The New Tournament Normal

[klodkrawler05]

I played in this tournament (granted only my second tournament ever so not a huge history to pull from) and was absolutely blown away by the efficiency of the group. The drive through check-in was quick and efficient. I liked that the players meeting was online and was a succinct 5 minute video instead of the 15-30 minute speech that someone does off the cuff. The live scoring worked well for our card both rounds and was pretty neat to be able to see where you currently stood at any point in the round.

About the only possible improvement I can think of at all and this is extremely nitpicky would be to use a mass text program and allow people to sign up for text alerts. A quick text update saying "15 minute warning for first round make your way to the starting tee" or "last card has just finished round 2 will start at 2pm" would be great instead of hoping people think to check their email or notice that the PDGA app has changed the 2nd round start time from 1:30 to 2.

Overall a fantastic tournament and I've already scoped out the rest of the A3 season to keep an eye on other tournaments. It was well worth the trip!

 

[ru4por]

I played in this tournament (granted only my second tournament ever so not a huge history to pull from) and was absolutely blown away by the efficiency of the group. The drive through check-in was quick and efficient. I liked that the players meeting was online and was a succinct 5 minute video instead of the 15-30 minute speech that someone does off the cuff. The live scoring worked well for our card both rounds and was pretty neat to be able to see where you currently stood at any point in the round.

About the only possible improvement I can think of at all and this is extremely nitpicky would be to use a mass text program and allow people to sign up for text alerts. A quick text update saying "15 minute warning for first round make your way to the starting tee" or "last card has just finished round 2 will start at 2pm" would be great instead of hoping people think to check their email or notice that the PDGA app has changed the 2nd round start time from 1:30 to 2.

Overall a fantastic tournament and I've already scoped out the rest of the A3 season to keep an eye on other tournaments. It was well worth the trip!

Thanks, man. I will bring up the texting idea at our next meeting. I am not cell phone savvy enough to know how workable it would be.

We also have four leagues going as well. From beginner to advance opportunities. Glad to hear you had a good time.

 

[klodkrawler05]

Thanks, man. I will bring up the texting idea at our next meeting. I am not cell phone savvy enough to know how workable it would be.

We also have four leagues going as well. From beginner to advance opportunities. Glad to hear you had a good time.

If you weren't a 2 hour drive away from me I'd love to join one of the leagues too!

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

Love all these ideas, sounds like you kids nailed it!!! I wonder if this will mean advanced/ am will start getting payouts instead of plastic in the future for safety reasons? I gotta admit though it turned me "pro" haha sooner, I didn't need more plastic. Rather lose as a pro then win as an am... and there was that year I played advanced and was second overall haha, now I hafta play pro even though my games regressed.

We did a tournament here, locals only less than 50... dropped cash off in a basket grabbed a card, played, pretty much just took a picture of the card, texted total score and my ace to the TD and bam. Done.

When I run my tourney, I make it very clear that if people want to get paid, they are responsible for writing a score that they think is good on the board, and aces.. I usually start it off with GIJoe -13 and let people determine from there.. -16 is pretty normal to place. It takes long enough to count money and do payouts before the main awards ceremony which is usually an hour or two after we finish at my place. I don't want the work after the main tourney, I'm never in condition to drive myself to the awards and I'm not a parking attendant either.. F* em.. Not my problem. Self serve. Pick up your trash and no smoking on the course...

It's a casual random doubles tournament and at the start of the Margarita Open (first 8 years..) there was electric Smurf blue margaritas and general pandemonium, until that year the cops were looking for me and I decided not to serve booze to my 100 closest friends by donation haha. Attendance dropped the next year by 20 but it was a cooler crowd.

Lord I was born a ramblin man....

Good job out there, way to blaze the trail!

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

FWIW the mass text thingy... it won't work if people don't have data or their data is turned off. Unless something has changed but the MMS messaging relies on data. I'd also be careful not to give out a cell number lest they start calling you next year.. Looking for somewhere to stay or a ride at 2am.. Haha

Most people that are cell savvy will have an email, most emails are hooked into people's phones.. I would think a mass email would work. Or a post on a website. But yeah I guess like he said people don't check em often enough. Personally on the DG course is the only time I don't have a phone and damn I love it! I guess I've also been burned a few times by MMS not being received but maybe there's some text system that's not MMS based. I guess I'm not that savvy and I'm still rambling.. Its a good thing the ferry is docking and I gotta stop.. Been a long 13 hrs of traveling...

 

[araytx]

FWIW the mass text thingy... it won't work if people don't have data or their data is turned off. Unless something has changed but the MMS messaging relies on data. I'd also be careful not to give out a cell number lest they start calling you next year.. Looking for somewhere to stay or a ride at 2am.. Haha

Most people that are cell savvy will have an email, most emails are hooked into people's phones.. I would think a mass email would work. Or a post on a website. But yeah I guess like he said people don't check em often enough. Personally on the DG course is the only time I don't have a phone and damn I love it! I guess I've also been burned a few times by MMS not being received but maybe there's some text system that's not MMS based. I guess I'm not that savvy and I'm still rambling.. Its a good thing the ferry is docking and I gotta stop.. Been a long 13 hrs of traveling...

Around here they just a Facebook event page for each event. Info is there before the tournament, caddy books (online version), player meeting video and any updates during the event are there as well ... times, any changes, warnings, etc. Yes, the players have to go get it, not as "efficient" as mass text out, but it is simpler for the TD and everything is in the same one place for everything.

 

[ru4por]

Around here they just a Facebook event page for each event. Info is there before the tournament, caddy books (online version), player meeting video and any updates during the event are there as well ... times, any changes, warnings, etc. Yes, the players have to go get it, not as "efficient" as mass text out, but it is simpler for the TD and everything is in the same one place for everything.

I'm sure this works well. :thmbup: We use Disc Golf Scene up here, because use of it is so prevalent. It is a one stop shopping site for tournaments. We did email out the players meeting and tournament caddy book to all players.

 

[araytx]

I'm sure this works well. :thmbup: We use Disc Golf Scene up here, because use of it is so prevalent. It is a one stop shopping site for tournaments. We did email out the players meeting and tournament caddy book to all players.

Similar. They use DG Scene just for registration. The Tourney FB page links to DG Scene when you click on register.

 

[BillFleming]

I was a volunteer for two tournaments: Shelly Sharpe Memorial and The Memorial (both in Scottsdale, AZ). The issues I heard about eScorecards was:

1. It's not fair to the person keeping score as they have to do it all round (very few people are aware that one person can log off and another can log on and keep score - I know we weren't aware of that).
2. Phone will run out of battery life (we heard a rumor that PDGA was looking at getting battery packs and loaning them to the major tournaments - again, rumor).
3. Phone doesn't have good signal
4. I don't want other people touching my phone (this is due to everyone needing to confirm their scores - you have to enter your PDGA number or name, can't remember, and click on Confirm. If one person doesn't confirm their round's scores, the next group they are with can't do the eScoring).
5. I don't want to. (can't make them as it isn't required by PDGA rules)

The two tournaments I volunteered at requested one person in each group use eScoring and the other three use paper, then we compared them. But if no one wanted to eScore, they didn't have to. For the pros - we supplied a volunteer to walk with them and keep eScoring if no one in the group wanted to.

eScoring is awesome....but some 'kinks' need worked out: signal, ease of switching from one person to another, better way to confirm scores if someone forgets, battery life (maybe have chargers at different locations on the course, but they would need to be quick chargers as players can't wait to charge up their phone). I don't see paper going away as you need a backup if there's no phone service or player's phones are low on battery.

((This might be a good topic for its own thread))