Disc Golf is very well suited to match play, isn't it?

[disco40]

I assume this has happened in the past, but for whatever reason there isn't a big match play event out there.

Who wouldn't love a match play format? Disc golf has more of a swingy character to it than golf, and the idea of every hole being a fresh start in a sense, and with more strategy adjustments and the PvP duels we already enjoy. All of the good aspects of golf match play and then some.

I realize that DG is still small enough that a big match play event might have marginal value and be difficult to build a weekend around, but as an attempt at establishing a tradition, it seems like a good time to do it.

Thoughts? Is it time?

 

[MarkDSM]

Skins (match play variation) is very much alive. Search the YouTube for 'skins disc golf'

I play low stakes skins and wolf with the crew now and then in central Iowa.

 

[DavidSauls]

I've long been a skeptic that disc golf will make it as a spectator sport.....but thought that if it does, match play might be the ticket. I think there's a lot more drama in match play.

But......

The catch is how you structure an event. 40 people can't play match play against each other, all at once. How do you structure it to get enough people to make an event viable, but still determine a champion?

Team play, Ryder-cup-style, is one answer, but it doesn't produce an individual champion.

I've run a lot of match play events, on the local level, and am a big fan. But I'm not sure how you do it at the top level.

 

[ballgolfconvert]

There is no reason the top tier of players couldn't play a match play tourney just like anyone else plays it. Field of 64. Top 48 points leader and a qualifying event for the final 12 spots (this can be done at a preceding event). It gets played just like the NCAA bracket or a tennis tourney. The downside is possibly having to go home after one round. You could just do a bunch of consolation brackets to keep them playing another day or two if that was the big issue preventing it.

The PDGA should definitely do this. It would be wildly popular. I could just see the fanboys on here talking about the highly contested matches.

 

[Hampstead]

Not the pros, but it's been going on for a few years

https://discgolfmatchplay.com

 

[autocrosscrx]

Who wouldn't love a match play format?

Me.

Or was that rhetorical question?

 

[DavidSauls]

There is no reason the top tier of players couldn't play a match play tourney just like anyone else plays it. Field of 64. Top 48 points leader and a qualifying event for the final 12 spots (this can be done at a preceding event). It gets played just like the NCAA bracket or a tennis tourney. The downside is possibly having to go home after one round. You could just do a bunch of consolation brackets to keep them playing another day or two if that was the big issue preventing it.

The PDGA should definitely do this. It would be wildly popular. I could just see the fanboys on here talking about the highly contested matches.

The downside of being eliminated early---half the field in the first round, 3/4 in rounds 1 &2---is a definite downside. Another, if the intent is a spectator spectacle, is that the final round is just 2 players. Not bad for post-produced, but pretty slow for live.

I'm not sure if this is translatable, but we used to run a match play, single elimination tournament. We had two fields of 32 (pro & am), so 5 rounds. First 4 rounds were 9-hole matches, which, trust me, is pretty intense. The last round is was 18. It was all done in one day.

We got around the "knocked out early" by throwing everyone eliminated in the first two rounds (75% of the players) into a random-draw, 18-hole doubles while the contestants were playing rounds 3 & 4. Sort of an NIT, and a second chance to win money. And everyone was guaranteed enough play to justify showing up.

64 players is six rounds....if 18 holes each, that's a lot of disc golf.

I'd love to see something worked out at the top levels. There'd be great drama in the preliminary rounds, with upsets and intriguing match-ups.

 

[disco40]

Me.

Or was that rhetorical question?

Not a rhetorical question really. What don't you like?

 

[ballgolfconvert]

The downside of being eliminated early---half the field in the first round, 3/4 in rounds 1 &2---is a definite downside. Another, if the intent is a spectator spectacle, is that the final round is just 2 players. Not bad for post-produced, but pretty slow for live.

I'm not sure if this is translatable, but we used to run a match play, single elimination tournament. We had two fields of 32 (pro & am), so 5 rounds. First 4 rounds were 9-hole matches, which, trust me, is pretty intense. The last round is was 18. It was all done in one day.

We got around the "knocked out early" by throwing everyone eliminated in the first two rounds (75% of the players) into a random-draw, 18-hole doubles while the contestants were playing rounds 3 & 4. Sort of an NIT, and a second chance to win money. And everyone was guaranteed enough play to justify showing up.

64 players is six rounds....if 18 holes each, that's a lot of disc golf.

I'd love to see something worked out at the top levels. There'd be great drama in the preliminary rounds, with upsets and intriguing match-ups.

Pros would play it over 3 days if it was a tour format. You need 6 rounds for 64 players, so 2 rounds per day. Eliminated players keep playing but only for final position. You basically need multiple brackets within the brackets to add the losers to each round. You could even make it triple elimination. meaning no 4th round if you lose your first 3. For one day events you would need brackets of 16 with 4-9 hole matches. You can even do a skins game for the winner of each bracket to determine an overall champion or a shootout where high score each hole drops out (throw off for ties).

 

[disco40]

The problem of it taking too long is real. I guess you could do it as a series, with a round being held before a Pro Tour or even an A-tier somewhere, and then another round at the next Tour stop? Maybe that drags it out too much, but maybe you could spread it out a little. Organization costs money, though, and that's where it might not be so viable. Given a financial environment more comparable to a major sport, organization wouldn't be an issue.

 

[disco40]

Skins (match play variation) is very much alive. Search the YouTube for 'skins disc golf'

I play low stakes skins and wolf with the crew now and then in central Iowa.

Skins is a fine format, but produces some weird short-term results and isn't as legitimate a contest over a reasonable sample.

 

[ballgolfconvert]

The problem of it taking too long is real. I guess you could do it as a series, with a round being held before a Pro Tour or even an A-tier somewhere, and then another round at the next Tour stop? Maybe that drags it out too much, but maybe you could spread it out a little. Organization costs money, though, and that's where it might not be so viable. Given a financial environment more comparable to a major sport, organization wouldn't be an issue.

You just have a separate weekly pro tour event dedicated to the match play event. 3 days isn't too long for them.

 

[DanJon]

Wasn't the Vibram Open run as a match play format one year?

 

[Dingus]

Match play is great. We need an annual President's Cup match play event. Would be awesome.

 

[Hampstead]

Match play rounds can possibly last only 10 holes. Not great TV.

 

[F.Luke]

There is at least one longstanding match play event in disc golf. The Virginia Team Invitational has been played for nearly twenty years.

Biscoe can provide the details.

 

[autocrosscrx]

Not a rhetorical question really. What don't you like?

I just don't like it. I played competitive golf growing up. Before I grew to hate golf, I had aspirations to be a pro golfer, so I watched every bit of pro golf that was available to me. Played a lot of match play competitively. Watched even more.

Always would be excited about it leading in, but never enjoyed watching or playing. The kind of shots that make rounds often don't count. You make a wild scramble to save par and you might not even get to putt out. Too many 7 and 6 matches. Too many people check out after they are down a couple of holes.

Now I absolutely love this weekend's format.

 

[DavidSauls]

Match play rounds can possibly last only 10 holes. Not great TV.

They can also last 24 holes.....if they end up tied and the sudden-death tiebreaker goes on and on.

An issue for live TV; not so much for post-produced.

 

[curmudgeonDwindle]

Match play scoring is how Golf started and tends to even out penalties and rewards for the individual in a match. One may still win or lose via a single error, but one won't be blown out by single hole, which creates a different sort of competitive tension for the individual.

Match play seems to work very well on the 'smaller' level, Virginia Team Golf, Club Championships and San Diego Team Golf are disc golf examples; there's myriad examples from
Golf as well. It could be that the stakes in these events are of a different sort - shared tribal pride and team building, which rewards participation across a selection of players.

It seems that a minimum guarantee of a certain amount of play could be a sticking point, certainly for traveling players and for the self-aware bottom halves of fields...'Losers' bracket?

Medal play rewards are quite different, or as a friend of mine observed about himself, team sports were the only ones he played that he took seriously, because they seemed more 'real'...and he had no aspirations of professional play in disc. Sports fit differently into his life than it might a traveling professional's.

 

[texasissouth]

Imagine a multi-day teams match play tournament separated by brand?
A kind of Manufacturer's Cup or something. I bet they'd be too cowardly to ever do it.