Lets talk tournament trends

[KniceZ]

I'm losing interest in watching top tier professional tournaments. It seems that the trend is to open combo golf/DG courses with hole after hole of 500-1000+ ft bombers with artificial out of bounds lines. I understand that these types of courses are much easier to film but I find this type of DG boring.

Am I not watching enough tournaments to see the full gamut, or is DG tournaments truly moving from the tight technical courses that are predominant in the east to open field bombing?

Does everyone else likes this trend?

 

[ru4por]

I mostly don't care. i want to play. Watching pros play is about 2% of my disc golf interest and activity. I am active in a club that runs 4 leagues and 6-8 tournaments. Between planning, running and playing in those, with an abundance of casual rounds and throw in some road trips, I just don't have, nor want to make time for watching. Their game does not really translate to my skillset. Yes, the courses are often bad. I don't think the pro game has any vested interest in AM growth, outside the money to be made. That is not a bad thing, they should be business people, but it is contrary to what I am trying to accomplish.

I watch some post coverage, but I am picky as to what tournaments I watch.

 

[Moose33]

I watch a lot, but I agree that a lot of these more open tournaments while easier for people to film and shoot gaudy scores we do lose something that the right technical courses showcase.

I know a lot of it is down to willing TDs and grouped courses but it would be cool if we had some more conscious wooded courses thrown in.

Sort of like the road courses in NASCAR that allows a different type of player to do well, and showcase the true dominance of a great one.

 

[jakebake91]

I agree. Watching the preserve, for example, was awful. I like watching a 600' drive here and there, but yeah. #keepdiscsgolfinthewoods

 

[Robbio123]

I understand the OP and agree that emerging trend is towards open golf as newer pro events come online. I think though there is a thinking surrounding enabling the event to cater towards larger galleries and media.

Some of these newer events are trying to get bigger in nature to bring in larger groups of amateur players in surrounding courses courses which then feed into the gallery of the MPO/FPO event creating more of a circus like event generating excitement and sales opportunities. Looking at Ledgestone, Nate has done a stellar job of growing the event bringing in thousands of Amateurs to compete. He's supplemented that with an online digital store where he's done a great job taking over Discraft's production capacity. All in all, this brings significant revenue from players for local businesses and local businesses which also feeds into the pro scene. All this activity really creates a lot of ancillary opportunity and cash for Pros. Ledgestone is a successful model that I believe many tournament organizers are trying to emulate. A big part of that is creating a wide open enough space to enable the foot traffic. Don't forget, Ledgestone also has wooded courses in play as well. but, when you walk that property, it's harder for large galleries to follow freely. There's natural choke points you can't avoid in wooded layouts.

Not all Pro tournaments are like this, but the DGPT does seem to trend in this direction as Nate has been super successful in laying out a model that is working. For all the complaining we see online that the Pro's don't make much $$ in tourney play, this model seems to prove it has merits.

 

[BillFleming]

I'm losing interest in watching top tier professional tournaments. It seems that the trend is to open combo golf/DG courses with hole after hole of 500-1000+ ft bombers with artificial out of bounds lines. I understand that these types of courses are much easier to film but I find this type of DG boring.

Am I not watching enough tournaments to see the full gamut, or is DG tournaments truly moving from the tight technical courses that are predominant in the east to open field bombing?

Does everyone else likes this trend?

At 60 years old, I can't throw as far as the majority of guys on the pro tour. I still enjoy watching the videos and seeing their throws.

But! I mainly watch the ladies tournaments. While a bunch of them can still out throw me, I learn a lot more from them. Since most aren't 'bombers', they have to play more strategically and I'm starting to learn how to do that. Instead of going for the ace off the tee pad, or the birdie from 50 feet away, I'm learning to go for the par and be happy. If I could consistently go for the par, I'd have a much better score than what I've been getting.

I wish the ladies would do some 'how-to' videos, I might learn more from their slower arm speeds.

 

[Ryan C]

I mean, we just had a couple of very technical pro tour events.

I think some courses do it better than others. Milo MvGyver (sp?) is a good example of a course that allows the bombers to showcase their skills, but also offers some technicality where a very specific shot shape is the only path to birdie.

 

[autocrosscrx]

I think open courses show better. Woods play may be more compelling as a competition, but watching woods golf frustrates me. On some of these holes, the pro steps up to the box, you see about 100 trees, you locate the biggest gap, then the pro fires something that veers off your screen in a totally different spot, the announcers say that may or may not be good, then the footage pans to another angle where the disc plinkos off a couple of trees and lands, then they pan out to the basket, but you can't really tell if it is 15 or 45 or 75 feet.

 

[hiflyer]

Wide open disc golf is boring to watch and more so to play: The main reason I don't bother to watch anymore. Furthermore, these "courses" help the "DG should be more like ball golf" mantra, which is a current cancer in our game.

 

[Rastnav]

When people here aren't complaining about open courses, they are complaining about wooded courses with "too many trees". There just isn't a way to satisfy everyone, and certainly not all the time. The last DGPT event had plenty of tight, wooded action to go along with more open holes or shots. The GMC has grown on the strength of the pro response to those courses, which mostly haven't changed. It has nothing to do with DGPT, filming, or the like.

Yes, there are always going to be more ball golf conversion courses than in the past, because in the past there were hardly any. But it's not as if we don't have phenomenal new events like the Canadian Open on fantastic wooded courses as well.

 

[GripEnemy]

I agree. Watching the preserve, for example, was awful. I like watching a 600' drive here and there, but yeah. #keepdiscsgolfinthewoods

I will say, I played AGA not long ago and it's way harder than they made it look. 90% of posters on this site would be humbled by it at least somewhat.

I agree woods golf is best golf.

 

[txmxer]

This is all still new to me. I like to watch. Without being overly analytical:

I don't enjoy wide open courses near as much. I appreciate a mixture.

GMC was enjoyable.

 

[DiscFifty]

Of course the 99.9999% player base here would rather watch tree golf. Ask the same question to the non player and I'm guessing most would prefer to follow that 500ft drive off the tee on an open course. We're in the #growthespectator phase of our sport, which means more open course tournaments.

 

[EricMoul]

I will say, I played AGA not long ago and it's way harder than they made it look. 90% of posters on this site would be humbled by it at least somewhat.

I agree woods golf is best golf.

Pretty sure they're talking about the Airborn Preserve from the DGPT. But I agree with you. Braud has done a terrific job with making AGA the crown jewel of eastern PA now that Nocki is out of commission

 

[GripEnemy]

Pretty sure they're talking about the Airborn Preserve from the DGPT. But I agree with you. Braud has done a terrific job with making AGA the crown jewel of eastern PA now that Nocki is out of commission

Gotcha. Yeah it's a great course...but damn do I miss my old pal Nockamixon. Thought it was referring to "The Preserve at AGA" - I'm behind on my tourney watching. Was supposed to play Steel Club a couple months ago but the plans failed...hopefully some time in September!

 

[Discraft Dad]

Of course the 99.9999% player base here would rather watch tree golf. Ask the same question to the non player and I'm guessing most would prefer to follow that 500ft drive off the tee on an open course. We're in the #growthespectator phase of our sport, which means more open course tournaments.

Open courses are much better for TV, Streaming, etc. for drawing new fans.

 

[KniceZ]

I get that open courses are better for filming. Maybe I'm biased against them since I'm stuck at sub-350 and 60 yrs old so 600+ holes are out of my reach in 3.

I was wondering if using open courses to grow the sport will tend to make DG shift to mostly open courses.

 

[Casey 1988]

Disc Golf needs the courses to be more tree laden but open as if the course has trees but is not bare of obstacles and/or hill stuff or you will not keep the new fans you get if every hole is the big wide open flat bomber on the NT and PT. Right now the courses seem to be a good mix unless playing on golf only golf courses as those temp courses end up odd for PT and NT. Also PT keep allowing the post production for rounds as I do not want to sit for 4-6 hours to watch a round of 18 hole disc golf.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

DGPT featured some open courses, like Fountains, The Preserve, and Emporia CC.
It also had Idlewild, and Maple Hill, (and while I didn't watch coverage of Waco, my understanding is that it's quite wooded). And there's Toboggan, which requires well placed bombs.

Ledgestone had Northwood + Lake Eureka.
GMC had Brewster Ridge + Fox Run.

Several events on open courses.
Several events on placement/wooded courses.
A couple 4 day events featuring 2 rounds on tight woods + 2 rounds on more open courses.

This choice of venues across these events, gives players with different strengths, the opportunity to do their thing.

Seems pretty well balanced to me.

 

[Mando]

I'm losing interest in watching top tier professional tournaments. It seems that the trend is to open combo golf/DG courses with hole after hole of 500-1000+ ft bombers with artificial out of bounds lines. I understand that these types of courses are much easier to film but I find this type of DG boring.

Am I not watching enough tournaments to see the full gamut, or is DG tournaments truly moving from the tight technical courses that are predominant in the east to open field bombing?

Does everyone else likes this trend?

I just started watching the pro tournaments, and no I don't like the trend. The overuse of artificial OB, even in wooded courses seems overly punitive and is something I just don't understand.