2019 PDGA Am Worlds - YORK, PA

[EricMoul]

General Registration opens tonight at midnight EST!

https://www.discgolfscene.com/tournaments/2019_PDGA_Amateur_Disc_Golf_World_Championships

 

[ru4por]

General Registration opens tonight at midnight EST!

https://www.discgolfscene.com/tournaments/2019_PDGA_Amateur_Disc_Golf_World_Championships

Kind of nervous that there are only 36 MA55+ spots available. Does anyone know if I am eligible to sign up for MA50+ if MA55+ fills? Same points requirement.

 

[Dcinmd]

Kind of nervous that there are only 36 MA55+ spots available. Does anyone know if I am eligible to sign up for MA50+ if MA55+ fills? Same points requirement.

It should state under the invitations tabs on disc golf scene which divisions you are eligible to register for.
https://www.discgolfscene.com/tournaments/2019_PDGA_Amateur_Disc_Golf_World_Championships/invitations

This explains it in more detail.

https://www.pdga.com/files/2019_amateur_worlds_-_invitation_to_register_criteria_v2_clarified.pdf

Hope that helps. Good luck

 

[ru4por]

It should state under the invitations tabs on disc golf scene which divisions you are eligible to register for.
https://www.discgolfscene.com/tournaments/2019_PDGA_Amateur_Disc_Golf_World_Championships/invitations

This explains it in more detail.

https://www.pdga.com/files/2019_amateur_worlds_-_invitation_to_register_criteria_v2_clarified.pdf

Hope that helps. Good luck

It does help. Thank you. I guess I already knew this. I would need 500 points in MA50+ to get an invite outside my MA55+ home. I am not very keen on the 5 year increment thing.

 

[kenjiac]

Kind of nervous that there are only 36 MA55+ spots available. Does anyone know if I am eligible to sign up for MA50+ if MA55+ fills? Same points requirement.

Looks like Friday June 21st you can. See registration schedule

https://www.pdga.com/files/2019_pdga_amateur_worlds_registration_schedule_v1.pdf

 

[ru4por]

Holy cow. MA55+ sold out, with 10 waitlisted in just under three minutes. MA50+ and MA60+ are still open. Hope they rethink the division caps in years to come.

 

[tonyroberts]

The quick sell out is certainly not unusual. They've been adjusting division caps annually for the past several years, but at the same time, interest among higher age group players is growing faster than they anticipate.

 

[ru4por]

The quick sell out is certainly not unusual. They've been adjusting division caps annually for the past several years, but at the same time, interest among higher age group players is growing faster than they anticipate.

The last thing I am trying to do is rag on the staff of this tournament. The work, planning and logistics are staggering.

But, it just not make much sense to have the division caps set as they are. I also get that the course schedule has to be a primary consideration when determining division caps.

They had to have seen this coming. My guess is that there was going to be a division or two that they knew were going to fill immediately and carry a large waitlist.

 

[JC17393]

The quick sell out is certainly not unusual. They've been adjusting division caps annually for the past several years, but at the same time, interest among higher age group players is growing faster than they anticipate.

They're shifting all the am masters divisions away from MA1/FA1 and into an all encompassing Masters Worlds (pro and am) in 2021. I would expect that might help with the caps if they're not dedicating 4-5 full pools to the non-age protected divisions.

 

[Dcinmd]

Holy cow. MA55+ sold out, with 10 waitlisted in just under three minutes. MA50+ and MA60+ are still open. Hope they rethink the division caps in years to come.

Yeah it probably should have been divided 54 each between MA50 and MA55. But then that would be a logistic pool nightmare.

MA 65 and FA60 also filled in less than 10 minutes as well.

 

[_MTL_]

When I did the pooling for AW2018, I looked at the number of entrants from the previous years in those divisions. With the new divisions at AW2019 this year, they didn't have the luxury.

I will say this. Scheduling and pooling was probably the hardest thing to do and impossible to get right. There are so many factors from the obvious ones (previous year size, number of eligible players) to the not so obvious (well if I give this pool an extra 32 people, that means I have to reduce this other pool or that means they have to play course B now instead of course C).

There will always be that division that fills really quickly every year.

 

[biscoe]

Solution is to have fewer eligible players either all together or for the first wave of registration.

 

[JamesM]

Bowling Green Ams offered MA55 for the last two years. In both years, MA55 filled well before MA50. This year, MA50 didn't fill while MA55 was full.

Since Bowling Green has a comparable player size to a Worlds event, the lessons were there.

A single query of the player database should have shown where players were in MA55 vs. MA50 for last year's event. If the majority of players were 54+ last year within the MA50 division that played, that also should have provided guidance.

When I did the pooling for AW2018, I looked at the number of entrants from the previous years in those divisions. With the new divisions at AW2019 this year, they didn't have the luxury.

I will say this. Scheduling and pooling was probably the hardest thing to do and impossible to get right. There are so many factors from the obvious ones (previous year size, number of eligible players) to the not so obvious (well if I give this pool an extra 32 people, that means I have to reduce this other pool or that means they have to play course B now instead of course C).

There will always be that division that fills really quickly every year.

 

[ru4por]

Solution is to have fewer eligible players either all together or for the first wave of registration.

I kind of agree. But, raising the point threshold could have pretty significant regional impact. The MA50+ player in North Dakota likely would have a LOT harder time finding tournaments to garner point in his division.

 

[ru4por]

Bowling Green Ams offered MA55 for the last two years. In both years, MA55 filled well before MA50. This year, MA50 didn't fill while MA55 was full.

Since Bowling Green has a comparable player size to a Worlds event, the lessons were there.

A single query of the player database should have shown where players were in MA55 vs. MA50 for last year's event. If the majority of players were 54+ last year within the MA50 division that played, that also should have provided guidance.

Maybe. But, BGA does not have a qualifying and invitation system. Anyone can play BGA, this could really impact the numbers. BGA is also a set of data that would be kind of regional as well.

 

[Cgkdisc]

A 55-year old was born in 1963-64, the end of the Baby Boomer cohort. I've spot checked the registrations in Worlds several times over the last 20 years and Baby Boomers have always had a higher participation rate than the Gen X cohort coming behind it. And that Baby Boomer high level of volunteerism/participation is true for many activities beyond disc golf. So the fast M55 sellout versus M50 makes sense. As Mark Ellis, who pushed for 55 and 65 yr old divisions, has said, "There were players in the 55-58 & 65-68 range who stopped participating in Worlds until they got to the next 10-yr break."

 

[tonyroberts]

The MA50+ player in North Dakota likely would have a LOT harder time finding tournaments to garner point in his division.

I disagree. Any points the MA50+ player earns in any division contribute to his qualification to play in his age bracket division at Am Worlds, in this case MA50+. If he wants to get an invite to play in MA40+ or MA1, then he needs to earn the specified number of points playing in those divisions.

 

[ru4por]

I disagree. Any points the MA50+ player earns in any division contribute to his qualification to play in his age bracket division at Am Worlds, in this case MA50+. If he wants to get an invite to play in MA40+ or MA1, then he needs to earn the specified number of points playing in those divisions.

For sure. :thmbup:

I was only trying to postulate that MA50+ point opportunities would be significantly more difficult to obtain.....if you were looking to play outside your "home" division. Either the drive time to find an A-tier, to maximize the multiplier, or to find a tournament with more than a couple MA50+ players, would be prohibitive. Even around here, with a pretty rich "geezer" contingent, I wind up playing MA40+ or have wander outside the age protected divisions, to even make a trip worthwhile (point wise). I think demographic have an impact on the ability to gather points....magnified as the age protected division go up.

 

[cox3]

I kind of agree. But, raising the point threshold could have pretty significant regional impact. The MA50+ player in North Dakota likely would have a LOT harder time finding tournaments to garner point in his division.

The obvious answer to this would be to have spots reserved for the highest point earners in each state and then have additional spots for total points earned. Because, yes, in some areas playing every local/regional event of the year will not net you as many points as playing in 1 or 2 events in other areas of the country.

 

[sidewinder22]

Aren't AM points, just AM points? I don't see why it would matter what AM protected division the points come from if you want to play AM1 which is the top AM division. It's the opposite of sandbagging.