HERMON – The XL Tour returns for a second season with four changes greeting its players.

Changes include the schedule, the addition of a voucher system, a season-ending championship tournament, and the entry fees.

The most prominent is the schedule, which now runs Saturdays during the spring and summer instead of last year’s spring and fall format. Along with that change comes the use of nine-hole courses during the summer portion of the schedule.

“Basically, it was my decision,” said Mike St. Thomas, owner of XL Golf in Hermon, which is the primary sponsor of the XL Tour.

“We were running anywhere from 36 to 76 players [in the fall events],” said St. Thomas. “That’s too inconsistent.”

St. Thomas expects the numbers to be closer to 50-55 up to about 64 (16 four-man teams). It’s closer to 100 for the 18-hole events.

“It won’t be more [than last year], we’re just looking to be more consistent,” he said.

St. Thomas, who was the tournament director in the XL Tour’s first year, said, “Part of [the dropoff], I think, was the eight weeks off. We lost continuity.

“And the other part was that the [Maine State Golf Association] has such a great schedule in the fall. They play a lot of great central Maine courses. It’s tough to compete on that basis.”

That prompted the switch to the spring-summer format. That change also necessitated the use of nine-hole courses. The tour used 18-hole courses exclusively last year, but those are generally unavailable for weekend tournament play in July and August.

“We’ll see how it goes this year with the summer schedule,” said St. Thomas.

The major difference between the 18-hole courses and the nine-hole courses is that fewer players can be accommodated on the smaller courses.

More than 16 teams and the pace of play suffers, he said, and getting players home early has always been a major point for the tour. which uses early morning shotgun starts for most of its events.

“Most of my players are blue-collar workers and they can only play weekends,” he said. “They want to be back in the afternoon with their families because they do work during the week.”

The 18-hole shotgun events will be limited to 25 four-man teams, while Belgrade and Samoset will be able to accommodate a few more players because regular starting times will be used.

The voucher system allows players to redeem their credit at facilities other than tour sponsor XL Golf in Hermon.

Now besides XL Golf and the participating courses, the vouchers can be redeemed at Pro Golf Discount in Bangor and Wight’s Sporting Goods in Bangor, both of which are also tour sponsors. The vouchers have to be redeemed for merchandise, but not necessarily for golf merchandise.

“For instance,” said St. Thomas, putting himself in the place of the average person, “I might not need golf clubs, but maybe my son needs a new soccer ball.”

A points system will be used to determine qualifiers for the championship tournament.

For the championship, the top 64 point earners will play for gross and net crowns. That means about one-third of the approximately 200 players he is expecting to sign up will qualify.

He knows not all of them will be able to play in every tournament.

“Only one player played every event last year,” he said.

That’s why he’s instituting the point system.

Players get a point for competing in a tournament and points for how well they finish, said St. Thomas. The tour will give out prizes to the top four gross and top seven net, $150 for first based on 100 entries.

This year, the entry fee has been lowered to $35 per event plus $5 for the optional skins competition. Last year it was $37 and $3.

The first tournament at Palmyra Golf Course on April 21 has been postponed already. St. Thomas hopes to work it back into the schedule in August. He’s still not sure if Rockland will ready to host his event on April 28.

St. Thomas is optimistic about the season, though, for both the courses and the players.

“Hopefully, we’re giving everyone a win-win situation,” said St. Thomas.