2013 Pro Worlds at Lemon Lake

[smyith]

the PDGA board and its associates are basically one big collection of good ole boys, unfortunately. rather thank take risks and hire people outside their circle, they always go back to the same people who do the same mediocre jobs.

and who did you vote for on the BoD this year? any of the good ole boys? what about all the years before that? did you do any local campaign for the new guys amongst your pDGA member friends?
in a system of voting if you want change you have to get rid of incumbents. the fact that these people are allowed to do this isnt their fault it is ours. we need to get rid of them and let new fresh ideas come in, and start the good ole boy circle all over again.
what i am trying to say is that it is OUR responsibility to make them change and walk a new path. until the membership decides to wake up and actually care, good luck, we will continue the same underground growth we have now. luckily a handful of people around the country have decided the pDGA isnt worth the time to work with and are making things happen without them. if you can and you care support them.

 

[jobwilson]

I voted for the two biggest outsiders on the ballot. They didn't win :-(

Me? I haven't been around long enough to be close to the inside

(Hey, gotta start campaigning for 2014 sometime.)

 

[sprintermatt]

disc has been found! :clap:

I'm the finder of that one! Got on the road before we could get it back to you. It's in the pro shop lost and found.

Matt

 

[Dana]

Ugh. Who else has poison ivy? How about poison eye'vy?
I got em both.

Really enjoyed all the MPO courses being on the same property.

I wonder how long before Worlds is back at Lemon? 2016 is my guess. Hopefully under new park management. Speaking of park management, I'm writing letters to the park manager and whoever her boss is. Its beyond me how poorly the park is managed. I suggest anyone who feels the same as me to do this as well. I'll post names/addresses when I track em down.

 

[Dave242]

the PDGA board and its associates are basically one big collection of good ole boys, unfortunately. rather thank take risks and hire people outside their circle, they always go back to the same people who do the same mediocre jobs.

This is way off the mark of what reality is. The "good ole boys" are good-hearted people who love the sport and are willing to do a ton of work and get compensated WAY below market value of what their work is really worth. They are essentially volunteers who get a small stipend to cover a few of their costs.

If the PDGA hired outsiders to do the work who were in it for the money, the quality of the results would be WAY lower and/or WAY less than what we currently get. "You get what you pay for" is a Principal for the free market economy you seem to be advocating for. .....and Volunteerism is outside of the the free market.

 

[TOURNEYPLAYER]

PDGA is a joke. the IDGC is cool. but the Org. is a laughing stock.

 

[#19325]

This is way off the mark of what reality is. The "good ole boys" are good-hearted people who love the sport and are willing to do a ton of work and get compensated WAY below market value of what their work is really worth. They are essentially volunteers who get a small stipend to cover a few of their costs.

If the PDGA hired outsiders to do the work who were in it for the money, the quality of the results would be WAY lower and/or WAY less than what we currently get. "You get what you pay for" is a Principal for the free market economy you seem to be advocating for. .....and Volunteerism is outside of the the free market.

You are spot on. The PDGA office is basically 6 paid positions trying to keep up with the mass amount of growth in the org. I've seen and talked to many of them at Worlds here and there and they work their butts off!

I will say this and keep saying this. The PDGA is a small org with a TON of volunteers. Without the TD's and players there is no PDGA. That's who the PDGA is.

I don't agree with every decision but they are making the best possible decisions to manage the PDGA. They aren't going to please everyone. Year to year with the volunteers of the host club they pull off an excellent Worlds event. The same top players come back nearly every year despite the payouts.

 

[LukeButch]

If the PDGA hired outsiders to do the work who were in it for the money, the quality of the results would be WAY lower and/or WAY less than what we currently get. "You get what you pay for" is a Principal for the free market economy you seem to be advocating for. .....and Volunteerism is outside of the the free market.

so lets just keep "compensating" these volunteers so that we can maintain the same status quo for our sport? Better to stick with the system we have because it isn't totally broken than to take any risks?

and why do certain volunteers get compensated when there are SO MANY more who do not? The PDGA has almost nothing to do with the sports growth, its all on the backs of local volunteers who build courses. Courses in the ground are whats growing this game, that and disc golf in schools.

I totally understand "you get what you pay for" lol...I mean I paid $8 for DGPTV and got $8 of value...but I and many others would gladly pay more for higher quality production. Just like in tournaments, there are people willing to donate for a quality experience.

 

[LukeButch]

. The same top players come back nearly every year despite the payouts.

that is because for top players their worlds entry fee is paid for by sponsors, and because the reward from sponsors IF they win far outweighs any prize money at the event.

 

[smyith]

Ugh. Who else has poison ivy? How about poison eye'vy?
I got em both.

Really enjoyed all the MPO courses being on the same property.

I wonder how long before Worlds is back at Lemon? 2016 is my guess. Hopefully under new park management. Speaking of park management, I'm writing letters to the park manager and whoever her boss is. Its beyond me how poorly the park is managed. I suggest anyone who feels the same as me to do this as well. I'll post names/addresses when I track em down.

im curious what gripes you have

 

[smyith]

because the reward from sponsors IF they win far outweighs any prize money at the event.

is this speculation or do you know for a fact? a few of the top pros i have had conversation with dont necessarily get compensation in the sense of bonuses, yet they go every year to worlds.

 

[New013]

if the PDGA is so poorly funded and they can't hire more experienced people to run parts of the org the players are having complaints about maybe they should spend the money they have more wisely.

30k for a terrible live broadcast of worlds is one example.

 

[Dave242]

so lets just keep "compensating" these volunteers so that we can maintain the same status quo for our sport? Better to stick with the system we have because it isn't totally broken than to take any risks?

You are correct that there is a big element of risk assessment when aligning oneself with 3rd parties to partner with. You may be in a position to understand the whole lay of the land and criticize decisions made.....but I certainly am not (even though I do have a little background with the PDGA and Brian Graham including discussions about me providing fulfillment services for membership).

Going with known parties that have a proven track record mitigates a ton of risk. Switching horses and getting great service from a new partner seems really attractive and might work out for a short time......but what happens when this new partner flakes out and you are left with nothing? What is worse?

Remember the whole magazine debacle? I forget the name of the magazine, but they certainly had flashy big promises.

 

[#19325]

that is because for top players their worlds entry fee is paid for by sponsors, and because the reward from sponsors IF they win far outweighs any prize money at the event.

I don't buy that. It's all about being world champion and that' the quest of all the top disc golfers.

If that were the case they would be better off hitting 2 events during the time they are at Worlds. The majority would have been making a better financial decision.

 

[Dave242]

I don't buy that. It's all about being world champion and that' the quest of all the top disc golfers.

If that were the case they would be better off hitting 2 events during the time they are at Worlds. The majority would have been making a better financial decision.

There are 187 1000+ rated current Pro members of the PDGA in the US. 60 of them were at Worlds.

There are 233 1000+ rated current Pro members of the PDGA in the World. 64 of them were at Worlds.

 

[#19325]

There are 187 1000+ rated current Pro members of the PDGA in the US. 60 of them were at Worlds.

There are 233 1000+ rated current Pro members of the PDGA in the World. 64 of them were at Worlds.

If I counted correctly 19 of the top 25 were there.

 

[wake911]

Ugh. Who else has poison ivy? How about poison eye'vy?
I got em both.

Really enjoyed all the MPO courses being on the same property.

I have it on a couple small patches on my legs. Got pretty lucky i guess, and I know with my scores (horrid) I was in the crap A LOT. I just hiked my knee high socks up each time before i walked in there and seemed to be pretty good.

Despite me being ENTIRELY under-rated for this tournament, it was one heck of a cool experience being in this tournament. I learned a lot about how to become a better disc golfer, and it fed a fire in me to get better.

I played one round with this ever so infamous Joe Bishop, (had no idea until this morning reading through this thread) and I gotta say, that was the most fun round of the tournament. We had a great group, and Joe was a fun guy. A bit rough around the edges, sure, but that was a very fun round of golf. It was the most enjoyable round of the tourney, despite being my second lowest rated round.

It was cool after my final round on Friday, i was able to catch a few holes of some of the top pros. It was cool, since NO ONE was just spectating that day, got quite a bit more crowded on Saturday.

I didn't finish DFL, which was my goal going in. Didn't get to play with anyone amazing, but met a lot of really nice folks, and was a great experience for sure. Getting to walk with the final 9 group (inside the rope with buddy from pdga) and being at the tee pad for every drive of that 9 was a great experience as well.

Hopefully this won't be my last worlds.

 

[coupe]

Going with known parties that have a proven track record mitigates a ton of risk. Switching horses and getting great service from a new partner seems really attractive and might work out for a short time......but what happens when this new partner flakes out and you are left with nothing? What is worse?

Remember the whole magazine debacle? I forget the name of the magazine, but they certainly had flashy big promises.

Ironic that you should bring up Flying Disc Magazine. (Apparently, doing business with good old boys is only a problem if they're not "OUR" good old boys.)

The 2011 Pro Worlds DVD debacle would be another example.

 

[coupe]

There are 187 1000+ rated current Pro members of the PDGA in the US. 60 of them were at Worlds.

There are 233 1000+ rated current Pro members of the PDGA in the World. 64 of them were at Worlds.

This may be an example of a factiod that falls into the "statistics" category of "lies, damn lies, and statistics," since there is no way of differentiating between the 1000+ rated Pros who did not attend Worlds due to lack of interest vs. those who were unable to attend due to other, non-competitive factors (work, family, deployment, injury, distance, cost, etc.)

 

[TOURNEYPLAYER]

so, what did we all learn from this years worlds?