Despite my disagreement above, I DO agree that it would be nice if the PDGA did more to help the AM game. IMO, they could start by dumping the entire PRO side.
you should re-read all you posted.
Your first point is almost exactly what I said--maybe an oversimplification, but if you don't play sanctioned events, most of what you said is irrelevant.
I am not convinced this is a consensus, but I am sure it is an oversimplification. The PDGA provides quite a bit more for me. It provides me a
rating and a master's ranking.
I don't need a rating nor a ranking for casual play.
For many years
it was the only course directory and a primary communication board.
But not today.
In my area they indeed have helped put in courses [for Worlds] and helped provided maintenance for the event.
They put in a course for world's? Great. A course.
They provide insurance for
sanctioned events and have helped with the draw for our tournaments.
Once again...
They help drive attendance in one of our leagues,
via sanctioning.
rinse and repeat.
Indirectly, they provide encouragement for some sponsors of our events. [Discraft is far more engaged for our A Tier, than our unsanctioned BYOP events].
The PDGA has EDGE under its umbrella.
Good point and part of the answer to my question.
The PDGA scoring app and TD tools are fantastic.
Thus no impact on me or 95% of people that actually play DG regularly, just not sanctioned events.
The PDGA provide a fairly comprehensive set of rules and competition guidelines.
Which for the most part vary only slightly from the original rules of disc golf. Even in sanctioned events I have played, the vast majority of people I encountered only vaguely know the basics of the rules.