This has probably been done before, but I don't remember reading it...
What is the impact of missing the top 100?
or
What is the impact of coming in at 217, 113, etc.?
How much does it hurt?
How much does it help to be on some list? (Top you can play, #14 in the State, etc.)
Side note:
I think John K said something about the top 100 really being the top 200. And, I think the Golfweek rankings and the Golf Digest rankings show the really slim margin that get's a course listed. The last 20 on the Modern List go from 6.78 to 6.68. On the GD lsit, Numbers 64 to 100 go 62.07 to 60.93. On the GM list after the top 17 (#1 at 94.92) the next 83 are 59.69 to 27.27.