Tired of people not renewing PDGA membership!

[Bugz36984]

Just a little rant here, seeing if anyone else agrees. I've only played 5 tournaments this year, but each time I've came across people who have not renewed their PDGA membership, therefore they have no rating associated with their names and they play way down! I'm an intermediate player, by no means spectacular, and I enjoy playing in tournaments with others of my own skill level. I'm tired of getting stuck trying to compete with players bagging! For instance, I played a tournament In February in which an "intermediate" player, not only won 1st in the intermediate division, but also shot a better score than the 1st place Open winner. Again, just this past saturday, I noticed a few names that were playing intermediate that were not intermediate players, and they again shot open scores. Am I just being a crab ***, or does this frustrate anyone else? I believe pdga events should be available for pdga and non-pdga members, but there has to be more regulation on these, once pdga members, that don't renew their membership and play down.

[giles]

member or not the PDGA tracks a current rating regardless of membership status. It is my understanding that a TD has access to this info and it is on them to tell players if they are rated too high for a division.

[the_pwnerator]

Well the issue would be solved if everyone was given a rating. Personally, I think the PDGA is a waste of money for what it offers.

I'd rather pay the $10 per tournament than join the PDGA just so I can play in tournaments.

[giles]

Originally Posted by the_pwnerator

Well the issue would be solved if everyone was given a rating. Personally, I think the PDGA is a waste of money for what it offers.

I'd rather pay the $10 per tournament than join the PDGA just so I can play in tournaments.

again, everyone is given a pdga number and a rating. even if you never signed up. it is on the TD to look it up, the PDGA shouldn't have to police every single event.

this is my understanding, I've been wrong before in my life...

[dreadlock86]

no offense to the OP but i am tired of hearing people say that someone is a bagger just because they shot the same as the open players that day.

it doesn't necessarily mean that they should be playing up. it might mean that the open players blew it that day. it might mean that person had an unusually hot round that day.

judge a player based on their rating, not their score that day or how far they can drive.

[Cgkdisc]

^what Giles said.

[wake911]

Originally Posted by giles

member or not the PDGA tracks a current rating regardless of membership status. It is my understanding that a TD has access to this info and it is on them to tell players if they are rated too high for a division.

Yup, i just re-picked up the sport again in July from about 5 years off, and was waiting until Oct 1 to renew, and played 1 pdga sanctioned tourney prior to renewing. I received a rating at that tourney despite not being a current pdga member. Then when I renewed on Oct 1, that became my official rating. So I could have sandbagged that tourney, but then my rating would be too high to do it again, even if i had never renewed, it would be in the system.

Insuring TD's have access to this would be a great way to prevent mass sandbagging at tourneys. People could only do it once before their name would be in the system.

[dusty5150]

we had a guy show up to a tourney a few years ago that I ran, and he hadn't been current for forever and he hadn't played in many years. i had to have him play MPO because of his 'rating', when he should have been playing intermediate. it kinda sucked having to tell the guy that.

[AndyJB]

Originally Posted by giles

again, everyone is given a pdga number and a rating. even if you never signed up. it is on the TD to look it up, the PDGA shouldn't have to police every single event.

this is my understanding, I've been wrong before in my life...

I do think you are correct on this one, with the caveat that the PDGA does not give rating to temp members. But people who have memberships that have lapsed do have ratings that TDs can access. What happens sometimes, usually on big and A and B Tier, is guys will be on the waitlist and get in day of the tourney when the TD doesn't have access to the internet to check the ratings.

But also I've discovered a lot of sandbagging is non-intentional. I've played a lot of non-sanctioned tourneys (only been in one PDGA tourney, btu have another this weekend) where guys will be playing their first tournament and are much better than they realize, or they don't understand divisions. The good news is, as long as you keep improving, you'll beat the sandbaggers and move up the right way and show them how it's done!

[Bugz36984]

Originally Posted by dreadlock86

no offense to the OP but i am tired of hearing people say that someone is a bagger just because they shot the same as the open players that day.

it doesn't necessarily mean that they should be playing up. it might mean that the open players blew it that day. it might mean that person had an unusually hot round that day.

judge a player based on their rating, not their score that day or how far they can drive.

Open players play open because the DONT blow it. I could play open if I was more consistant, but I'm not, thats why I am just an intermediate player, my drives aren't consistent and my putts aren't consistent. And when your top 5 open scores are seperated by 3 strokes, I'm pretty sure there's consistency there...so you can't say open players blow it.