The course is a very short 18 hole course. Tourney rounds usually take about 2 1/2 hours to play even with a full course so we used two pools making for four 18 hole rounds for the day. We have used this format at this event for about a decade with great success. In the past we have tried to keep cards to 4 somes with 18 groups (no ghosts), but this year saw 5 somes with several ghost groups as the park is not big enough to add temp holes.
This wasn't an intentional money grab or other nefarious shady TD activity. This event has seen a consistent 130-140 players for several years using this format. We were expecting about that many this year, too. I've never put a formal cap on players for this event as it's never been necessary. That will change next year! Up until about 3 days before the event we were on target for about 150 players. Over 60 players registered the day before or the day of which blew our preparations for number of players out of the water. I didn't feel it was fair to in state players to put a cap on the event so close to the event as it is a State Series event and many of the extra players were from out of state. And I didn't feel it was right to turn anyone away from the event as most players travelled 150-300 miles to be there.
This event is in a town of about 900 people that is located about 100 miles from any town with a population of over 10,000 people. It's truly in the middle of nowhere. Nearly everyone camped on site which is a big draw for the event so almost no one had to travel after the event. In no way did ANYONE think there would be this many people at the event and to be honest, I hope to never run an event with this many people using this format again. It was a very long day with slow play due to so many players. Having said that, nearly all of the players were proud to be a part of history for our state and understood that it would be a long day and still enjoyed themselves.