On the edge of professional Disc Golf

[smyith]

Just saw this posted on facebook. Interesting article.
http://mastersdiscgolf.com/news/2013/12/on-the-edge-of-professional-disc-golf/

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

Jussi Meresmaa needs an editor. Not knocking the content, but since English isn't his first language - he should pass it along to somebody to polish it up.

Also, I really need a private household chef.

 

[Rob Martin]

Things I agree with:
- If DG is to become a more professional sport, fans (Meresmaa's definition) need to push it.
- TD's need to get paid better. Don't have an answer on how.

Things I disagree with:
-Pay to play vs. free to play. How many free basketball courts are there in public parks? How many Pay to play bball courts? If people had to pay to play BBall, would it all of a sudden become better? Same for baseball, softball, etc.

-No mention of schools. Get it in the schools and people will grow up with it. To me, this is the grass roots starting point.

-Pro players 'deserve more'. Just don't agree. People should get paid if/when they are productive. $100 mil to play sports is ridiculous.

-Lack of professional attitude. Partial agree, partial disagree. My image of softball is that it is a bunch of drinking adults playing outside in leagues. Same with bowling, except inside. My view may be inaccurate, but it's my view which is just as real (whether valid or not) as a non-DG view of what disc golf may be about.

-The presumption that DG needs to grow at all. I'm not against growth, I'm just not concerned about it.
Example: I've been brewing my own beer for 20+ years, since before I was even legal age. I couldn't care less if you brew, other then we have something to talk about. I brew for myself and because I like to. It's fun to brew, I like talking to other homebrewers, but if it hadn't grown as much has it did in the last 20 years, I probably would still be brewing anyway.

 

[simpletwist]

Didn't read the article, but for professionalism to occur Pay to Play is the way to go. No you don't necessarily pay to play BBall at a public park. But if you want to play professionally at even the lowest possible level you (someone) pays for court time. Inside an actual facility for professional BBall. Now I've played some serious, but not professional Softball. A Statewide slow pitch co-rec league. We paid for the privilege. Paid for our exclusive use of the diamonds. We paid for the umps, professional umps.

But we aren't talking BBall. And we aren't talking softball either. we're talking about GOLF. Disc golf, but golf nonetheless. And where are professional golf tournaments played? At pay to play courses. In fact every golf course is pay to play. Private, Semi-private, resort & public golf courses are all pay to play. A golf course (and this includes disc golf) requires specific maintenance. Meticulous maintenance if you want to attract the cream of the crop. That costs money that anything other than pay to play simply can't afford let a lone sustain.

Pay to play is the way to professionalism.

 

[Tpro]

Not a poorly written article other than the missing words and poor grammer. No biggie Jussi

But seriously Ive read ALL of that before about a Million times.... sooo

STOPP

 

[smyith]

click to read

i think alot of what he was saying mostly applies to the european scene or at least what he sees on the european side. and from what I understand the sport is like over there, they might actually be closer then the states for the professional side.

 

[Buchajs1]

With pay to play, i think that higher level courses should be pay to play, the standard fee being 5-15 dollars. However, i dont think that every course should be pay to play, in each area there should be a few non pay to play. This way if a family or a newer player wants to try the sport but doesnt want to pay excessively, they can play a non pay to play course. As they advance, they may want to experience bigger and better courses, that are pay to play. If there arent some that are free, i cant see many new players wanting to play

 

[superium]

Well here's a quick thing I wrote which I could of kept ranting on but chose to stop:
I still believe it's up to the "Professional" disc golfers & the pDGA to promote & grow the sport. Thing's just don't fall in your lap. If you want to make a comfortable living, you go out and promote yourself and the sport. Top pro players & disc golf associations should be targeting big companies such as Nike, Addidas, Mountain Dew, Red Bull, etc. Just like a job interview, meetings should be set up and promotional videos submitted to numerous companies. Once major sponsors are acquired, everything else falls in place.

 

[Tpro]

I feel like some people dont remember that there have been major sponsors in the past.... Now who wants to tell me why then and not now...? No go ahead and think about it I gotta close up the shop Ill be back...

 

[Nasty Nate]

Pay to play is a horrible idea and would just deter people from playing. That's why disc golf is great, because it's free! And if you consider how much people play then we would end up spending thousands just to go to a local park. I think if you give it a few years it will be like skateboarding and become huge.

Don't we already "pay" for our parks through taxes? Don't be elitists about our game that is for everyone. Plus over-commercialization of anything can be bad. If it's not broken don't fix it

 

[disc qualified]

i would gladly pay to play if it meant keeping out the shirtless stoner riff raff who are oblivious to the world around them and have no sense of etiquette or courtesy

 

[DanJon]

Well here's a quick thing I wrote which I could of kept ranting on but chose to stop:
I still believe it's up to the "Professional" disc golfers & the pDGA to promote & grow the sport. Thing's just don't fall in your lap. If you want to make a comfortable living, you go out and promote yourself and the sport. Top pro players & disc golf associations should be targeting big companies such as Nike, Addidas, Mountain Dew, Red Bull, etc. Just like a job interview, meetings should be set up and promotional videos submitted to numerous companies. Once major sponsors are acquired, everything else falls in place.

Oh big sponsors is all we need?

Why didnt someone think of this before?

Here's an interesting question regarding your idea.

What benefit would Adidas or Red Bull gain from throwing money at professional Frisbee players?

Are they going to see huge returns from the 100's of people who make up the audience at NTs and majors?

 

[Darth Anovin]

i would gladly pay to play if it meant keeping out the shirtless stoner riff raff who are oblivious to the world around them and have no sense of etiquette or courtesy

Same here. Couldn't agree more. But I wouldn't stop with just the stoners. Get rid of the drunks too. It really irks me when some look at disc golf as an activity to just get drunk while doing. This isn't cornhole people. Besides they have places to get drunk and be social at. They're called bars. Pretty sure if I went into a bar and started chucking my discs around, I'd be asked to leave. So why should I have to deal with people that are hammered when I'm out on the course?!?

 

[DanJon]

Same here. Couldn't agree more. But I wouldn't stop with just the stoners. Get rid of the drunks too. It really irks me when some look at disc golf as an activity to just get drunk while doing. This isn't cornhole people. Besides they have places to get drunk and be social at. They're called bars. Pretty sure if I went into a bar and started chucking my discs around, I'd be asked to leave. So why should I have to deal with people that are hammered when I'm out on the course?!?

Cue Dawson's Creek pic.

 

[threevok]

DG is like sex. If you can get for free, great. If not, paying for is better than nothing.

 

[DavidSauls]

Not a poorly written article other than the missing words and poor grammer. No biggie Jussi

But seriously Ive read ALL of that before about a Million times.... sooo

Interestingly, from a pro, he reached the conclusion that they need fans. A notion that seems to have escaped many of the pros, and others who think that the pros should make money just because they're good at disc golf. That, in itself, is refreshing.

 

[Mike C]

Same here. Couldn't agree more. But I wouldn't stop with just the stoners. Get rid of the drunks too. It really irks me when some look at disc golf as an activity to just get drunk while doing. This isn't cornhole people. Besides they have places to get drunk and be social at. They're called bars. Pretty sure if I went into a bar and started chucking my discs around, I'd be asked to leave. So why should I have to deal with people that are hammered when I'm out on the course?!?

I work at a bar, and we had a positive reaction when I busted out my basket on a friday night

That being said I've never had any issues from drunks or stoners at my local courses aside from the odd beercan disposed of improperly. They behave themselves up here

 

[superium]

Oh big sponsors is all we need?

Why didnt someone think of this before?

Here's an interesting question regarding your idea.

What benefit would Adidas or Red Bull gain from throwing money at professional Frisbee players?

Are they going to see huge returns from the 100's of people who make up the audience at NTs and majors?

They been doing this for skateboarding & snowboarding for over a decade or two so they are making money some how.
Hell if women's basketball can acquire major sponsor's, I'm sure disc golf can. It's all based on having the right people who know how to sell the sport.

 

[Mike C]

Skateboarding is also more exciting to watch IMO.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Interestingly, from a pro, he reached the conclusion that they need fans. A notion that seems to have escaped many of the pros, and others who think that the pros should make money just because they're good at disc golf. That, in itself, is refreshing.

When Jussi asked people on Facebook a few days ago what items should be in the six hexagons, I said that spectators should be in all six and the rest will follow. So at least he put Fans in the top hex for the story.