4 set DG Majors

[KenanFlagler01]

I know this has been discussed before, but the Ultiword podcast got me thinking about standardizing DG majors more. We basically only have two set ones — Worlds and USDGC — and then one that bounces around in Europe (and sometimes an additional one in Australia or Japan). Here's an idea for 4 set majors every year, then build the NTs and DGPT around them...

Worlds (aka US Open) — different courses every year, run by the PDGA (as the USGA runs the US Open)

USDGC (aka The Masters) — same course every year, run by Innova more than the PDGA (I think), same as the Masters isn't run by the PGA

European Open (aka British Open) — I love the Jarva course and would be fine with it there every year, or rotate with the Czech course

DGPT Championship (aka PGA Championshp) — drop the matchplay finale (or add this additional tournament), different courses every year, run by the DGPT (like the PGA runs its championship)

Just what I'm thinking about as I'm trapped in my house watching Hurricane Florence...

 

[KenanFlagler01]

And the NT finale / Hall of Fame could be an unofficial "5th major" like the Players Championship at Sawgrass is the most prestigious and highest payout of the non-majors in ball golf.

 

[KenanFlagler01]

I hadn't read this prior to posting, but it makes similar points about standardizing the majors more: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2018/09/11/circle-2uesday-future-worlds/

I wholeheartedly agree with the author and Brinster on this.

 

[ru4por]

Some nice discussion here:

http://https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123272&highlight=majors

 

[Jay Dub]

Some nice discussion here:

http://https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123272&highlight=majors

I clicked your link and got this...

Hmm. We're having trouble finding that site.

We can't connect to the server at https.
If that address is correct, here are three other things you can try:

Try again later.
Check your network connection.
If you are connected but behind a firewall, check that Firefox has permission to access the Web.

 

[ru4por]

I clicked your link and got this...

Hmmmm.....let me try that again.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123272&highlight=majors

That's better. I duplicated the http portion of the link. Thanks Jay Dub.

 

[scarpfish]

The other two majors are going to have to develop organically.

And I'm not even certain why we have to have four.

 

[Motorpro]

While I see many valid points about standardizing the majors and think it probably a good idea. I worry whenever people suggests that ball golf does it a certain way so disc golf should do the same. It is a different sport. With a different fan base. For several decades I was involved in drag racing in many levels from local amateur classes to the top pro levels. Years ago the drag racing organization would look at Indycar racing and later at NASCAR and since they were bigger they wanted to do things the way they did. Trying to follow the leader turned drag racing from a sport almost anyone who wanted to could participate in to a sport for Millionaires. From full stands and people 10 deep at the fences to racing in front of half empty stands. We shouldn't get so involved in trying to be the PGA that we forget to be disc golf.

 

[DavidSauls]

The other two majors are going to have to develop organically.

This. Declaring 2 other events with less prestige than the USDGC to be its equal, won't make them so. They have to evolve to that point. Otherwise, we'd have a "grand slam" without a lot of prestige, itself.

Somewhere on this site is a poll of which events should be in such an arrangement. The answers, after Worlds and USDGC, were all over the board. Why not The Memorial, which gets a lot of attention as the opening big event? Or Ledgestone? Or GBO?

 

[ru4por]

This. Declaring 2 other events with less prestige than the USDGC to be its equal, won't make them so. They have to evolve to that point. Otherwise, we'd have a "grand slam" without a lot of prestige, itself.

Somewhere on this site is a poll of which events should be in such an arrangement. The answers, after Worlds and USDGC, were all over the board. Why not The Memorial, which gets a lot of attention as the opening big event? Or Ledgestone? Or GBO?

Here ya go.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131379&highlight=majors

 

[ru4por]

The other two majors are going to have to develop organically.

And I'm not even certain why we have to have four.

Agree with this.

 

[JTacoma03]

I like the rundown in the OP, as long as Worlds can be held anywhere internationally (given the bid is quality, of course).

As far as why four - why not? It feels like the right amount to me, every 7-8 weeks in a season there's the biggest titles being contested.

 

[DavidSauls]

The other two majors are going to have to develop organically.

And I'm not even certain why we have to have four.

As for the latter.....in seems to me that either 3 (Triple Crown) or 4 (Grand Slam) would be good numbers for highlight events. 2 seems insufficient; 5 or more goes back to just being a tour, and at that point some will inevitably seem bigger than others, and the odds of a dramatic sweep get really poor.

Since it needs to grow organically, odds are we'll get to 3 before making the leap to 4. I've heard some talking about an amateur Triple Crown: AmWorlds, USADCC, and Bowling Green.

I don't know that it's terribly important---just something to make following the pro tour a little more interesting.

 

[DavidSauls]

Here ya go.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131379&highlight=majors

Thanks.

Couldn't even get near-unanimous on Worlds and USDGC. The two European options, combined, got a little over 50%, and nothing else over a quarter. Though DGPT Championship was, oddly, not offered.

At least among that small group of poll respondents, not much agreement on what "should" be included.

 

[KenanFlagler01]

Good comments on how any additional majors outside of Worlds and USDGC needing to grow organically, but I kind of feel like we're almost there. The Euro Open at Jarva, to me, is deserving of Major status (and indeed, about every other year it's labeled as such). There are lots of other contenders for "next most prestigious" (Memorial, Santa Cruz, GBO, Maple Hill, HoF, DGPT Finale). My personal opinion is USDGC, HoF, and DGPT finale are too close together. If they were spread out a little more—with big added cash for the two tour finales—those two events would be "majors" 4 and 5 (maybe not offficially, but at least in cash and quality competition).

 

[curmudgeonDwindle]

while i believe the dg majors will eventually become calcified, what some fail to mention about having 4 (or more) majors is the legitimacy of the 'grand slam', which i feel needs to be a minimum of 4 events. the 'grand slam' is a very rare and the supreme achievement in any sport that has it...

 

[DavidSauls]

Why not a "Triple Crown" (3 events).

 

[DavidSauls]

Good comments on how any additional majors outside of Worlds and USDGC needing to grow organically, but I kind of feel like we're almost there. The Euro Open at Jarva, to me, is deserving of Major status (and indeed, about every other year it's labeled as such). There are lots of other contenders for "next most prestigious" (Memorial, Santa Cruz, GBO, Maple Hill, HoF, DGPT Finale). My personal opinion is USDGC, HoF, and DGPT finale are too close together. If they were spread out a little more—with big added cash for the two tour finales—those two events would be "majors" 4 and 5 (maybe not offficially, but at least in cash and quality competition).

There would be some advantage to being spread through the year. The trick, of course, is that the PDGA doesn't create and place events---it's dependent on locals to run them. Some of them are under certain constraints---Worlds is generally tied to summer, USDGC & DGPT have qualifier systems, so are at end of the year (USDGC certainly isn't moving). So somebody has to create an event and raise it to high levels and put it in the springtime. With climate limiting how early some places can do so.

There may be a benefit to having them bunched together---creating a "high season", a stretch where the tour is most serious, and where there's momentum from one big event to another. Some sports are virtually year-round; others confined to a portion of the year. This would be a hybrid.

 

[scarpfish]

As for the latter.....in seems to me that either 3 (Triple Crown) or 4 (Grand Slam) would be good numbers for highlight events. 2 seems insufficient; 5 or more goes back to just being a tour, and at that point some will inevitably seem bigger than others, and the odds of a dramatic sweep get really poor.

My gripe was the notion that some folks think disc golf needs to do this because other established sports do it. I don't. In fact, I find the way that the sports media markets these things in other sports as corporate and contrived.

Should the natural evolvement of things make it shake out to where there are four DG majors someday, fine, but I don't things are any worse off if that magic number turns out to be 3 or 5 or 7, or if we remain relegated to the existing two, or even if one of the existing two is replaced by something else.

 

[IHearChains]

I worry whenever people suggests that ball golf does it a certain way so disc golf should do the same....We shouldn't get so involved in trying to be the PGA that we forget to be disc golf.

THIS!! x1000!!!

It is NOT ball golf. STOP trying to make dg like ball golf PLEASE.

:doh::gross::wall: