Ams...like all other sports....should be ALL trophy only. If you want to play for more than trophys than there is a place to do that...in the PRO divisions...
So if I call myself the President of the United States then that makes me the President of the United States by your logic right? I can put it on a business card to make it official, so therefore everyone must respect my new title and treat me like the President of the United States. Pssst... There are no true Amateurs in Disc Golf, just divisions named "Amateur" in name only.
Also by your logic, then every tournament I enter as an Am should be 100% free entry. I mean no college amateur football player has to pay to play on Saturdays. The guys on the Louisville Cardinals did not have to pay to enter the NCAA March Madness tournament, yet they received their trophy. The U-Conn girls hoop team didnt pay either for their tourney entry and trophy.
Also, since I am an Amateur I deserve a sponsorship/scholarship from someone like Dynamic Discs, just like all other sports. Those guys and gals who play college amateur sports receive a hefty amount of free tuition money to attend said school. So by your faulty logic, I as an amateur deserve to be compensated for attending your event. Since you are paying for me to play in your event I then accept that I am only eligible to receive a trophy for winning. Sounds fair to me.
Do you see how stupid it sounds when trying to use the true meaning of the word "Amateur" and apply it to the participants in a Disc Golf Tourney?
I am all for restructuring the payouts and renaming the divisions to something more related to what we are actually doing. I dont think half the field should be paid out in the non-Open divisions. But I also think anyone trying to use the word "amateur" in the argument is extremely naive and is using faulty logic. If you want it to change, then deal with what needs to be changed rather than cling to improper division names taken at face value.
We all pay to play in tourneys, Open players, Advanced, Intermediate, Rec and Novice. The majority belong to the PDGA, for those not in the know the P stands for Professional. Which I think is another part of the problem. To bad they didnt follow the PGA and USGA model, so actual Pros would have to earn their PDGA status through play. This would separate the real Pros from the people who just play in the Open division to play for money.
Playing in Open doesn't make you a professional player, just like playing in the Amateur division doesn't make you an Amateur in the true definition of the word.