What made/will make you step up a division?

[JoshEpoo]

After you play a few events and get to know the people who are competing in your area, you'll know where you belong. It's pretty easy to monitor the scores at PDGA tourneys and other locally operated leagues and unsanctioned events and rank yourself.

I'd say if you can throw 350'-400' after a year and consider yourself a good golfer with more potential, then bump up. There's nothing to learn in Rec, and little to gain. People playing Rec are not the competitive types and are typically just there for fun.

How much your nerves get to you during tourney pressure is something that's largely hardwired into your personality. Hopefully, with more experience, they'll go away. Not everyone is a serious competitor though, and some people are just head cases that never "get it".

 

[SmoothSailor]

In any tournament on my home course I play advanced. However, to answer your question, I moved up from MA3 to MA2 after I placed 1st in 3 tournaments. My move to Advanced will require me to place 1st in 5 tournaments (not on my home course). And the move from Advanced to Open will require time, practice and great will power.

 

[tampora]

I moved up to advanced when I was shooting consistently better then when I was playing intermediate. I placed 3rd in a big field of advanced players and decided to stay.

You moved up to advanced after you moved up from intermediate? Unless there's a division between int and adv, that just sounds wrong.

 

[foo_g]

You moved up to advanced after you moved up from intermediate? Unless there's a division between int and adv, that just sounds wrong.

 

[DGRZ001]

I started playing Open because of when I started playing. In 1979, there was only Open or Women.

 

[Tfire25]

After you play a few events and get to know the people who are competing in your area, you'll know where you belong. It's pretty easy to monitor the scores at PDGA tourneys and other locally operated leagues and unsanctioned events and rank yourself.

I'd say if you can throw 350'-400' after a year and consider yourself a good golfer with more potential, then bump up. There's nothing to learn in Rec, and little to gain. People playing Rec are not the competitive types and are typically just there for fun.

How much your nerves get to you during tourney pressure is something that's largely hardwired into your personality. Hopefully, with more experience, they'll go away. Not everyone is a serious competitor though, and some people are just head cases that never "get it".

The adrenalin only got my on the first two holes of round one. After that it didn't get to me at all. The one thing I need to learn is to forget a bad hole though. Bogeys like to follow bogeys for some reason.

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the damn putts and figured out what I did wrong. On the easy putts I switch to straddle and I won't be doing that again. I practiced some this morning both ways and figured out I release the disc way to nose down with the straddle putt. That explains hitting the top lip of the bottom of the cage 5 or 6 times. :wall:

 

[Green Aarrow]

I've used my rating as a guide. Over time, mine has gone through wild fluctuations, but when it finally went over 900, I started going up 5-7 points per update. That's when I could tell. I'm up to 925, so Advanced is calling anyway, but that's after consistently being in the top 20% in Intermediate throughout the year.

 

[thrembo]

Age. I'll be eligible for Grand Masters next year.

 

[prerube]

I said I will stop playing rec once I win rec, but that never happened, I just stopped. At my last tourney I got second in intermediate, so now I say once I win intermediate I will quit playing intermediate.

 

[foo_g]

I said I will stop playing rec once I win rec, but that never happened, I just stopped. At my last tourney I got second in intermediate, so now I say once I win intermediate I will quit playing intermediate.

DOMINATE!

 

[freakinwizzz]

in 1st and 2nd are baggers

 

[scarpfish]

Yea, looking at those results, there *really* should have been a novice division in that tournament.

I might point out that said tournament had no Am payout.

http://www.pdga.com/tournament_results/78103
http://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69835
http://www.dynamicdiscs.com/disc-golf-tournaments/2012/lewisville-open.html

 

[Thumber]

I moved up to Open, and am now a regular donor, because those were the guys i wanted to play against.

 

[dusty5150]

I moved up to Open, and am now a regular donor, because those were the guys i wanted to play against.

and cuz just you're just plain awesome :clap:

I'm moving up to Open Masters in January ... MA1 for years then straight to Masters! (is that considered a move up?) lol

 

[Tfire25]

I have never seen a novice division in Texas. I didn't even know they existed until I saw it on the forums.

I'm not saying the guys in 1st/2nd were baggers. The guy in first said it would be his last tournament in rec and he had been playing for less than a year. His putting was just amazing and he had the most incredible tree love I have ever seen. Not once did I see a bad kick off a tree. He has to have a nude pic of treesus's wife.

The guy in second was just an all around good player. After that it was pretty comparable for a while. A couple bad shots or better shots would have changed a lot.

 

[joshmo65]

I moved up when my rating told me to move up and I had gone 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st in intermediate. I guess the question for you is, what do you want from a tournament? Do you want to compete for the win or just play with a bunch of people and maybe cash. Your scores would have put you in 33rd of 42 in intermediate, so I would say stay in rec!

 

[b-mart]

I'll move up once I feel like I've earned the right to. By that, I mean once I'm a member of the PDGA and have placed somewhere above dead last in a tournament. I've only thrown in one tournament (unsanctioned), and it was a bloodbath. I've played the same course 20 strokes better since then (no exaggeration). I always work on Saturdays or I would have started throwing in tournaments this summer just for the experience. Thinking maybe next summer I can actually make it happen since my boss is the one who introduced me to disc golf and might let me have off for a tournament... Plus I'm the one who makes the schedule.

 

[martinyoung]

you should know its time to move up when you cash in a division and know you played below your ability...Except for the Open Division..(and maybe a few of the age divisions)...Cashing as an AM you better deserve it and have played at or above your expectations

 

[Chef Fini]

My whole idea was to stay in rec until I won a tournaent. Then I just keep getting beat by people who should be playing int/adv. So I recently have decided to move up. I can hold my own against int players and some adv players as well so I guess it's not a stretch for me to do it. I too can drive about 400 and my putting has really tightened up recently (made or hit metal on every putt within 75ft. the other day). I definitely think it's time to move up.

 

[1978]

4. No, that goes away. When I way playing several tournaments a year they just felt like another day on the course.

I'm always nervous on the first throw. Especially at Am Nats this year being anounced first infront of a gallery. Just about every tournament or round im anxious and nervous the first throw, then you just relax. I don't know how elite pro's do it... with galleries, so much on the line, and basically going for it on every shot.