Top of Intermediate or Bottom of Advanced?

[jdw80550]

I'm rate 872. My best rating has been 898, that was 3 years ago. I bounce between 780-920 rated rounds. I have played intermediate for a long time, and have tried to play up into advanced.

Playing up- all I end up doing is to try and not finish last. I throw consistently lower rated rounds. 780-820ish.

Playing Int- I end up playing where I normally would play, and consistently had better rounds.

Technically I can still play rec, but then I would be bagging, so....

A's and Large tourney's I always play Int and never Adv.

 

[Stardoggy]

I'm rate 872. My best rating has been 898, that was 3 years ago. I bounce between 780-920 rated rounds. I have played intermediate for a long time, and have tried to play up into advanced.

Playing up- all I end up doing is to try and not finish last. I throw consistently lower rated rounds. 780-820ish.

Playing Int- I end up playing where I normally would play, and consistently had better rounds.

Technically I can still play rec, but then I would be bagging, so....

A's and Large tourney's I always play Int and never Adv.

Depends on where you play. Around here, an 872 rated player would get killed in Int.

 

[brutalbrutus]

Thats how it is here in Colorado. You will only very rarely see someone over 900 playing MA2, and even then it is only a few points over. I think the highest rated for States in MA2 this year was 918.

Coloradans also like to use the phrase "true rec" which means (to them) begginer players, rather than actual recreational players. Of course, around here no TDs ever offer Novice. So it's very weird. We have 930 rated people playing MPO every tourney because people called them sandbaggers at some point.

So even though ratings and divisions were initially intended to even the playing field nationwide, you still need to gauge the local customs to see where you should play.

Didn't you get into a situation in Asia over this kind of thing?.. Cant remember the exact details, but iirc they tried to make you play Open or something...

 

[Stardoggy]

So even though ratings and divisions were initially intended to even the playing field nationwide, you still need to gauge the local customs to see where you should play.

Just another reason to force players to play their rating. Then there's no pressure to move up because other people "think you should".

If you're a 910 player, you play Int. Done, and done.

 

[bhadella]

Just another reason to force players to play their rating. Then there's no pressure to move up because other people "think you should".

If you're a 910 player, you play Int. Done, and done.

Yup. I've been stuck at 910 +/- since I started playing tournaments. I play INT as I feel like I get more out of the tournament experience (dealing with pressure of lead cards, trying to hold a win) than I would in the lower 1/2 of Advanced. And let's be honest, after the shuffle of the first round, you are playing with comparable competitors in either division.

 

[gdub58]

Just another reason to force players to play their rating. Then there's no pressure to move up because other people "think you should".

If you're a 910 player, you play Int. Done, and done.

Couldn't agree more.

Further, I think we should consider removing the labels (e.g. "Intermediate") and just refer to the divisions as MA1-MA4. In addition, I think the ratings boundaries should be fluid to recognize that the distribution of ratings varies from tournament to tournament. The TD can decide how many amateur divisions they want to have (largely based on the number who have signed up), and then split the field equally into those divisions.

This is how it works in amateur ball golf tournaments (which admittedly are fairly rare and are mostly held at private clubs). The "first flight" may have those with handicaps between 0-5 at one event, and 0-12 the next - just depends on who enters. This ensures divisions of relatively equal size and skill level.

And at the risk of opening a different can of worms, I think we should consider eliminating age-protected amateur divisions to get as many people as possible in these amateur groups. Seeing tournaments with 50 players spread over 10 divisions is ludicrous.

 

[Stardoggy]

Oh heck yeah. The stupid labels applied to the divisions are probably the biggest barrier in getting people to play their ratings. But it IS very regional, in that regard. Around here, we get tournaments with nearly 70 people in Rec from time to time.

 

[ejvogie]

Rec is normally our largest division here. Then Int. Nov and Adv are usually pretty close in number after that

 

[Steve West]

...Around here, we get tournaments with nearly 70 people in Rec from time to time.

Maybe that's because they actually use the short tees in WI. (As opposed to MN, where the belief seems to be that the short tees are all booby-trapped to perform an instant gonadectomy if you ever throw from one.)

 

[ejvogie]

Open and Advanced play longs all day. Intermediate play longs in the morning and shorts in the afternoon. Everyone else plays 2 from the shorts.

 

[BrotherDave]

There's a lot of Rec guys dreambagging in Intermediate here in NC.

 

[AndyJB]

Didn't you get into a situation in Asia over this kind of thing?.. Cant remember the exact details, but iirc they tried to make you play Open or something...

Very weird because that was almost 4 years ago, but yes.

It was in Korea and I was rated around 830 at the time. They tried to make me play Open because I was American. I ended up playing MA2 and got 2nd...still my highest MA2 finish ever, so not too off base I guess. If I had played MA1 and shot the exact score I would have been out of the top 10.

There were a lot of other shenanigans at that event, enough that the KPDGA lost their sanctioning for a short period of time. I dont even know if that orginization still exists. Disc golf never really caught on in Korea.