The NHC Tour is an excellent deal. This is the first year where it's been priced realistically ($45) and you have multiple opportunities to qualify for the NHC for free. Once you join every time there's a free qualifier you're notified by email and you also receive notifications about tournaments throughout the country. Once the schedule is finalized it will be available at
www.ntra.com/nhctour
You also need to join if you plan to play in any qualifier at any point during the year. There are currently $100 qualifiers going on at
www.nhcqualify.com where if you finish in the top 30 you will be in a group of 90 that play for 9 NHC spots. The NHC itself, as some of the other members on this board can attest, is a tremendously exciting event. It is well worth it to try to get there.