The bigger difference is that in golf, they're all actual professionals. In disc golf, it's perhaps a dozen professionals, and a lot of semi-pros.
Nobody's tuning in---well, nobody in any significant numbers---and it's doubtful they ever will. I'm not sure of the logic of structuring Worlds around spectators.
The value of the bulk of competitors isn't their media draw----it's the fact that they're willing to pay money and show up, contributing their entries to the payout. If you told people they could pay the big entry, take a week off work, travel across the country, undertake all the expenses involved......and half of them would be sent home after two days, would they still show up?
I would argue it's not that different in terms of scale. Meaning that the tops pros in our sport against the 'semi-pros' are not that much different from the top golf pros against the bottom of the pros (they call them Journeymen, which is much the same as you using 'semi-pro').
I do get your point. I'm not being willfully ignorant. Even Journeymen on the PGA Tour tend to make enough to not need day jobs, and they have sponsors, etc. But I think the big question is, what does the PDGA
want to be? I've said earlier, I'm slightly out of touch having stepped away for the past few years. But I've been around, done my share of TDing, had input on different things. And the thing I see most is the opinion that, "We aren't X, so why would we emulate it?" And unfortunately, that opinion is the biggest hurdle to ever coming close to "X." A lot of people are basing these opinions with the already defeatist attitude that disc golf will never be a true pro sport, never be on the national stage, etc. When a lot of focus should be on, "What makes X work like it does?"
No, we don't have a nationwide viewership. No, we don't have multi-million dollar sponsors like Adidas or Nike. But if anyone has been paying attention, how often have commentators during the BSF and the Worlds talk about McBeth's Adidas gear?? Not saying that means anything...but I also wouldn't be surprised if there are steps being taken behind the scenes that us normal folk don't know about.
Because we're all poor and have normal jobs and families, we don't necessarily look at what disc golf can be in 20 years. We worry more about what we want it to be for us right now. Golf was invented in the 1400s, tennis was in the 1500s. Disc golf was invented in the 60s.
All this mildly incoherent rant is trying to say is, lack of progressive thinking never resulted in success. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is only applicable when you're happy with where you're at. And I would be shocked if where we are now is the PDGA's idea of the pinnacle of disc golf. Not saying one specific direction (and especially not my opinion) is the right way. But being closed to new directions (not saying you, I just mean a general opinion), is only going to ensure we don't reach the next levels a lot of people would like to see.