PDGA membership extension

[biscoe]

Well I'm waiting on someone to tell me... what am I getting for my extra $25?

I believe at one point some portion of that dough was earmarked to support the Pro Tour, or Pro Worlds, or some such. (which makes it even worse in a lot of ways imo) No clue if that is still the case. I'm sure someone will correct me if this is incorrect.

 

[Three Putt]

Sure. I remember talking to Rothstein back in the 90's about running events- his take was they were like throwing parties for the players and we all wanted to throw the best party. I bought in hook, line and sinker. I had never been involved in any other sports outside of a scholastic setting so had no idea that it wasn't how all sports worked. For a number of years I considered an event financially successful as long as it cost me less than $200 to run.

My cutoff was $250.

Rothstein's "parties we throw for ourselves" take is still how I describe running tournaments to new volunteers. It's still the best description I can find.

I am trying my best. Every month I run a C tier that is $15 for Ams- they get nothing tangible out of it- greens fees at the course, trophy for the winner, a chance at a little something at year's end. I would guess I averaged about 80 players last year. These events are all on weekdays.

The PDGA's insistence on linking the perceived quality of an event (Tier) to the relative amount of trinkets passed out to the players is an enormous roadblock at this point to any sensible construct of amateur competition.

That being said I will also run a few events in the course of the year with higher entry fees and significant player's packs. A partial "if I can't beat 'em, join 'em" I suppose.

You have to be able to compete. Having bigger events as a hook to get people coming to your stuff helps a lot. Once people trust you as a TD, you get a little wiggle room. You have to get them in the figurative door first, though.

The last set of events I tried to run I was handcuffed by City policies and couldn't do the PDGA format (the City wouldn't make enough money, you see) and I went down in flames. People wouldn't sign up. "Where is all my money going to go?" Uh...into the general fund to help pay for cutting the grass. :| Nobody likes that answer. I needed something to hook them in with, but I couldn't do the usual "throw prizes at them" approach. The stuff I was competing against could, so that's what people went to.

 

[Cgkdisc]

I believe at one point some portion of that $25 extra dough was earmarked to support the Pro Tour, or Pro Worlds, or some such. (which makes it even worse in a lot of ways imo) No clue if that is still the case. I'm sure someone will correct me if this is incorrect.

The extra $25 started in the early 2000s was justified to pay for things only pros, typically MPO, would primarily receive such as underwriting the Pro Worlds video production and National Tour support and bonuses. The video portion has morphed into underwriting some portion of independent tour video coverage. Then there's National Tour support, both people and traveling trailer including tent that was initiated by Graham around 2010, headed by Downes. And there may be a few more staffers focused on tour support, media and traveling support on the ground who may not have been too active since April 2020. Although some of that benefits Ams that make it to Majors, they mostly support high level pro events, especially MPO/FPO, since there are more of them.

 

[Dcinmd]

I am trying my best. Every month I run a C tier that is $15 for Ams- they get nothing tangible out of it- greens fees at the course, trophy for the winner, a chance at a little something at year's end. I would guess I averaged about 80 players last year. These events are all on weekdays.

We also get Grass cut, TD on site for 8 hours, water on holes, trees cleared and baskets on the course.

I would hope that most Ams realize the difference between a Private course versus Municipality that is support by our tax dollars and other amenities.

I know I am preaching to the choir.

 

[Dcinmd]

You have to be able to compete. Having bigger events as a hook to get people coming to your stuff helps a lot. Once people trust you as a TD, you get a little wiggle room. You have to get them in the figurative door first, though.
.

Deservingly so, he is the most respected TD in the state.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

After all the "growth" this year I'm definitely in favor of going back to niche status...

Does niche status mean having a niche number of courses to play? Because that sucked.

When I moved to Kalamazoo in 1998, there were 1.5 courses. The new half course was Oshtemo, in its infancy, only the back 9 of today's version installed. The other course, love it or hate it, was Cold Brook.

Next nearest course was Brewer Park, about 50 minutes away. There were two others in Grand Rapids with baskets (Riverside and Johnson).

Next closest was kind of a tie, Grand Woods in Lansing or Hudson Mills near Ann Arbor. Kensington had the old Tunnel course, but not Toboggan just yet. I always thought Hudson Mills was like heaven. That was our mecca for sure.

I guess Wilson Park in Mishawaka, IN was about that far away too. I've always had fun playing that one.

Detroit suburbs had Addison Oaks and River Bends. Those are the two big ones that stand out to me.

That's really about it for top-notch (at the time) courses in the whole state. We have about that many just in Kalamazoo now. The whole I-94/I-96 corridor (with about 7 million people?) had just those courses, plus a handful of others not as highly esteemed. And we were considered one of the better Disc Golf areas in the country outside of California, Texas and Florida at the time. Seems like last week to me.

Thank heavens we're no longer a niche sport. Thank you, PDGA, and thank you too, those who have pitched in to grow the sport, for all you've done!

 

[Three Putt]

Deservingly so, he is the most respected TD in the state.

Which is why having him running those low payout events is a big deal. It's not some Tom off the street with no clue what he's doing, it's a guy who had been doing this for a long time and (to my knowledge) doing it well. You need guys like him to have any chance of of being successful.

 

[Casey 1988]

@ThreePutt

All true. There's a 3rd leg to the stool: manufacturers. At least around here, in the early days TDs were getting discs at wholesale and making considerable margin, to cover fixed expenses, course improvements, etc. It made for a sweet deal: Players got their entry back in the form of merchandise, TDs got the same money they'd have received from low-entry, no-payout events, and manufacturers moved merchandise and got players addicted to lots of plastic. Around here, a quarter-century ago, it was one of the few ways to actually obtain discs.

In the 2000's you still got Discs but now with Tournament name on them for nearly wholesale and yes you did come close to getting stuff back from events as a player though only about 75% of it in most cases. However they also sold lots of the extra items since the Internet Disc Sales if you did not have a retailer, it was hard to find places that sold individual discs by dome, weight and color sometimes even stiffness if lucky now, it was often just weight and color with Marshal Street being then the best for this. Now you have with some places to request specific discs or all the info one might want on each disc and then some with what to look for from the purchaser requests like with Gotta Go Gotta Throw. This was not common in 2000's as much, often you bought the disc and knew the weight and the color but that was it at the time and had to go off the pictures of the individual discs hoping for the best that the disc in a plastic was not beyond stiff or way too gummy.

 

[biscoe]

Which is why having him running those low payout events is a big deal. It's not some Tom off the street with no clue what he's doing, it's a guy who had been doing this for a long time and (to my knowledge) doing it well. You need guys like him to have any chance of of being successful.

While I appreciate the praise and what you say was true as recently as a year or two ago in regards to needing some "cred" in order to run these events successfully I don't believe it to be true currently. Right now the excess demand for events is such that a monkey could put an event on disc golf scene and have it fill up regardless of the particulars of the event itself, at least in this area.

 

[billmh]

There are some fine TDs in Virginny

That said, we're glad that you're the monkey who has done it. Credible monkeys are quite helpful!

 

[txmxer]

regardless of the particulars of the event itself, at least in this area.

From experience in other sports, it is the particulars that make the event one I mark on my calendar to do again next year.

 

[da Crippler]

So I made a bet with a friend on how many pages of crap I could generate with one single post. You clowns came through for me, I won the bet, and I'd like to thank everyone for participating.opcorn: :hfive:

 

[DiscFifty]

So I made a bet with a friend on how many pages of crap I could generate with one single post.

You'll do great in the political forums.

 

[roadtripstuff]

So I made a bet with a friend on how many pages of crap I could generate with one single post. You clowns came through for me, I won the bet, and I'd like to thank everyone for participating.opcorn: :hfive:

I would suggest you and your friend get out more if that's what you have going on. Maybe you should try disc golf, heard it's pretty fun.

 

[Billipo]

So I made a bet with a friend on how many pages of crap I could generate with one single post. You clowns came through for me, I won the bet, and I'd like to thank everyone for participating.opcorn: :hfive:

What you win? Is he letting you be the husband?