schedules, no?