Fast-Filling Events

[Innova63]

Just adding another example - a local C-tier on a somewhat rural course usually opens for registration a month before the event, sign-ups slowly trickle in, and the event typically fills in the final few days beforehand.
This year, the event filled in two minutes, and fifteen minutes later there was already a waitlist 70(!) people deep. The comments section on Disc Golf Scene is filled with an angry mob, demanding that the poor TD add a second day or a second weekend, pointing to this waitlist that could fill an entire event on its own. Pretty eye-opening to see this for a random C-tier. I'm not sure what he's going to do.

Not sure what the PDGA rules are for distance between tournaments are anymore, but one or more of these "commenters" should take on the challenge/opportunity to run an event instead "demanding" that TD add to their workload...

 

[biscoe]

Wow. That's quite a leap. I'm used to seeing events progress over the years -- not filled, filled late, filled in a week, filled in 4 hours, filled in a few minutes, flash filled. Once there's a danger of getting left out, people hustle to get in.

Welcome to 2021.

 

[biscoe]

Just adding another example - a local C-tier on a somewhat rural course usually opens for registration a month before the event, sign-ups slowly trickle in, and the event typically fills in the final few days beforehand.
This year, the event filled in two minutes, and fifteen minutes later there was already a waitlist 70(!) people deep. The comments section on Disc Golf Scene is filled with an angry mob, demanding that the poor TD add a second day or a second weekend, pointing to this waitlist that could fill an entire event on its own. Pretty eye-opening to see this for a random C-tier. I'm not sure what he's going to do.

Hopefully he tells the angry mob to shove it and considers changing things up for 22.

 

[filobedo]

With the explosion of male Rec and Intermediate fields which are sometimes 60% of the field, TDs need to have male PDGA members register in corrals now giving first opportunity to players who have grown the sport for years and allow females to register immediately (normally 10% max are typical for most B and C tiers). The sport has grown at a staggering rate over the year and male Rec and Intermediate fields need to be limited to 20% of the field max. According to your corral, you must register within 24 hours of your corral opening and if you miss it, you must register for the waitlist with no priority for PDGA members or nonmembers. See below,

First corral PDGA #1 - #40000
Second corral - #40001 - #80000
Third Corral - #80001 - #120000
Fourth Coral - #120001 - highest PDGA and nonmembers

 

[biscoe]

With the explosion of male Rec and Intermediate fields which are sometimes 60% of the field, TDs need to have male PDGA members register in corrals now giving first opportunity to players who have grown the sport for years and allow females to register immediately (normally 10% max are typical for most B and C tiers). The sport has grown at a staggering rate over the year and male Rec and Intermediate fields need to be limited to 20% of the field max. According to your corral, you must register within 24 hours of your corral opening and if you miss it, you must register for the waitlist with no priority for PDGA members or nonmembers. See below,

First corral PDGA #1 - #40000
Second corral - #40001 - #80000
Third Corral - #80001 - #120000
Fourth Coral - #120001 - highest PDGA and nonmembers

I disagree with pretty much all of this but am particularly curious why you believe MA3 and MA2 should be limited to 20% of the field when they obviously represent more than 20% of the players. We need to change the way we run events, not cut out those most eager to participate.

 

[autocrosscrx]

With the explosion of male Rec and Intermediate fields which are sometimes 60% of the field, TDs need to have male PDGA members register in corrals now giving first opportunity to players who have grown the sport for years and allow females to register immediately (normally 10% max are typical for most B and C tiers). The sport has grown at a staggering rate over the year and male Rec and Intermediate fields need to be limited to 20% of the field max. According to your corral, you must register within 24 hours of your corral opening and if you miss it, you must register for the waitlist with no priority for PDGA members or nonmembers. See below,

First corral PDGA #1 - #40000
Second corral - #40001 - #80000
Third Corral - #80001 - #120000
Fourth Coral - #120001 - highest PDGA and nonmembers

I'm guessing 1 of 2 things happens....

1) The exact same people play the tournament, but you end up with a larger number of people playing in a class that isn't their first choice, potentially making it a worse experience for a variety of people.

2) You run off people that want to contribute to your club.

 

[DavidSauls]

Seems odd to reward those who have grown the sport for years, by locking out those who would grow the sport in the future.

A priority for low PDGA numbers means many tournaments would fill before the high PDGA numbers have a chance, which would mean much less incentive for people to join the PDGA to begin with.

I'm not sure all those low numbers have grown the sport for years, anyway; some have, some have just played for a long time.

 

[DavidSauls]

....I could favor allowing TDs to give preference to low numbers -- I generally favor more TD choice -- but that's different from saying they should do it.

 

[uncle pennybags]

How do you figure that having a lower PDGA number means you do a lot to grow the sport? I know plenty of people with numbers under 60,000 that do little other than play.

That's a little like saying having a lower SSN means you do more the than someone with a higher one. (that's a bad example due to how SSN's are assigned, but you get the point)

 

[ru4por]

Just adding another example - a local C-tier on a somewhat rural course usually opens for registration a month before the event, sign-ups slowly trickle in, and the event typically fills in the final few days beforehand.
This year, the event filled in two minutes, and fifteen minutes later there was already a waitlist 70(!) people deep. The comments section on Disc Golf Scene is filled with an angry mob, demanding that the poor TD add a second day or a second weekend, pointing to this waitlist that could fill an entire event on its own. Pretty eye-opening to see this for a random C-tier. I'm not sure what he's going to do.

This is indicative of a lot of our community. The entitlement is borne of ignorance of the work involved in putting on a tournament and the logistics and hurdles that are present. The courses nearly always determine player caps, so to add players, generally a second course (Park) is needed. The works is exponentially increased in running a two location event. IF there was a way to make this happen, around here, avoiding other unsanctioned tournaments and leagues, is nearly impossible. Of course, if all the stars in the heavens align and this is possible, the TD will be inundated with complaints of whom plays which course, on which days, travel times and pool caps........

I, as a player, have found I need to use Disc Golf Scene to organize my tournament wants and needs. Get reg dates on my calendar and make getting signed up a personal priority. I think expanding the entire tournament scene, in any area, is tougher than just saying it. Putting on a quality tournamen,t with honest value to the player, takes a lot of work, the right person at the helm and likely some experience. This is all IF you have anyone even interested in stepping up and taking on the job.

 

[BillFleming]

In My Opinion....the reason tournaments are filling up so quickly is two-fold.

1. Less tournaments to enter.
2. Sponsorships require sponsorees to participate in several tournaments as part of the sponsorship.
3. (tied into #1)...entering as many tournaments as possible before more get cancelled.

For #2, i've even heard this mentioned by players who are sponsored and trying their hardest to participate in tournaments.

 

[biscoe]

In My Opinion....the reason tournaments are filling up so quickly is two-fold.

1. Less tournaments to enter.
2. Sponsorships require sponsorees to participate in several tournaments as part of the sponsorship.
3. (tied into #1)...entering as many tournaments as possible before more get cancelled.

For #2, i've even heard this mentioned by players who are sponsored and trying their hardest to participate in tournaments.

I wouldn't say any of these are the case in my area. I could play a tournament within 2 hours of home every single weekend of the year as well as about half that many on weekdays- Covid or no Covid. The number of players who have a hard time meeting their sponsor's requirements for events is also miniscule around here.

Tournaments fill quickly because there is more demand than supply. Maybe supply is reduced in some areas but not appreciably here at this time. We tend to view supply as inelastic but it is actually not. Events can (and should) be broken into even more events- what we have always done is hold about 10 different tournaments (divisions) at one place at one time- in the long run we will see these get separated and more events will be MA3 only or whatever the case may be.

 

[araytx]

Yep, here in the DFW area we have over 50, 1 round flex start c-tiers planned for the 2021 season. They cost 20-25 to play. I will more than likely never play a local 2-3 round time consuming, up at the crack of dawn, PDGA event again.

Yes, true, but our situation is HIGHLY unusual compared to the majority of the country. The volume and availability is not what most on this forum experience. I remember the first time we actually had 50 sanctioned events in a year in the DFW Metroplex. Now, with the proliferation of flex starts, there are well over 100 counting those plus weekend events. But MOST members (remember that the majority of the PDGA are amateurs with jobs) don't have the same opportunity. That's how the "sanctioned events with 2-rounds-one-day or 3/4-rounds-two-days on the weekends" got started.

 

[ru4por]

In My Opinion....the reason tournaments are filling up so quickly is two-fold.

1. Less tournaments to enter.
2. Sponsorships require sponsorees to participate in several tournaments as part of the sponsorship.
3. (tied into #1)...entering as many tournaments as possible before more get cancelled.

For #2, i've even heard this mentioned by players who are sponsored and trying their hardest to participate in tournaments.

This does not bear out at all around my area. COVID withstanding last season, we do not have less tournaments.

Sponsored players are generally pro players. I don't care about the pro game. Honestly, my club only has a couple tournaments that have pro entry. Getting in enough tournaments to maintain sponsorship is their problem. They should be playing tournaments nearly every weekend anyway.

 

[BillFleming]

For Arizona, there are currently 12 tournaments on DiscGolfScene from now to the October. And a couple of those are not sanctioned. So, for at least Arizona, there are very few tournaments and the sanctioned ones tend to fill up quickly.

 

[DavidSauls]

For Arizona, there are currently 12 tournaments on DiscGolfScene from now to the October. And a couple of those are not sanctioned. So, for at least Arizona, there are very few tournaments and the sanctioned ones tend to fill up quickly.

Yeah, but 10 of those are in the next 2 months. I'd have to assume that the calendar will fill in, a bit. Not everyone rushes to list or sanction events half a year in advance.

 

[ru4por]

For Arizona, there are currently 12 tournaments on DiscGolfScene from now to the October. And a couple of those are not sanctioned. So, for at least Arizona, there are very few tournaments and the sanctioned ones tend to fill up quickly.

Arizona shows one tournament after April. I don't know much about Arizona, but I might suggest that most simply are not listed yet. Clubs and TD are busy finalizing courses, player packs, funding, volunteers...... Last year DGS shows 60 Arizona events.

 

[ToddL]

Hole notes / rules aren't saved. For example I ran an event in November and this past weekend on the same course / same layout and when I chose the course, it didn't suggest / auto fill rules.

They're supposed to be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-E5oSfjLp8

 

[biscoe]

You have to add a layout for it to populate, if you try to change the default layout to a previously used layout it doesn't work. (Learned 2 weeks ago)

 

[joshmo65]

We had a feeling that our traditional 72 person tournament would fill quickly, so we broke it out to two days splitting the divisions and bumped it up to 144. It sold out in 70 seconds. In 5 minutes we had a 90 person deep waitlist.

I would love to see the PDGA allow us to do lotteries. Let everyone interested sign up over a week instead of going with whoever can fill out some form the fastest and then random pick people. If your club runs a bunch of tourney, double weight people who missed out of the previous one so that they have a better chance of making it the 2nd time.