Biggest reason people don't play tournaments

[cc0049]

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.

Yes, and TDs deserve to make as much money from running the tournament as they can for their time and work. I wish I had a solution that was a win-win for both players and TDs.

I can tell you this, I'd be willing to pay a higher entry fee (with less coming back in payout) in order for cards to be capped at 4.

Don't get me started on ghost cards and crap temp holes added to courses for a tournament. That is a TD crossing the line into benefitting only themselves and taking away from the quality of the event.

 

[JC17393]

The trend here in the northeast over the last few years has been toward reducing fields from maxes of 90 to maxes of 72 (for 18 holes). The majority are and have always been of the one day variety as well. It's sooooo much for the better. Rounds play smoother overall and events wrap up at a reasonable time. For courses/events that are quick sell-outs or super popular, they have started doing split day events...pros on Saturday, ams on Sunday, that kind of thing. It has also allowed for multiple tourneys to happen on the same weekend within 100-200 miles of one another, sometimes closer, and they all still fill or get close to it. At least around here, the days of needing to be a) the only show in the state/region for the day in order to draw a good crowd and b) needing to cram as many people as possible into the event (5somes with ghost cards or temp holes) are a thing of the past.

 

[DavidSauls]

I almost dropped out of a tournament this year that was limited to 72, then opened up for more at the last minute because of demand. Now, the next tournament I'm registered* for is a traditional 90 that has cut back to 72, on a fairly short course so rounds should be 2½ hours, maybe less, and I'm happy.

* - except that I'm injured again, in keeping with the main theme of this thread, so probably will have to drop. Sigh.

 

[Chiefstang]

LMAO at the people saying a 15 minute player meeting ruins their day. As a TD, those 15 minutes are there to go over rules of the course, but are also there to thank the sponsors and volunteers that put in the hours, weeks, and months to make sure your round goes as perfect as it can. Show some respect and listen, it may save you a stroke and it also makes you.... Polite.

 

[Jay Dub]

LMAO at the people saying a 15 minute player meeting ruins their day. As a TD, those 15 minutes are there to go over rules of the course, but are also there to thank the sponsors and volunteers that put in the hours, weeks, and months to make sure your round goes as perfect as it can. Show some respect and listen, it may save you a stroke and it also makes you.... Polite.

There are other methods to do all of those things without a players meeting. A .pdf of all the course rules with the names of the sponsors and volunteers could be available online when the player pre-registers and hard copies can be located at tournament HQ.

If the players don't read it they get penalized.

 

[jeffmonty]

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.

This is probably going to be my reason for playing fewer tourneys next season. We've got a couple local guys that do this, and I just don't get it. These guys have played the courses numerous times, and I've watched them walk up to a routine up shot and struggle with deciding what disc to throw and how they're going to throw it. I (and most players) start thinking about my next shot at the earliest opportunity, not when I get up to my lie. Sure, sometimes you have to make an adjustment now and then, but not EVERY TIME.

If these guys were new players, I would have a bit more patience with them, but they're not. It's so needless and unnecessary to take so much time. I should add that I don't really like it much during casual rounds, either. A round that takes 15 or 20 minutes more than it should have can be the difference between me getting a 2nd round in or not.

 

[Chiefstang]

There are other methods to do all of those things without a players meeting. A .pdf of all the course rules with the names of the sponsors and volunteers could be available online when the player pre-registers and hard copies can be located at tournament HQ.

If the players don't read it they get penalized.

It also gives the club the chance to mention any upcoming events, etc...

The player meeting is the 15 minutes where the TD can go over what he needs and personally thank everyone involved. While there is useful information for the players, the meeting is just as much for the TD/club/volunteers as anything. The fact that people have an issue with 15 minutes of their time after so many spent so much of their time putting the day together baffles me. I'll be the first one to stop talking until the usual suspects do the same and start listening.

 

[Cgkdisc]

I'd like to give TDs the option to announce in advance that players who miss the player meeting receive a blanket warning that means any type of infraction that receives a warning during the tournament would immediately result in a penalty.

 

[JC17393]

15 minutes for a players meeting is about the max it should last, IMO, and a well run meeting shouldn't need to take half that long. There's nothing wrong with thanking sponsors and recognizing volunteers and the players meeting is absolutely the perfect time to do it. But that shouldn't take more than a couple minutes.

Generally, what makes players meetings excruciatingly long is the going over of the rules. Put that stuff in writing as has been suggested and put a copy of it in every player's hand when they register or check-in (having it online beforehand is good too, but not enough). Use the players meeting as a chance for people to clarify anything they've read in the rules that they don't understand, but let them determine what of the special rules/conditions need to be addressed at the meeting. Skip the hole by hole, OB by OB run-down during the players meeting. When TDs do that, I've forgotten what he said about hole 4's OB by the time he's describing the mando on hole 9, never mind when I actually get to hole 4. If it's in writing, I can read it before the players meeting AND I can still refer to it when I get to hole 4 or 9 or wherever there's some special condition or rule.

 

[DavidSauls]

A players' meeting that starts on time and only takes 15 minutes isn't too bad.

But....Players meeting scheduled at 9:00, starts at 9:10, lasts until 9:35, TD gives more than adequate time to get to holes, tee off at 10:00, more than an hour after warming up.

OR.....Tee at 9:00, rules in hand.

Sure, we do players meetings at our place. We have some complex rules we want to go over, and take questions on. Though I refrain from reciting all the rules that players could read. And yes, there are always some announcements we need to make.

But, boy, when an event can start without a players meeting, it sure is nice.

 

[sidewinder22]

Personally I don't have much issue with 2 rounds/day tourneys, but how many other regular season sporting events or games take all day? Sure there are some bigger sporting tournaments that are multi-day events usually some kind of championship event, but I'm talking like just your regular season game. I think if the sport is to grow, more events will need to be reduced to one round/day, especially if kids are going to playing in events and parents spectating.

 

[corin_brown]

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.

I guess I just have a hang up with really getting after it against my friends. Beating my friends is nothing like beating strangers. I love winning money, just not my friends' money. I feel myself really cutting loose against strangers in tournaments while I think I hold back a little against my buddies.

Also, most casual rounds I play are impromptu solo rounds - spent working on weaknesses, trying out new discs, ruminating on the affairs of the day, planning what I want to make for dinner that night, etc. Of course, playing casual rounds is a worthwhile endeavor. I do it all the time. Just doesn't hold much action for me.

 

[DavidSauls]

By the same token, golf is 4-days. How many regular season sporting events or games have a single contest last 4 days?

Disc golf, generally speaking, is not terribly exhausting. It's not like a sport that after a couple of hours, you're too tired to play any more. I suspect this figures in a bit. It's hard to imagine traveling somewhere to play for 3 hours, and be done with it.

 

[corin_brown]

For me, the big time suck at tournaments are the players meeting and the raffle+awards snoozefest. But neither are compulsory, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?

I like that both exist - it's good to have a meeting to go over major notes and to make announcements and raffles are an important way to raise money for the tournament or the local club. But as long as the TD has printed out all relevant course news & notes and is willing to mail any winnings, I feel comfortable skipping both.

I also don't have a problem playing only to rounds over two days. Those two round first days are so long I really don't have much juice left to do anything for he rest of that Saturday. If I only play one round, on the first day, I have a good chunk of the rest of that day to do something else.

I also find it interesting to read on this thread that some regions of the country (New England?) have five player cards in the tournament. In SoCal, I'm not sure I've ever played a tournament that had more than four on a card, aside from a couple of isolated cards here or there.

 

[Mygrassisblue]

I suck

 

[corin_brown]

I guess I just have a hang up with really getting after it against my friends. Beating my friends is nothing like beating strangers. I love winning money, just not my friends' money. I feel myself really cutting loose against strangers in tournaments while I think I hold back a little against my buddies.

Also, most casual rounds I play are impromptu solo rounds - spent working on weaknesses, trying out new discs, ruminating on the affairs of the day, planning what I want to make for dinner that night, etc. Of course, playing casual rounds is a worthwhile endeavor. I do it all the time. Just doesn't hold much action for me.

I don't want to mislead anyone who thinks I'm implying that I'm a pro, so just to be clear: I'm strictly a rec player. My rating is 877. I do not play for money, unless I am playing skins with friends. The tournaments I play in pay merch & maybe a trophy. I play tournaments for the competition and the action, that's it. I find the competition in tournaments to be intoxicating, that's it. I prefer playing against people I don't know because I don't feel inhibited, the way I do playing against friends.

Apologies if anyone got a different impression from my expressing my love of playing in tournaments.

 

[DavidSauls]

I also find it interesting to read on this thread that some regions of the country (New England?) have five player cards in the tournament. In SoCal, I'm not sure I've ever played a tournament that had more than four on a card, aside from a couple of isolated cards here or there.

Fivesomes pretty common in South Carolina and our neighboring states.

 

[DavidSauls]

I don't want to mislead anyone who thinks I'm implying that I'm a pro, so just to be clear: I'm strictly a rec player. My rating is 877. I do not play for money, unless I am playing skins with friends. The tournaments I play in pay merch & maybe a trophy. I play tournaments for the competition and the action, that's it. I find the competition in tournaments to be intoxicating, that's it. I prefer playing against people I don't know because I don't feel inhibited, the way I do playing against friends.

Apologies if anyone got a different impression from my expressing my love of playing in tournaments.

I'll join you in all that---my lofty rating is 885, and falling.

 

[biscoe]

We have stomped out fivesomes in most of Virginia.

 

[discRabbit]

If you run tee Times you don't have pileups on tees. You could actually run more people through a course using tee times because you are not limited to 18 holes to fit people on. Of course the last group would finish later than a traditional shotgun, but the actual time on the course would be way less.

Ummmmm...in my personal experience, tee times seem to be associated with massive pileups. At K'zoo worlds I took a 15 minute nap during the round. Although there was a good sense of camaraderie, we waited on that tee for over an hour, more than 60 minutes, no joke. :|