PDGA Events w/o online registration

[corin_brown]

What's up with this? In this day and age?

 

[WhiteyBear]

Not everything needs online registration, such as league, and small local C tiers.

 

[markmcc]

I'm planning to play in a C-Tier later this month w/o online registration. The TD says that I can mail him a check or call him with my CC number, or just pay morning of. I'd rather do online registration but I guess they don't want to hassle with it so I'll pay morning of.

 

[corin_brown]

Of course. Talking about >C PDGA events.

 

[jeverett]

I'm planning to play in a C-Tier later this month w/o online registration. The TD says that I can mail him a check or call him with my CC number, or just pay morning of. I'd rather do online registration but I guess they don't want to hassle with it so I'll pay morning of.

I dunno.. having the players' list (and payments) already finished by the day of the event is a *huge* time-saver for the TD. Having to deal with registration day-of makes a ton more work for the TD (and their volunteers handling check-in), and basically just wastes a lot of everyone's time in the morning.

Leagues and small non-sanctioned events aren't really an issue, but even C-tier sanctioned events have the same (amount of) required documentation a TD must fill out as higher-tier events do.

 

[ru4por]

Even a tier C with 72 players should be on line. I am not technology driven, but a poorly run bigger tier C with everyone paying creates a ton more hassle than a poorly run bigger tier C with everyone just waiting for player packs and sign in. I have had a couple COLD mornings standing around for far too long already this spring.

 

[DavidSauls]

How about a C-tier with 30 players, only 4 of whom bother to pre-register? The TD might think it not worth the trouble of setting up.

 

[ru4por]

How about a C-tier with 30 players, only 4 of whom bother to pre-register? The TD might think it not worth the trouble of setting up.

Smaller tournaments certainly could be the exception, as well as well run ones. Many tournaments, even tier C, around here run on-line only. No cashless pre-reg at all. Most also fill. Making use of Disc Golf Scene seems to have a very heavy regional use in our area as well, making the online process pretty easy. I cannot speak to the advantage/disadvantage from a TD perspective, only as player.

 

[DavidSauls]

As a TD, I went to online registration a couple of years ago. Before that, I did not have internet access at home, which complicated things.

I ran a team play tournament last fall, in which only 24 people signed up, none of which were through the online system.

But I agree with the general premise. It's surprising to find a tournament without online registration and, at the very least, makes you wonder why. Maybe there's a good reason, but you wonder what it is.

 

[JC17393]

As a TD, I went to online registration a couple of years ago. Before that, I did not have internet access at home, which complicated things.

I ran a team play tournament last fall, in which only 24 people signed up, none of which were through the online system.

But I agree with the general premise. It's surprising to find a tournament without online registration and, at the very least, makes you wonder why. Maybe there's a good reason, but you wonder what it is.

First suspicion would be that the TD has no means to receive online payments (no paypal, etc). Of course, that wouldn't prevent him from using a service that handles transactions and sends him a check, such as DGU. Maybe he's simply trying to avoid dealing with the fees (either eating them or building them in to pass on to the players). Could just be a general distrust of technology. Even in this day and age, those people exist.

But the OP says the TD in his case offers to take a credit card over the phone, so if he has means of accepting that kind of payment, the lack of an online option is a bit baffling. Though unless there's a genuine fear that the event is going to sell out, I don't see the problem with handling the majority of sign-ups on tournament morning. If the guy prefers it that way, so be it. It's not like he's saying no pre-reg at all. He's just eschewing online payment.

Bottom line is if you want to pre-reg, cut a check and mail it to him (or call him with a CC). Boo hoo if it's slightly more inconvenient to you.

 

[DavidSauls]

But the OP says the TD in his case offers to take a credit card over the phone, so if he has means of accepting that kind of payment, the lack of an online option is a bit baffling.

I was in this situation for several years. I could take credit cards by phone, because I could run them through my brick-and-mortar business. I would have no idea how to set up an online registration myself, and the vendors weren't that convenient to me because I didn't have internet access.....and didn't get that much pre-registration, anyway.

Which is one way this might be explained.

*

I don't think I've personally encountered an event without some sort of online registration for 3 years or so. It is rather unusual, nowadays.

 

[scarpfish]

I know this is going to be a shocker to anyone reading this (as it's 99% likely that you're reading it online), but there's a whole host of disc golfers out there who don't do internet. No computer, no smartphone, no nothing. I in fact, registered a guy from my league online for an area tournament since he had no access to the internet.

 

[ru4por]

I know this is going to be a shocker to anyone reading this (as it's 99% likely that you're reading it online), but there's a whole host of disc golfers out there who don't do internet. No computer, no smartphone, no nothing. I in fact, registered a guy from my league online for an area tournament since he had no access to the internet.

This is truth. I am one of them...sort of. No cell phone of any kind, I do have internet though. Many forget these things are convenience not necessities. For the love of God, don't tell anyone under thirty though.

 

[topdog]

The Spring Fling in San Diego didnt have online reg just so more locals could get in.

 

[blarmour]

In A Perfect Disc Golf World...

As a TD who has run several sanctioned and non-sanctioned events over the last 3 years, I can only speak from my perspective. I would LOVE it if an event could be run with online pre-registrations! Unfortunately, in my experience, disc golfers, for whatever reasons, hardly ever pre-register. As someone said already, it is very discouraging for a TD to go to the trouble to set up pre-registrations only to have 35 players show up and only 3-4 pre-register. (Happens more times than I care to mention). I've tried making tournaments pre-registration ONLY and you still get those who show up the day of and want to play or risk losing players who don't want to commit to playing in advance.
My personal opinion is, I'd rather run all pre-registration events and if you don't want to pre-register in advance, then fine, don't play. No one is holding a gun to your head to make you. It's a choice. It does make the TD's job much easier, less stressful and makes the tournament run smoother. I suppose there will always be the fair-weather disc golfer who wants to wait and make sure the weather is going to be "perfect" for them before they decide to play. Or the disc golfer waiting to see if a "bigger and better" tournament pops up in the area before deciding where to play.
I've just learned not to worry about it.

 

[JC17393]

As a TD who has run several sanctioned and non-sanctioned events over the last 3 years, I can only speak from my perspective. I would LOVE it if an event could be run with online pre-registrations! Unfortunately, in my experience, disc golfers, for whatever reasons, hardly ever pre-register. As someone said already, it is very discouraging for a TD to go to the trouble to set up pre-registrations only to have 35 players show up and only 3-4 pre-register. (Happens more times than I care to mention). I've tried making tournaments pre-registration ONLY and you still get those who show up the day of and want to play or risk losing players who don't want to commit to playing in advance.
My personal opinion is, I'd rather run all pre-registration events and if you don't want to pre-register in advance, then fine, don't play. No one is holding a gun to your head to make you. It's a choice. It does make the TD's job much easier, less stressful and makes the tournament run smoother. I suppose there will always be the fair-weather disc golfer who wants to wait and make sure the weather is going to be "perfect" for them before they decide to play. Or the disc golfer waiting to see if a "bigger and better" tournament pops up in the area before deciding where to play.
I've just learned not to worry about it.

Pre-reg only becomes a necessity when events fill with regularity. If you're only getting 35-40 players at an event, no matter how much you encourage pre-reg, players won't do it. Why should they commit when they know they'll get in just by showing up on tournament day?

But if the event fills to capacity and players get turned away, you better believe pre-reg (online or otherwise) becomes extremely popular amongst the players. I've found all it takes is one time for players to miss out due to not getting signed up fast enough for pre-reg to become one of those "fills two days before the event" tournaments, then eventually one of those "fills in an hour two months before the event" tournaments.

Like with anything, it's all about demand.

 

[DavidSauls]

I know this is going to be a shocker to anyone reading this (as it's 99% likely that you're reading it online), but there's a whole host of disc golfers out there who don't do internet. No computer, no smartphone, no nothing. I in fact, registered a guy from my league online for an area tournament since he had no access to the internet.

I know a TD like this who runs a very successful event (fills to 100 quickly, some years in a matter of minutes). Luckily, about 5 years ago other club members took over the internet aspects, including setting up pre-registration.

*

For blarmour, we went to charing extra for day-of registration, which has helped some. If nothing else, those latecomers help with the bottom line.

 

[krupicka]

What have you been charging for day-of registration? We have been doing $5 and we still get plenty of people that pay that rather than register ahead of time.

 

[DavidSauls]

What have you been charging for day-of registration? We have been doing $5 and we still get plenty of people that pay that rather than register ahead of time.

$5 extra. I'm with you....but it has helped some, plus makes me feel a little better about the latecomers when they pay for the aggravation. Of course, it's not much different than the online service fee.

I have been, at times, one of the Saturday-morning registrants myself. Sometimes, I can't know until the last minute whether I can attend an event, and I recognize that others may be in a similar situation.

 

[corin_brown]

First suspicion would be that the TD has no means to receive online payments (no paypal, etc). Of course, that wouldn't prevent him from using a service that handles transactions and sends him a check, such as DGU. Maybe he's simply trying to avoid dealing with the fees (either eating them or building them in to pass on to the players). Could just be a general distrust of technology. Even in this day and age, those people exist.

But the OP says the TD in his case offers to take a credit card over the phone, so if he has means of accepting that kind of payment, the lack of an online option is a bit baffling. Though unless there's a genuine fear that the event is going to sell out, I don't see the problem with handling the majority of sign-ups on tournament morning. If the guy prefers it that way, so be it. It's not like he's saying no pre-reg at all. He's just eschewing online payment.

Bottom line is if you want to pre-reg, cut a check and mail it to him (or call him with a CC). Boo hoo if it's slightly more inconvenient to you.

This is interesting. I've played in the SoCal points series (all PDGA events) for only three years but there hasn't been a single event that hasn't sold out before the deadline, sometimes months before the deadline. It's always a frantic, anxious scramble to sign up. In fact the event at La Mirada this Saturday sold out all 100 spots within 24 hours of opening for business. Looks like the interest in regional tournaments from region to region is disparate. I still wish registration for all the SoCal events would be available online.