Tired of people not renewing PDGA membership!

[ill4mation]

I can imagine the uproar when I sign up for intermediate at my next tourney with a pdga # in the 12000s. To be fair I haven't played a sanctioned event in at least 8 years.

 

[gcr_russell]

I have never competed in a disc golf tournament. I have competed in a rock climbing competition, which had a similar divisional format. "Bagging" (intentional or not) is a concern in these competitions too. All divisions compete on the same routes, similar to all golf divisions competing on the same course. Many comps have rules in place that state if you score a certain score or higher, you are automatically bumped up to the next division. Like if you threw back to back rounds rated 980+, you would be bumped to open regardless of what division you began in. Wouldn't this work in disc golf tournaments?

Regardless of whether or not it works is irrelevent. We currently have a system that works as well. If your rating is under 900 you're not baggin Rec you're playing your rating. If your rating is under 935 you are not bagging intermediate you are playing your rating. And no matter what your rating is in Advanced if you havent accepted cash in Open you can do what you'd like. Big surprise that whoever plays best within any division will win. The winners will always be playing above the level of the rest of their field. Oh well.

 

[Jeasy13]

That 10 bucks for a non member has nothing to do with ratings or record keeping. It's just a ploy to make money and justify members spending the money to join. If u were never a member then u will not have a member number or rating associated with anything concerning disc golf. And bagging happens all the time everywhere. But even a current pdga membership can't stop it. If a open player hasn't won in higher division he can patition to have his am status reinstated. So effectively after being out played he can become a bagger in am divisions with the blessing of the pdga

Wrong. In many ways.

You can't tell anyone that they can't play open

Wrong again. Try to register for MPO at an NT being a non or noncurrent member and let me know how that works out. Also, try to register for FPO in any event. You can't play "open."

To the OP... What's your rating?

 

[elnino]

In volleyball if you win you move up until you get to open.

if you switch partners(doubles) you can play another tourney at the lower level.

If you beat me....i call you a bagger!

One other thing is OPEN cost more money! i think about half of the baggers just want the lowest cost to play a tourney...they are making money if not playing open so bagging is kinda a cheaper way to play and compete.

 

[bbwrenn]

I've gotten called a bagger more times than I can count, to me it's become a compliment. The first tournament I ever played in all my friends called me a bagger because I played Rec, and on the last hole of the tournament after I'd thrown my drive and was guaranteed the win one of the people on my card said "Good, now that you've won you can move up" when it turns out he'd played and cashed out 4 times in Rec in 2 months, and was just mad because it was my first tournament and I beat him.

This x1000. The term has come to mean close to nothing. I got called a bagger last year for winning a tournament in the rec division, it was my 36th tournament I believe. If it took me 36 tournaments to win one, and the average division is like 15 or even less people, how hard can I really be bagging?

And the same guy who's won 5+ rec and intermediate tournaments this year took another jab at me a few weeks ago - "I see you finally moved up man! Good job!" - Meanwhile he goes on to place 4th in intermediate out of 27 people without even shooting up to his rating.

My point being, I'm not a bagger, never was, but he and many other people threw that at me just for winning a tournament in a lower division.

Get over it, ignore them, they're either jealous, stupid, or both.

As far as preventing true bagging, without dramatically changing the system, you can't. Even if you were willing to go the extra mile and make that huge change, I can't think of a system off the top of my head that would work any better.

 

[1978]

Bagger! Am I doing it right?

Kind of,but you didnt suggest an arbitrary number 5 pts above you rating that you believe all players higher than should be considered Pro.

You also didn't complain about how rich I am getting off selling my collection of DX Aviar/Roc player pack discs.

 

[DavidSauls]

Like if you threw back to back rounds rated 980+, you would be bumped to open regardless of what division you began in. Wouldn't this work in disc golf tournaments?

Among other reasons this wouldn't work, ratings aren't known at the time. It's possible to have unofficial ratings IF you have someone to upload scores to the internet.

I'm a 900-rated player who last year shot a 976-rated 1st round. Did that prove something? By the 4th round I shot an 834-rated round and was back around my average.

The big drawback would be punishing the player with the very hot rounds, while rewarding the player behind him with the pretty hot rounds because, suddenly, the top player would be pulled out of his division and he'd move from 2nd to 1st, by virtue of a couple of missed shots.

 

[jenb]

You can't tell anyone that they can't play open

You mean based on rating, right?

A TD can refuse entry to any non-PDGA member, and current PDGA membership is required at Supertour events.

If I understand correctly, a top local player who has never been a PDGA member could be told by the TD that they have to play open. But then the guy could just buy a PDGA membership and the TD would be forced to let them play rec, because they are a current PDGA member and don't have a rating. Is that right?

 

[Johnny_Crunch]

If they were smart they would make non PDGA members play in open. No membership no ranking no bagging. Easy fix. Still let's people play if they want to.

 

[DavidSauls]

If they were smart they would make non PDGA members play in open. No membership no ranking no bagging. Easy fix. Still let's people play if they want to.

Easy and simple and, in many cases, a bad idea.

We're trying to encourage our local casual players and guys who play in local leagues to give tournament play a try, because we think they'll like it. We know they're not very good and not well-versed on rules and protocol and etiquette. If they get hooked on playing tournaments, all that will come.

It doesn't help to offer them the options of (1) playing Open, paying the higher entry, getting creamed in score, and no doubt annoying many of the Open players, or (2) paying an extra $50 to join the PDGA, plus the entry fee, just to test the waters.

All to solve the problem of the rare or non-existent serial non-member bagger?

 

[Johnny_Crunch]

Casual players most likely aren't going to present the bagging issue and league players will have a documented average score that could be used to create a ranking close enough to make sure they don't bag. After saying that you might be right. Mountains out of mole hills.

 

[wake911]

Regardless of whether or not it works is irrelevent. We currently have a system that works as well. If your rating is under 900 you're not baggin Rec you're playing your rating. If your rating is under 935 you are not bagging intermediate you are playing your rating. And no matter what your rating is in Advanced if you havent accepted cash in Open you can do what you'd like. Big surprise that whoever plays best within any division will win. The winners will always be playing above the level of the rest of their field. Oh well.

Great points here. THe only problem is that the majority of baggers are at local non-sanctioned tournaments where people don't even have to pay the $10 pdga fee. That's where an out of towner can come in and play below their rating to "cash" some discs. I play advanced, so maybe that's why i don't see any baggers.

Here's a story. I played a local, non sanctioned tourney a few weeks ago. Guy comes in no one knew, played advanced. His round with us was about perfect, lowest score of the day, he finished 2nd. I thought there was a chance he was bagging. Looked him up on pdga.com, and found his rating was like 950-ish, and he was a true am player....some rounds in the upper 900's, some in the lower 900's....just happened to shoot really hot the 2nd round of the tourney....not a bagger (and no baggers in advanced unless you are a Pro level pdga membership in my eyes)

 

[DavidSauls]

Casual players most likely aren't going to present the bagging issue and league players will have a documented average score that could be used to create a ranking close enough to make sure they don't bag. After saying that you might be right. Mountains out of mole hills.

Pretty much. Or, more generally, if there's a non-PDGA member playing tournaments just to bag, hopefully a local TD will be familiar enough with him to put him in an appropriate division.

 

[Bugz36984]

Guess its just one of those deals where I'll have to get better and move to open to eliminate the frustration. Too bad I have a few years of am left. I've plateaued lately lots of practice in my future.

 

[notroman]

Guess its just one of those deals where I'll have to get better and move to open to eliminate the frustration. Too bad I have a few years of am left. I've plateaued lately lots of practice in my future.

It's kind of like skiing/snowboarding One of the many benefits of getting better is riding the black/double black runs where there are no crowds and the lift lines are short.

 

[dashiellx]

Pretty much. Or, more generally, if there's a non-PDGA member playing tournaments just to bag, hopefully a local TD will be familiar enough with him to put him in an appropriate division.

Can't a TD disqualify someone who is obviously "bagging"?

 

[giles]

I think some people get confused on what an open play is. The guys who play open at weekly league are probably intermediate players at best when you take them away from their home course and have them play a 4 hour tournamnet round.

 

[Jay Dub]

Can't a TD disqualify someone who is obviously "bagging"?

The TD's don't need extra work, that's all this would add plus a lot of drama when the player is told they're a bagger and must move up or are DQed from the tournament.

 

[DavidSauls]

Can't a TD disqualify someone who is obviously "bagging"?

No.

A TD must require rated players to play in a division for which they qualify. A player in a division for which he qualifies is, by definition, not bagging.

A TD doesn't have to accept a non-PDGA member at all, or can assign him to an appropriate division, or limit the choices to Open or Open & Advanced, as he deems best. (Except A-tiers and above, when they can't play).

The only gap I can think of is a brand-new PDGA member, not yet rated.

Besides, how would a TD possibly define "obviously 'bagging'"?

 

[DavidSauls]

Footnote: PDGA members are responsible for knowing what division they qualify for, and entering an eligible division. I suppose if a PDGA member entered the wrong division and it wasn't noticed until after the tournament began, he might be subject to DQ.