Unique Events

[TxViper3187]

My Co-TD TexHop58 came up with a head to head March Madness Bracket tournament idea that we are going to experiment with at the end of September. So far the players seem really interested. I am curious what unique tournaments/events have you run/participated in that players enjoyed. Trying to come up with different ideas rather than just the standard minis/tournaments to draw in new players or re interest the established crowd.

 

[DavidSauls]

My Co-TD TexHop58 came up with a head to head March Madness Bracket tournament idea that we are going to experiment with at the end of September. So far the players seem really interested. I am curious what unique tournaments/events have you run/participated in that players enjoyed. Trying to come up with different ideas rather than just the standard minis/tournaments to draw in new players or re interest the established crowd.

My brother and I ran a tournament like this for 7 years, and it was a blast. Ours was match play. I highly recommend trying it.

Later, when I have a lot of time, I'll post some logistics as to how we did it, and a few landmines to look out for.

In November, we're running our second annual 4-man-team match-play tournament. They've been running one at the IDGC for the last 3 years, and it's a lot of fun.

 

[texhop58]

Yea. We know the logistics will be hard. But we told people ahead of time. There is a chance for 32 to beat the 1 seed. It will be "skins" first to 3 wins. But skins will carry over. So if y'all both par, birdie the first two and player 32 aces his 3 hole. It's overs. He's defeated. It's almost like a sudden death skins match thing. Should make for some upsets. It's going to make the average player bring their a game. And the pro/good players be on top of their game the whole day. We have also posted ahead of time. This is a trial event. That way we can see how long this takes and we can tweek it.

 

[bradharris]

I really want to try a knockout tournament at some point. You play mob golf, 19 people on the first tee. But you eliminate one player at each hole.

 

[brutalbrutus]

I really want to try a knockout tournament at some point. You play mob golf, 19 people on the first tee. But you eliminate one player at each hole.

I kind of like this idea, just add $5-$10 per player to make it interesting...

 

[Thumber]

I would suggest match play over skins

We run a Ryder cup style tournament each year up here. 8 Best in Ottawa versus 8 Best in Montreal. 4 rounds. 3 rounds of 9 holes doubles and 1 round of 18 holes single. All Match Play
Rd 1 - Best Disc Dubs - 9 holes
Rd 2 - Alternate Shot Dubs - 9 holes
Rd 3 - Best Score Dubs - 9 holes
Rd 4 - Singles Match Play - 18 holes

The tourny tends to be won or lost in the singles portion

 

[texhop58]

That's an interesting concept. I have a few more ideas in this head. Usually how this works is I bring my large random grouping of ideas to the table. Then he fine tunes them. I have idea for team event style of play. Points based on scoring rounds, up shot challenges, putting challenges and flick challenges. Imagine Texas teams meets Olympics. Some other "knockout" style events. Some double events.

 

[DavidSauls]

A few details on how we did a single-elimination match play event. As a few others have discovered, I'm passionate about it and will write a treatise, if given the chance. Of course, I make no presumption that you should do it our way; only offer it as food for thought.

Ours was a 1-day event. We had Pro & Am divisions, capped at 32. No age-0 or gender-based divisions because there's no point in having any small divisions.

We did it in one day, and it was all head-to-head match play (which is intense). We did it on a small course with a fairly centrally-located HQ, which helped with the repeated dispersing of players.

The first round was 18 holes, and each subsequent round was 9 holes. A 9-hole match play round is very intense, trust me.

One problem with a single elimination is that players are reluctant to come, knowing they may be eliminated in an hour. So we solved it this way:

After round 2, at which point 75% of players have been eliminated, we had a free-entry, random-draw, captain's choice doubles among those players. Part of the entry fee went to the payout for these doubles. So they played their doubles on the course at the same time the remaining contenders were playing rounds 3 & 4. (The doubles was 18 holes, the bracket matches 9 holes each). Then everyone comes off the course, in time for the 9-hole Finals (which is only 1 group). We' pay them off, and they could stay and be a gallery, or leave.

The great benefit is that everyone is guaranteed at least two full rounds of play, so it's worth their attendance.

 

[DavidSauls]

I would suggest match play over skins

We run a Ryder cup style tournament each year up here. 8 Best in Ottawa versus 8 Best in Montreal. 4 rounds. 3 rounds of 9 holes doubles and 1 round of 18 holes single. All Match Play
Rd 1 - Best Disc Dubs - 9 holes
Rd 2 - Alternate Shot Dubs - 9 holes
Rd 3 - Best Score Dubs - 9 holes
Rd 4 - Singles Match Play - 18 holes

The tourny tends to be won or lost in the singles portion

A long long time again, we ran some Ryder Cup style events on a home-and-home basis, between clubs around our state.

It is an excellent alternative format, but the logistics are tricky once you go beyond two 8-man teams.

*

Also in the team-play round is the way they do the Virginia Team Invitational. I won't go into detail, except to say that there's something like a 27-year waiting list to get in, which says something about the viability of the format.

 

[DavidSauls]

Someone here, I think joesouthfla, ran a March Madness style match play event in the last couple of years. You might contact him, too (and apologize, on my behalf, if it wasn't him).

 

[wkelly42]

I'd love to see someone do a modified Stableford tournament:

Rather than a low score, you're going for points, kinda like the Vibram Birdie Bash does it, except you play the hole out no matter the score. 6 for an ace or eagle, 3 for a birdie, 1 for par, nothing for a bogey, -2 for double bogey or worse. The system encourages players to go for it rather than playing safe; a 50' death putt for birdie, for example, would be run since the worst you could do is end up with nothing (assuming you can get up and down from where you land).

I saw a traditional golf tournament that took this a step further, and had alternate pin positions that were harder and doubled the point values. You could only go for these alternate pins three times per nine, and had to declare it before you teed off on the hole. Disc golf could do something like that with Bullseye baskets (Gateway could even sponsor the thing, and call them Bullseye Opens or something like that).

 

[JC17393]

I'd love to see someone do a modified Stableford tournament.

I did it many years ago. PDGA sanctioned and everything.

It takes the right course so that you have reasonable pars on which to base the points. Your average "everything's a 3" course doesn't set up well since there's no opportunity to eagle short of an ace and no chance to double eagle at all (typical modified Stableford is 8 pts for double eagle, 5 pts for eagle, 2 pts for birdie, 0 pts for par, -1 for bogey, -3 for double bogey or worse).

I had to trick up the course I used with a few alternate tees and pin placements, as well as rope OB, in order to create more par 4s and par 5s. It also added more risk/reward opportunities to further reward successful aggressive play. The positive about modified stableford is that if a player reaches double bogey, they can simply pick up and move to the next hole, so there's never a concern about a "tin cup" situation. Flow is improved from that respect.

 

[Future_Primitive]

Our Club ran a fun tournament that required a special shot every other hole. Doubles event, everyone was given a list pre-round of the hole # and the shot required off the tee or in some cases for the entire hole. I don't recall the exact order and every shot but here is a taste.

Hole #2 - Mando Forehand only off the tee
Hole #4 - Mando Roller off the tee
Hole #6 - Putter only every shot on the hole
Hole #8 - Mando Tomahawk off the tee
Hole #10 - Mando Forehand every shot on the hole
Hole #12 - Mando Thumber off the tee
Hole #14 - Mando throw with opposite hand off tee
so on and so on.

Was a pretty fun event and forced people out of their comfort zone.

 

[Darth Anovin]

I've been wanting to try to get enough people to play a game I call BFOR. Obviously, it's an acronym that stands for backhand, forehand, overhead, and roller. The rules are simple. Everyone starts the round with a backhand shot, then forehand, etc. But you must personally rotate through the order of BFOR unless you're within the circle. Then you can putt as usual. But the order doesn't start over every hole. Example: I start hole 1 with my backhand, followed by a forehand upshot that puts me in the circle. I putt out, but in following the order, I have to drive on hole 2 with an overhand shot. I have done this in solo rounds. Makes for some pretty interesting shots

 

[knettles]

I've mentioned this in another thread. Even tho I'm not sure if my knees could handle it anymore, I would love to do some speed golf. You don't run the WHOLE time, just from each tee to the basket. Basically, everyone throws their respective tee shots as normal. Then, once everyone's teed off, everyone starts running toward their discs at the same time. You don't stop until your disc goes in the basket. There are no turns, just chaos as everyone is constantly throwing at the same time. You get 1 point for getting in the basket first, 2 points for getting in second, and so on. At the end of the round, the person with the lowest score wins. For safety and speed/convenience reasons, everyone would only carry a putter and mid. No bag and no drivers. I think it'd be fun/exhausting.

 

[texhop58]

We have a speed round idea in the thinking stage. The area is known for a 100 mike bike ride in August. We thought about having a speedy 100 over 3 courses. Maybe even have a td at each course with a "time clock". Best finisher gets prize, faster finisher, etc. The reason of having a td clocker at each course is so that people don't speed between courses and we get blamed. 100 holes in August in Texas would be brutal. Just finishing would be a task in itself. We had also setting a 1.5-2 hour limit each course and maybe every 5 or 10 minutes over cost you a stroke