Biggest reason people don't play tournaments

[Brokensaint]

For me, tournament play is a very selective process. I will check the calendar and pick 2 or 3 events I'd like to play, most typically 1 out of town event (Bowling Green, Axiom First Flight...this year GBO)
and maybe a couple more local.
I am much more interested in spending my time and $ to road trip and play new courses at my own pace. We can drive 4 hours in any direction, play 4 plus a nine holer in a day, one night hotel, and 3 more the next and home before midnight for less money than an at-home tournament.

 

[DavidSauls]

Final 9's are never needed. Hardly any of your one day events have them anyways.

I hate them. The poll was on not playing tournaments, in general. But Final 9s are a reason for me to not play a particular tournament. Luckily, they're not too common around here.

And I'll confess that we did them for two years at Stoney Hill. Or, more accurately, a Final 6. One year we did it for most divisions; the other, just for Open and Advanced, and only the top 4. That wasn't so bad, as I spent that time finishing up the scores and payouts for the other divisions, and for the players, it was the time they'd spend waiting for the awards anyway.

But I still hate them.

 

[DavidSauls]

For what it's worth, my treatises on teetimes are from experience in playing in a half-dozen or so events that used them, plus the considerable time we spent on logistics for the Earlewood Classic, only to discard the plan. I generally like them. But you have to know going in that they have their own unique issues.

 

[MonsterDog]

It's simple for me. As good as I would like to think I am, I'm not. No distance at all and short game is pretty bad. It would just be embarrassing.

 

[b-mart]

I'm a terrible disc golfer. I don't like paying to look at my name at the bottom of a list. I can do that in casual rounds. So I focus my time, energy, and attention on running, because I'm a 1000 rated player when it comes to that.

 

[ThrowBot]

A couple of unique formats that can help with the timing and time commitment issues:

Earlier this summer there was a 2-disc scramble here in Billings put on by Lat 64/DD/Westside. They were there all day and you could show up and play whenever you wanted. Basically it was a pick-your-own-tee-time event, which avoids some of the downsides of tee time play.

Another format, which we used for our park league end-of-summer "tournament":
We picked a 1 week time frame with several days/times where folks could show up to play 18-hole rounds. Everybody had the option to play as many of those rounds as they wanted, but the final results only considered each player's best 2 rounds. This format gave more people a chance to compete by offering flexibility in the time commitment. A single scheduling conflict didn't preclude anybody from playing.

 

[DavidSauls]

The more formats, the merrier. The more ways to enjoy disc golf and disc golf competition, and the greater variance of times and days of the week, the more disc golfers can find the sweet spot for them.

 

[DavidSauls]

For myself, I love the competition of organized tournaments, and prefer 2-day events which feel more like a "full" tournament to me. I wish I could play a lot more. The alternatives are compromises---a 1-day, 2-round tournament, or league play, or any of these other ideas. My free time is limited, and I'll take what I can get.

I understand those who feel, Heck, I could play 5 casual rounds in the time it takes to play one day of tournament golf. For me, though, casual rounds are not tournament rounds, so it's not the same. I already play plenty of casual disc golf.

 

[Dr.Smooth]

Pre pay through pay pal or something. Or mail your check.

Upon payment you get a tee time.

Sounds like a good thing. No damn meeting before the event. No waiting in line.

Good point about how ball golf does it. Yeah the've been playing that sport and tourneys for well over a hundred years.

 

[corin_brown]

For me, though, casual rounds are not tournament rounds, so it's not the same. I already play plenty of casual disc golf.

Exactly right.

I'm an action junkie. Tournaments provide awesome action for my $. I had no idea tournaments could be that exhilarating until I played in my first one. The competition was intoxicating. Casual rounds have zero action, zero competition.

 

[scarpfish]

Casual rounds have zero action, zero competition.

They don't have to not have those things. You and your buddies can always spice things up with some skins or other type of wager. Ball golfers do it all the time.

 

[DavidSauls]

Exactly right.

I'm an action junkie. Tournaments provide awesome action for my $. I had no idea tournaments could be that exhilarating until I played in my first one. The competition was intoxicating. Casual rounds have zero action, zero competition.

It's not that, to me. Casual rounds have competition against my average and best scores. Or against the people I'm playing with. Local league play has competition. It's just that tournaments have it, dialed up many notches. Winning a 4-round tournament, with all its ups and downs, feels far different than winning over the same group of buddies. Though the latter is still fun.

When I blow a shot or a round in casual play I think, well, there's always tomorrow. When I blow one at a tournament, well, there's always next year (at that event). A bit of a difference.

 

[DavidSauls]

----but I make no presumption that everyone should feel that way, or that there's anything wrong with those who don't care for tournament play.

Only that tournament rounds are not very comparable to casual rounds. Nothing wrong with liking one or the other, or both.

 

[cc0049]

The Trophy Club tourney was a beat down eh? Seemed like the longest rounds of all time! It's always fun but the time commitment is the biggest issue for me. Take this past Sunday for example...I was at the park at 7:30am and didn't get out of there until 7:30/8:00pm....I was wrecked after that and the whole day was gone by the time I got back home to my family. I did get my first PDGA win though...so I shouldn't complain too much.

Man, it was fun, but the pace of play was horrible. All it took was one guy who took way too long to throw every time. Eventually we had to warn him about the 30 second rule. He slowed our whole card down significantly and then was one card ahead of us the second round and we waited on the tee box almost every hole for him and his group to finish before we could tee off. The first round took almost 4 hours and I didn't pay attention to what time we finished the 2nd round but it being the long pins instead, it had to be at least 4.

The pace of play and having to sacrifice a whole day are my biggest reasons for not wanting to play tournaments. I love them, but those 2 things are killers for me.

If round time could be reduced to 2 1/2 hours tops I'd be much more interested. Maybe there should be a 15 second rule instead of a 30 second rule. Theoretically that would cut round time by half, right? Plus, the rule needs to be enforced. No one wants to call anyone on it, but we have to. 30 seconds seems like forever when you count it out. It could definitely be reduced and I really think it should be reduced. Other than not having the time to commit to playing a tournament, slow pace of play is the number one reason people don't play them. That can be fixed.

 

[scarpfish]

Maybe there should be a 15 second rule instead of a 30 second rule. Theoretically that would cut round time by half, right?

Theoretically. In reality, there will be no substantial time benefit unless....

Plus, the rule needs to be enforced. No one wants to call anyone on it, but we have to.

Yeah that. The thing is, most of us don't take anything near 30 seconds and a lot of the backups are caused by looking for wayward discs and retreiving them, which don't count against the 30 seconds anyway. The thing is, proper enforcement of the rules is itself can be a tax on time. If you want things to move along faster, you invite an environment where people let things slide (which they really shouldn't) in the interest of getting done quicker.

Other than not having the time to commit to playing a tournament, slow pace of play is the number one reason people don't play them. That can be fixed.

But you can only fix it so much, and often at the expense of a TD/club/vendor who would probably like as many bodies as possible. Not having fivesomes would help a lot, but the TD may not want to kiss 20% of his players goodbye to make the other 80% get home earlier.

But like I said, as long as one person not playing tournaments because of these matters is replaced by two more fresh faces, nothing is going to get any better.

 

[BuzzzChief]

I would love to play tournaments more. It's just too much time. It basically kills an entire weekend day, and those are really valuable to me. I can play a morning round and be back before lunch.

 

[cc0049]

Tee times are no panacea for the pace of play. Well, they are for the first group. If you're the 18th group or later, it's no different from a shotgun start.

And if you have 18 groups, teeing 10 minutes apart, the last group tees about 3 hours after the first, and finishes the same.

You also have to dispense with the player's meeting, or you've got people waiting around 1, 2, 3 hours. Same with awards. If you've got people who travel together but have tees, say, 1½ hours apart, they spend a lot of time hanging around.

If you have 2 rounds you have to keep cards together, and it limits how many groups you can half.

Awards can be mitigated by keeping divisions together, scoring and paying them off as they finish, instead of waiting for everyone and having a ceremony.

In short, there are some benefits, but speeding play isn't one; and a number of logistical issues to deal with.

*

By all means, try it. I'm very much in favor of variety. I've played a number of tee-time events, particularly some with 1 round per day for 2 days, and it works. But, for various reasons, they included rounds that lasted over 5 hours.

Best tournament I ever played used tee times to play one round of 30 holes on Saturday and one round of 30 holes on Sunday. Rounds still took a while, but not nearly as long as shotgun start and you didn't have the waiting around on the tee boxes for the card in front of you to finish.

Dispensing of the player meeting sounds great to me. They are usually pointless anyway, just give me a rule sheet.

That does stink for out of town players riding together to have to wait around, but won't apply to most, at least not where I live.

Tee times, 30 to 36 holes straight through, one day event would be my ideal tournament. Even better if they limit cards to 4 players.

I realize this makes for a long day for the TD and has it's own challenges, but as a player, this is what I want. The traditional format ain't cutting it and I'm about to count myself amongst the masses that have given tournament play the boot.

I've already quit joining the PDGA because I know I won't play enough tournaments to get my money's worth.

 

[DavidSauls]

Best tournament I ever played used tee times to play one round of 30 holes on Saturday and one round of 30 holes on Sunday. Rounds still took a while, but not nearly as long as shotgun start and you didn't have the waiting around on the tee boxes for the card in front of you to finish.

Dispensing of the player meeting sounds great to me. They are usually pointless anyway, just give me a rule sheet.

That does stink for out of town players riding together to have to wait around, but won't apply to most, at least not where I live.

Tee times, 30 to 36 holes straight through, one day event would be my ideal tournament. Even better if they limit cards to 4 players.

I realize this makes for a long day for the TD and has it's own challenges, but as a player, this is what I want. The traditional format ain't cutting it and I'm about to count myself amongst the masses that have given tournament play the boot.

I've already quit joining the PDGA because I know I won't play enough tournaments to get my money's worth.

All good ideas. One of my favorite events used to be 27 holes per day on an epic course, shotgun start but you played straight through. It took most of the day. Whenever, in the general vicinity of lunch time,you passed HQ, your card stopped for 1 hour lunch, then got right back in place.

At our place we limit play to foursomes, and I'm more and more drawn to events that do the same.

However, there are other masses of players filling events to 90 (fivesomes) with the traditional format. As long as they're voting this way with their dollars and attendance, it's not going away. The best we can hope for is more TDs trying out more alternatives.

 

[cc0049]

But like I said, as long as one person not playing tournaments because of these matters is replaced by two more fresh faces, nothing is going to get any better.

I meant to comment on this earlier. You are exactly right. I know this too well. It is a good thing that the sport is growing and we have these fresh faces that are all giddy about their first few tournaments (as many of us were including myself), but I just can't sustain the interest. If I was at least making money from tournament play, that might be a different story, but sadly I don't.

 

[Stardoggy]

Tee times are a horrible idea. I don't want a two round tournament to take two days...that's just silly. Also, if the lead card (or 2nd or 3rd) is slow, then everybody is slowed down, regardless. I'd NEVER play tournaments if they were set up this way.

Capping tournaments at 4 person cards would be the biggest help, IMO.