Call It The Players Disc Golf Association

[Jay Dub]

This guy put a lot of thought into this article, a little too much imo. So I copied the wrap up here because it's takes a couple minutes to find what his point is.

https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2020/...hdMggEih8jCC3E

November 17, 2020 by Craig Smolin

TLDR:

All of this brings us to a somewhat logical conclusion: the PDGA ought to step back from dedicating resources to the National Tour and the promotion of professional disc golf and allow the DGPT to advance this sport to the next level. The Players Disc Golf Association should continue to promote and grow the sport at the local and regional levels, assist tournament directors (and compensate them for their “volunteerism” – that’s an essay for another time), provide sanctioning and insurance for A-, B-, and C-tier events, and continue to hold the PDGA World Championships.

Soon enough, the pool of elite players will expand (it’s only a matter of time before an Olympic caliber athlete chooses disc golf), the outside money shows up, and the PDGA will be overwhelmed as it’s currently constituted. Setting up the DGPT now to run a single tour expressly geared towards our very best players benefits everyone. Players will know which events to play to maximize their earning potential, fans will have a single tour to follow via existing disc golf media outlets, and those outside looking in will know exactly how to enter our community.

I completely disagree with the last paragraph. Disc golf has been 5 years from "making it big" since I joined in the late 80s.

[ru4por]

Originally Posted by Jay Dub

This guy put a lot of thought into this article, a little too much imo. So I copied the wrap up here because it's takes a couple minutes to find what his point is.

https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2020/...hdMggEih8jCC3E

November 17, 2020 by Craig Smolin

TLDR:


I completely disagree with the last paragraph. Disc golf has been 5 years from "making it big" since I joined in the late 80s.

I also completely disagree with the last paragraph. I have maintained that disc golf is neither interesting enough or watchable enough to make it big time.

Though, I completely agree that if all the things in the last paragraph come to fruition, the PDGA should get out of the national tour business. The players themselves should step up and take control of it. There is still a ton of non elite local pro player that need the PDGA and always will.

[DavidSauls]

This is another idea that bubbles up in someone's head on a fairly regular basis.

My feeling is that if the time ever comes, it'll be the pro tour separating itself from the PDGA, not the PDGA severing it. But to steal a line from someone else, we've been 5 years away from the big time for 30 years now.

One kernel that might happen sooner: If the DGPT continues to grow and expand, the NT may fade away. The PDGA might sanction one or more Elite-tier series, without needing to run one.

Footnote: It's also been said that PDGA means a Professional Association of Disc Golf, and not the Association of Professional Disc Golfers. The "P" describes the organization, not its members.

[Jugular]

This suggestion seems to come up a lot but I don't understand what the argument for it is based on. Why would having separate entities do the job better? If there are specific issues why can't the PDGA expand their capabilities and resolve those issues just as easily as a separate entity would do? Should I just go and read the article to help me understand?

My guess is the reason people think it's a good model is because Golf and perhaps other currently successful sports follow that model.

[biscoe]

I would wager that 2-3 years from now there will be no PDGA National Tour. The PDGA folding and the DGPT going all in in 2020 accelerated that process.

You guys who still discount the chances of pro dg 'blowing up" to a degree are not paying attention- it is already happening. I spent many years believing exactly as you do but my eyes tell me differently. The convergence of Covid and competent management of DGPT (with a budget) has sped up something that was already on its way. ESPN 2 is pretty darn "big time". I am involved in 2 different course projects where people from outside the sport are spending hundreds of thousands of their own dollars on disc golf. What other signatories of growth are needed?

As regards changing the name of the organization- some people have too much time on their hands. A name change would be waaaay more trouble than it would be worth.

[Jay Dub]

Originally Posted by biscoe

I would wager that 2-3 years from now there will be no PDGA National Tour. The PDGA folding and the DGPT going all in in 2020 accelerated that process.

You guys who still discount the chances of pro dg 'blowing up" to a degree are not paying attention- it is already happening. I spent many years believing exactly as you do but my eyes tell me differently. The convergence of Covid and competent management of DGPT (with a budget) has sped up something that was already on its way. ESPN 2 is pretty darn "big time". I am involved in 2 different course projects where people from outside the sport are spending hundreds of thousands of their own dollars on disc golf. What other signatories of growth are needed?

As regards changing the name of the organization- some people have too much time on their hands. A name change would be waaaay more trouble than it would be worth.

The city north of me added a "!" to their name. That cost $10K. A few years later they took it off and wasted the same amount of money.

Yeah, this is more info than is available to me and obviously others.
I'll still wait and see if/when it happens. Each time it comes up there is someone who makes these points yet here we are.

I'm pushing the ESPN2 show on my FB page trying to get others to watch. The payoff for that won't happen right away so we'll see next year sometime how that went.

[ru4por]

Originally Posted by biscoe

I would wager that 2-3 years from now there will be no PDGA National Tour. The PDGA folding and the DGPT going all in in 2020 accelerated that process.

You guys who still discount the chances of pro dg 'blowing up" to a degree are not paying attention- it is already happening. I spent many years believing exactly as you do but my eyes tell me differently. The convergence of Covid and competent management of DGPT (with a budget) has sped up something that was already on its way. ESPN 2 is pretty darn "big time". I am involved in 2 different course projects where people from outside the sport are spending hundreds of thousands of their own dollars on disc golf. What other signatories of growth are needed?

As regards changing the name of the organization- some people have too much time on their hands. A name change would be waaaay more trouble than it would be worth.

I don't see it. Removing DGPT, the entire foundation of the sport is built upon the backs and sweat of a volunteer army. Is the suggestion above, is that the sport will continue to attract tons of financial backers, to pay for course installation and upkeep, TD and staff employees for thousands of non elite tours and financial sponsorship of leagues nationwide? I would certainly not be interested in doing the work I do, to line the pockets of someone else. Nor am I into spending my time, to see the money bleed into any elite project, or for anything outside my immediate disc golf community. That might seem cold, but I am being honest. I am not sure many are REALLY that interested in seeing the sport grow.

Of course, I am not really that involved outside of my small world....so, I could be wrong.

[ru4por]

Originally Posted by Jay Dub

The city north of me added a "!" to their name. That cost $10K. A few years later they took it off and wasted the same amount of money.

Yeah, this is more info than is available to me and obviously others.
I'll still wait and see if/when it happens. Each time it comes up there is someone who makes these points yet here we are.

I'm pushing the ESPN2 show on my FB page trying to get others to watch. The payoff for that won't happen right away so we'll see next year sometime how that went.

What is the ESPN2 show?

[Jay Dub]

Originally Posted by ru4por

What is the ESPN2 show?

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forum...d.php?t=137738

[Jay Dub]

I guess another thing to consider is what's everyone's definition of "breaking it big".

Having a few backers outside of disc golf for golf courses is good but that's just a trickle.