Is it possible, or even desirable, to create two (2) flights to address the issue of cheating, tiers, and the seeming disconnection between the two. I want to preface my post by saying that I do not believe players cheat and, as amazing as their scores may seem, I realize that a lot of note-taking, practice, and time goes into shooting those scores. Kudos to those player, but I am not one of them. As a Master player – who quite frankly is anything but – I do not shoot in the 50s and in all honesty, probably never will. I do not play enough, nor do I have a desire to play as much, as would be required to keep pace with the players who do. Therefore, I have this suggestion:
Make two (2) flights – competitive vs. non-competitive – and allow players to choose a flight. In an effort to keep the competitors in their appropriate flight, the non-competitive flight WOULD NOT offer any of the “monetary” rewards of the competitive flight, but would be for “bragging rights” only. This should deter the true Masters from competing in the other flight because there is no reward in it. In addition, I suggest factoring the number of ranked and practice rounds into each players scoring average to help determine flight. Thus, someone like me (with only 100+ rounds) can compete against players with similar experience and practice. Once a player reaches a certain number of total ranked rounds, they are automatically kicked into the competitive flight. At my current pace, it would take me ten (10) years to reach the number of rounds that the best players play in a year.
I love this game and it is a great way to relax. However, it would be nice to gauge my play against other players in a way that is meaningful and truly competitive. Comparing my scores to players who shoot twenty (20) shots lower than I do is not very enjoyable and I believe I am not alone. I believe a my suggestion, or some version thereof, would help make the game more enjoyable to more players.
I apologize for the long post and best of luck to all of you.