Why isn't COURSE PREP included in the PDGA TD checklist?
Like...
* Insure course is mowed prior to event
* Schedule and participate in a workday
* Mention course volunteers by name at players meeting
Another attempt to ignore the critical importance of course volunteers?
Besides my play, course design and condition are the most important part of my disc golf experience. Event or no event.
Thanks volunteers!
There have been some comments on this already, I'm not going to quote them but I might be saying the same things. Bear with me.
I just finished being a Course Director (not Tournament Director, but still a Tournament Official) at the Memorial in Arizona.
For the first point of mowing the course and/or other course "cleaning". Some courses are not owned by the Tournament Director or the sponsor of the event. The Memorial is one of them. The TD could be fined and possibly lose the use of the course for doing certain types of course maintenance on the city owned public park. There was a tree branch that would interfere with the tee to be used by the women pros and all ams. The TD had to get the city to trim it prior to the event.
Workday....it's tough enough getting volunteers for the tournament, much less for even a single work day.
Courses do get cleaned up and prepped, but wind and other weather happens. Most TDs don't want any changes starting a week before the tournament. Mainly because it takes a lot of work to make changes, but also so people practicing it are practicing on the course as close to the way it will be for the tournament.
Announcing volunteers....man that would be nice. But you rarely know who is going to show up the day of the tournament. I had a list of who volunteered for each day, but on the actual day - my volunteers didn't match the list. Some who were listed were there, some listed didn't show, and others showed up without being on the list. The players know the volunteers are there and frequently thank them for their work. I see that happen more with the pros though....finish their throws, go to the volunteer(s) nearby and thank them for being there.
And these days most player's meetings are virtual....either just an email, or a video link sent via email. Tee times are set on PDGA/Live, so players show up for their tee time instead of hours in advance - so you would have to announce the whole list multiple times.