Thanks guys for your kind comments. Stone's last sentence is spot on.
John and Frank were against handicaps back then and are still against it now. They are top players so I can understand why they don't want it. But the PGA Tour is a Tour that allows all different types of swings and devices. It's a Tour that should benefit from the use of handicaps. Like I said, we are just collecting data at the moment.
Z,
The only issue I see is that we have several swing methods with no realistic or plausible way to balance each so that we have a "level" playing field. I get where the top players come from. I get where others come from. IMO, the only real answer to this is to separate the swings into their own PGA TOUR if users truly want a "level playing field". Unfortunately, we don't have the numbers to pull this off without diluting the current tours. Having different swing options and interfaces is great for choice, but it makes competition very challenging since there is not true "balancing" of each swing to achieve parity from a gameplay challenge standpoint.
The handicap experiment on the RTS Controller Tour has been interesting as we are seeing some new names, but definitely scoring differences due to the handicapping. And turnout has doubled. Not sure how this would turn out on the PGA TOUR, but it would be interesting to say the least and heck if it double in participation, therein lies a "win" and we can tweak from there. I do not profess to have all the answers, but in a perfect world, I would love to see separate tours by swing method that drove participation through the roof.
Not sure that is of any help.....