Have been playing pretty poorly so have a decent amount of free time. Read through some of these messages and it seems like there’s some confusion so I’m here to clear that up and answer any questions. Also, I posted the amount to show how little it really was. $1000 is what I offered the head guy at the range and he accepted immediately (I wonder how much lower he would have accepted). We received an email last night stating that the range would be available for the rest of the tournament so mission accomplished. However, the sprinkler system did go off this morning causing the early FPO rounds not to be able to use the driving range. (From the Facebook group we got confirmation from Jeff Spring that the sprinkler issue has been fixed. So any confusion still or questions let me know.

I believe that if you reflect on why you even made this post, you may be closer to understanding a good chunk of the dynamics at play that continue to drive the conversation.

Also, I’m not being flippant, nor is this any sort of criticism of you or anyone else.

This is the point. I’m sure the PDGA will be on top of it next time.

I'm guessing they thought:

A: They didn't need the whole range
B: Mulligan's would enforce the restriction

Seems reasonable to me, but I'm altered

A PDGA employee told me they thought players wanted to throw in a net and not full shots.

:doh::doh::doh:

reminds me when we first talked to the city 10 years ago about upkeeping our local course. "so what length should the grass be so its nice to walk on?"

DUDE WE JUST NEED TO BE ABLE TO FIND THE DISCS IN IT, INNIT??

Based on what I've seen on Twitter I seriously doubt this is the Brodster.

Based on what I've seen on Twitter this was clearly a "look at me I'm Brodie Smith and look how awesome me and my Foundation Disc Golf Company is." Feel free to argue whatever you want unverified Brodiesmith account but that's exactly how it came across. A little modesty would go a long long way here Brodster.

And everyone who refers to me as a "hater" for this criticism you're an idiot. It's criticism. Not hate. There's a big difference.

And this Twitter exchange shows me all I need to back up my previous post:

https://twitter.com/Brodiesmith21/st...29771337093120

https://twitter.com/pdga_dvo/status/1407717654979170312

Not only that, but this tweet is pinned right to the top of Brodies twitter profile:

https://twitter.com/Brodiesmith21/st...78437514301445

Starts off with "Just paid $1000" and then ends with a @FoundationDG. If that doesn't scream "LOOK AT ME AND HOW AWESOME ME AND MY FOUNDATION ARE" then I don't know what does. This is clearly attention whoring and it's tiresome. I want to like Brodie. He could be good for the sport but this is stupid. Brodie is fighting with the organization that is making him a lot of money. Could the PDGA be doing a lot better job? Of course. Is the PDGA making money off of Brodie on the tour? Probably - almost certainly. But BOTH parties would be better served (and the disc golf community as a whole) if these two would actually try to work together. And don't tell me this "oh but we are trying to work together" nonsense. If you were, there wouldn't be this idiotic twitter stupidity.

why did you say

when that tweet has not actually been deleted?

But he clearly isn't. Until he wins or even gets good enough to be a Simon type that is all about the show, he is just a yapping dog. Just ignore him unless he makes it so he can't be ignored. I think he has more to offer to Paul specifically than disc golf as a whole. Right now he is just noise.

I don't know what y'all are on about here.

Fact of the matter is that disc golf needs Brodie way more than he needs disc golf. Dude doesn't have to work a real job again in his life, he's a YouTube pioneer and I think he's be able to figure out what way to stay relevant there without disc golf.

Anything he does that promotes anything disc golf related is kind of just icing on the cake. Whether you like the flavor of the cake is kind of irrelevant

Lol.

Emerson Keith is leading Worlds after day two. The last time we did this, it seems to me Emerson Keith had the lead during the event. He finished T3. Seems like a guy we should talk about if you want to talk about, you know...professional disc golf or something.

The only Emerson Keith thread I can find on this site is a ITB thread with three replies.

This thread has about 3,500 replies in it. It's got more activity than any thread about any professional disc golfer (although I'm sure the "ask McBeth" thread would have gone berserk several times if over the years if he would have hung around) by quite a large margin.

Basically the guy knows how this stuff works. He gets the clicks. He's got people on here talking about him. Considering that we are NOT talking about Emerson Keith, it seems like disc golf needs the clicks. So he's in 100th place 20 strokes out after two rounds, so what? He gets the clicks. That's how this works.

I don't think disc golf need Brodie, at all. Of course, I am not in the "disc golf is going big time" crowd.

Disc golf was fine before Brody, and disc golf will survive Brody. He's no more (or less) to disc golf than any of us (read as "each of us") make him out to be.

If his presence in the game is more significant to others so be it. That's up to the individual.

Personally, he's barely on my radar. I only know of him because of his association with McBeth and Discraft's sponsorship. I'm pretty certain that nothing he does or doesn't do, us really gonna impact my DG experience.

YMMV

I mean I totally get you. I don't need whatever is going on with disc golf now. I was pretty happy with the state of disc golf 2010. I was actually pretty happy with the state of disc golf 1995. Mach III spit-outs make me more nostalgic than mad. 6,000' wooded "all par 3" courses still kick my backside and I hate throwing golf discs over water. I don't really care for a lot of the direction the sport is going. I don't watch or care about pro disc golf. For my day-to-day disc golfing life, none of this makes any difference to me at all. I don't need Brodie Smith.

It IS what the PDGA and disc golf promoters always wanted, though. We are very rapidly making progress to a goal some people have had for decades. It's a dream some people have carried for 35-40 years that disc golf would go big-time mainstream and people would make baseball-player incomes frolfing. If you are one of those people, you need Brodie Smith.

So how you feel about him probably depends on what you really want out of the sport. I don't need Brodie Smith for disc golf to be what I want disc golf to be. A lot of people on this board want disc golf to be a lot more than I need it to be, though.

you're right, disc golf was nothing before Brody.:wall:

Seriously though, he can bring eyes, but it will be others that keep those eyes on disc golf in the long run. I think he is currently like the Anna Kornikova of disc golf, although obviously not exactly the same. He may get casual fans to the sport, but it takes McBeths, Eagles, and Simons to keep them. Long term growth means getting people to buy more than a couple of discs and play a little. Long term growth means more hardcore fans. Not necessarily to the extent of people on here, but more than just buy three discs and that is enough. Brody is the gateway drug, Simon is the hard stuff.

He brings the eyes, sure....

But when these "eyes" see this whiny, petulant, attention seeking bro, is that what is gonna make them explore the sport farther? Or is it immediately gonna turn them off to it?

I think it's a fair question.

OMG he made a tweet and promoted his brand!!!! Who ****ing cares? Jesus Christ people.

If PDGA assumed people wanted to warm up with nets or that half a range was acceptable while folks are hitting ****ing golf balls on the other half, it was a bad mistake. Again I’m sure they won’t repeat it. PDGA isn’t perfect but they are learning and dealing with growing pains too.

He's fighting with the PDGA and it looks like he's trying to make them look bad. So yeah, I care about that because that's not good for the sport.

I think a lot of us are aware that the professional players are not happy with the PDGA and what the PDGA does is never good enough for them. We are also aware there are two sides to the story. Personally I don't have a dog in the hunt and don't really care to take a side. So for me, I'd rather not have social media drama.

The recent anti-PDGA social media drama is I guess aimed at making me take the players side, but it mostly makes me think the players are entitled whiners. BUT...that's cynical me AND I'm fully aware that I don't have the full story so I'm not going to tell anyone else that the players are entitled whiners as a fact. What I will say is I wish the dirty laundry was being aired someplace else where we didn't see it. I think it would be easier to fix any issues if the players were not raking the PDGA over the coals every time they held a major.

Brodie is all theater. He needs to fight against the powers at be (PDGA) and the "haters" because he is the hero of his social media narrative he has crafted.

I mean, if the PDGA is not responding to player comments behind the scenes, maybe some public pressure is what will get their attention. Ultimately i think disc golf needs a quality functioning PDGA. They may be going through some growing pains right now. I think public criticism can be justified, but I also think it needs to remain constructive and not turn into bashing. It is a fine line that the players should try to walk. Making the PDGA look inept isn't going to accomplish anything.

Truth is subjective and facts are meaningless.

How does that work out on wooded courses? ;)

Show me where I said disc golf was nothing before him?

He's a big name who as appealed to mainstream media and has brought new eyes to the game. More eyes equals more marketability. Being more marketable is the key to unlocking bigger sponsorships, bigger purses, and higher level national exposure.

I could give 2 farts if Brodie is in disc golf or not. The sport was obviously here long before him and will be long after. The entire time I've been playing, there's been this nebulous push to get more exposure for the sport. Well, here it is, I guess. Like it or not.

Also, it's super easy to ignore basically anything he does, same as it is with any other social media based personality.

I would literally have no idea he was playing disc golf if it wasn't for brutalbrutus' restraining-order-level obsession with posting how all his rounds are going. :p

Maybe these players who take umbrage with the PDGA should get more involved in the organization?

Get on the board. Apply for job openings. Volunteer to get things done.

I really don't know the details. Maybe some are?

I just know the social media drama leads to speculation that a)the professional players are entitled whiners and b)the org is run by tone-deaf incompetent morons. Neither one are a good look, and likely neither one are true. So if the players have concerns, there has to be a better way.

Speaking of which...


Had a decent day at the golf course... -4 and atm has moved up 40ish spots and is above the cut line but there are a lot of guys just starting their rounds right behind him

Well i say i took a 3. Those other 4 throws were just in your imagination. :D

That's fair.

If memory serves Will S is on the board. So...progress??

Yeah, I probably overreacted to your comment that disc golf needs Brody more than he needs disc golf. My fault for putting words in your mouth.

I am sure though that he turned to disc golf because he realized throwing trick shots with an ultimate disc was not going to be a long term career. At least here he can actually move some product and make a more sustainable living. I am just not sure that Brody contributed so much to the huge gains in popularity as COVID did. I mean there is no way to really know. He obviously had an influence, i just think that huge jump last year would have happened even if he had not picked it up.

Will Schusterick has been on. Elaine King is currently on the board. Kevin McCoy was on, Shawn Sinclair was on, Julianna Korver was on, Dave Feldberg was on, Avery Jenkins was on, Cale Leiviska was on...I mean, it's a players sport and a players org. The list of former BoD members is littered with big-time disc golf players names. Gregg Hosfeld, Dr. Rick...Hell, when Ed Headrick turned over the org the BoD had Tom Monroe and Steve Wisecup on it. So I'm not sure if it's progress or status quo.

The PDGA is the collective of PDGA membership.

We are the PDGA.

If you don't like something either work thru various factions to implement change.

Or leave the organization.

Pretty simple.

Oh, so dirty frolfers are in charge of the PDGA? No wonder it's so messed up!

Thank goodness we have His Brodeness to set things right :D

"Disc Golfers: Screwing up disc golf since 1987". :|

It was a couple years ago Trevor Harbolt ran a huge social media campaign promising to shake up the PDGA. Once he got elected, I don't think I heard about him again (other than footfaults) until he left the board.

Not sure if he developed Stockholm Syndrome or if it's too hard to make strides while serving on the board.

Or maybe the realisation comes that all those things that they personally think are holding the sport back stop looking so important when they're on the inside and see the actual work going on behind the scenes.

Maybe, hopefully some humility occurs and the realisation hits that their particular bugbear is just one of many and maybe not the most important one and they realise there is so much other stuff to focus on as well that is being done well and impacts more people than their own issue.

The boring stuff. The stuff that doesn't make headlines. The stuff that let's us all play the sport.


Maybe that's why.

Probably not though, they probably find out that it takes a ridiculous amount of volunteer effort to make the changes they want to see so give up.

It's Good old Social media at it's best ripping up the crowd to rage. Everyone has a soap box platform to air their views and those with a following get a bigger soapbox. Their views aren't necessarily right or wrong they're just louder. They get seen as important as they're shouted the loudest but an international organisation has to make decisions for the benefit of the majority not the loudest.

Expenditure when it's member funded also needs to go through the correct procedures and checks and balances. At least I would like to think so.

Which is why the PDGA and it’s representatives need to stay out of the social media fray of the pro players. They will always look bad if they try to go head to head on snarky/drama level.