Amateur Tournament Series

[discgolftom]

Concept - Amateur Tournament Series:

Have four 1-Day Qualifying Tournaments [ Augusta, Ga; Savannah, Ga, Columbia, Sc and Charleston, Sc ] that play into a Championship Weekend. Cities are all within 150 miles of the Championship course site.

Top ___ players of each Qualifier + ___ At Large player(s) advance to the Championship Weekend.

Qualifiers have two divisions - Advanced Amateur and Amateur. Max of 36 Players in each Division. Those that advance from each Qualifier play as one division in the Championship. [ this may be handicapped or flighted - not sure yet ]

$50 Player Entry in Qualifiers and Championship + $10 per if not registered with PDGA.

Every entry receives a cool Players Pack.

90% of all Player Entry Fees will go in to the Prize Pool. 10% will be used for transaction fees, etc.

Qualifiers will have Trophies for the Top 4 in each division.

If all four Qualifiers sell out - Championship will have over $16,000 in Prizes + cool Merchandise from our Sponsors.

A player may participate in as many of the Qualifiers as they wish, but can only advance to that specific Championship once.

Option: CTP and Ace Pot - $5 each [ 90% payout. CTP pot is split 50/50 for 1st and 2nd Rounds. If Ace Pot not won in 1st Round of Qualifier - rolls to 2nd Round. If not won in 2nd Round - rolls to next Qualifier or Championship ]

Vendors will be onsite. Concessions will be available.

We are still working out the details. Your thoughts and comments are welcome.

Thanks - Tom

 

[DavidSauls]

"Advanced Amateur" and "Amateur"? That's nostalgic -- those are the division names from the 1990s.

*

One hurdle, if I read this right, is finding enough players who'll pay $50 for a trophy-only, no-players-pack event. Or 4 of them. Most tournament players have little chance of winning; the chance to advance to the championship may not be much of a draw to them.

 

[discgolftom]

David - thanks for the feedback.

"Advanced Amateur" and "Amateur"? That's nostalgic -- those are the division names from the 1990s.

I had no idea.

One hurdle, if I read this right, is finding enough players who'll pay $50 for a trophy-only, no-players-pack event. Or 4 of them. Most tournament players have little chance of winning; the chance to advance to the championship may not be much of a draw to them.

If my research and polling is close to accurate - shouldn't have trouble finding 72 players for each Qualifier.

Every Qualifier and the Championship will have cool Player Packs, just not certain to what extent yet other than a unique T-shirt and Disc / Mini.

Players can play in one Qualifier -or- all 4 if they wish. I can see a Player trying to advance by playing in additional Qualifiers.

Can't pay out in the Qualifiers and still have awesome Prizes in the Championship. Seems the Amateur Tournaments around here have little more than a Player Pack. If we sell out all Qualifiers, I envision that we give away a cool 4-wheeler, Jet Ski, etc to the Champion.

 

[biscoe]

If we sell out all Qualifiers, I envision that we give away a cool 4-wheeler, Jet Ski, etc to the Champion.

"amateurs" :doh:

 

[DavidSauls]

A good players pack eases that, a bit. Presumably, funded by outside sponsorship.

Latitude ran something like this on a larger scale, nationwide, with 3 levels, and a car to the winner. It never seemed to quite gain traction. Of course, one drawback it had that you don't, was that an ambitious player would have to commit to 3 events, including traveling across the country for the finals. I never followed it closely, so i don't know if it still goes on.

Amateur tournaments around here have 100% payback --- in some combination of players pack and prize payouts. You're trying to draw players with half of this....and a chance to move on to win more. For the players who aren't quite good enough and know they won't move on, the players whose entries bolster a lot of events, your challenge is getting them to play, anyway. On the bright side, the tournament scene has grown so much, that a small percentage of local tournament players might still be enough.

 

[discgolftom]

"amateurs" :doh:

Enlighten me . . .

 

[discgolftom]

A good players pack eases that, a bit. Presumably, funded by outside sponsorship.

Totally funded by Sponsorship . . .

Latitude ran something like this on a larger scale, nationwide, with 3 levels, and a car to the winner. It never seemed to quite gain traction. Of course, one drawback it had that you don't, was that an ambitious player would have to commit to 3 events, including traveling across the country for the finals.

An everyday Player can spend as little as $100 + expenses to play in two Tournaments [ Qualifier + Championship ], enjoy 5 full rounds and try to win a Major prize.

For the players who aren't quite good enough and know they won't move on, the players whose entries bolster a lot of events, your challenge is getting them to play, anyway.

I believe, based on my experience with Golf, Baseball and Poker Tournaments - that we can find 72 aspiring Disc Players that believe that they can compete with other like Amateurs in their area.

 

[DiscFifty]

National Amateur Disc Golf Tour
https://nadgt.com/

 

[DavidSauls]

I believe, based on my experience with Golf, Baseball and Poker Tournaments - that we can find 72 aspiring Disc Players that believe that they can compete with other like Amateurs in their area.

Go for it.

I'm a skeptic, but I'm wrong often enough that I won't say that it won't work.

I'm also a fan of people who are willing to put forth the effort to demonstrate their ideas.

 

[Audible Vibration]

National Amateur Disc Golf Tour
https://nadgt.com/

Exactly. This concept already exists, and abides by PDGA guidelines. It doesn't sound like OP's idea is if he doesn't plan on following PDGA payout guidelines. Unless this would be considered a trophy only event, but i don't think it would meet that criteria for $50 entry fee and only getting a t-shirt and mini as the players pack.

OP, have you run a single PDGA event yet, or are you jumping straight in to a regional amateur tour?

 

[DavidSauls]

How will "Advanced Amateur" and "Amateur" be defined?

 

[biscoe]

I don't doubt that the events will fill up. They pretty much all do these days.

Huge "Amateur" payouts are a resounding step backward for the sport in general imo.

 

[DavidSauls]

Exactly. This concept already exists, and abides by PDGA guidelines. It doesn't sound like OP's idea is if he doesn't plan on following PDGA payout guidelines. Unless this would be considered a trophy only event, but i don't think it would meet that criteria for $50 entry fee and only getting a t-shirt and mini as the players pack.

OP, have you run a single PDGA event yet, or are you jumping straight in to a regional amateur tour?

As best I recall, the NADGT was non-sanctioned the first year. I remember seeing events with registrations like "9". They went to sanctioned after that; I haven't paid close enough attention to know how attendance has been at first-level events.

The OP's idea has an advantage of the NADGT: geography. If you play in the NADGT with ambitions of getting to the big-payout level, you have to commit to traveling to a regional (perhaps hundreds of miles) and a national (perhaps across the country). (With the disclaimer that I assume this is still how it works). The OP is proposing a 2-level tour, with the finals still relatively close by.

 

[DavidSauls]

I don't doubt that the events will fill up. They pretty much all do these days.

Huge "Amateur" payouts are a resounding step backward for the sport in general imo.

You may be correct. The timing may be right -- there's more demand and supply, so any event may fill. Though it'll have to fill without pros, older divisions, and lower skill divisions.

 

[Jay Dub]

You may be correct. The timing may be right -- there's more demand and supply, so any event may fill. Though it'll have to fill without pros, older divisions, and lower skill divisions.

I haven't researched but by looking at the sign ups to tournaments I have seen the "lower skill divisions" seem to be what fills the tournaments mostly. Without them the payouts would be hard to accomplish.

 

[BillFleming]

Okay, the OP has this thread posted in two places (also in the TD's Corner), but this thread has the most comments, so I'm reposting my response here.

What's the point? You are really limiting it to only amateurs in a specific geographic location and only two states in that region. It's for amateurs, so how many can afford to travel to those four locations? IF all four qualifiers sell out, the Championship will have $16,000 to give out as prizes....but to how many? How much will first place take? How much are the winners of the qualifiers making? Nothing, except for entry into the Championship? So they travel all the way to one of those four locations for nothing?

And possibly handicapped for the Championship - can we say 'sandbagging'?

I wish you the best, but I don't think it's going be a huge success. Amateurs already have a National Championship and the qualifiers for it.

The NADGT has qualifiers throughout the year all over the country and players get points towards an invite to the NADGT Championship.

 

[DavidSauls]

. It's for amateurs, so how many can afford to travel to those four locations? .

As I read it, players don't have to play all 4 qualifiers -- each one awards a certain number of spots in the finals. They have the option to play in more than 1, so if you don't qualify in the first, you could play in the 2nd.

 

[BillFleming]

As I read it, players don't have to play all 4 qualifiers -- each one awards a certain number of spots in the finals. They have the option to play in more than 1, so if you don't qualify in the first, you could play in the 2nd.

Poor wording on my part....I didn't mean a player had to go to all four. Just that those were the only options and it would still be expensive for the majority of amateurs to take part. This proposed tournament/championship seems to be just a regional tournament/championship; whereas the NADGT is a national set of tournaments/championship.

 

[discgolftom]

National Amateur Disc Golf Tour
https://nadgt.com/

With our Series - you just have to place in the top 10 of any Qualifier to advance to the Championship. We will also have 10 Randomly selected Players [ at least 2 from each Qualifier ] that will advance as well . . .

I checked that link. Southeast Region has no 2021 Tournaments scheduled it seems . . .

 

[discgolftom]

Exactly. This concept already exists, and abides by PDGA guidelines. It doesn't sound like OP's idea is if he doesn't plan on following PDGA payout guidelines. Unless this would be considered a trophy only event, but i don't think it would meet that criteria for $50 entry fee and only getting a t-shirt and mini as the players pack.

The Qualifiers are "Trophy" only events. However - Top 10 from each advance to Championship + at least 2 "at large" Players from each Qualifier that are randomly selected.

$100 + a little gas to play 5 rounds and maybe win a nice prize + the "bragging rights".

OP, have you run a single PDGA event yet, or are you jumping straight in to a regional amateur tour?

Nope. Got the idea after talking with friends that play. I went and threw some discs and I completely sucked at it. But - my skills are directing events - Baseball Tournaments, Golf Tournaments, Poker Tournaments, etc.

Did my research over the weekend and saw the potential of the sport. It also has a low barrier of entry at the amateur level.