Building Better Clubs

[Shallows]

Inspired by the post-Covid boom sustainability thread, I'm curious to hear advice, tips, and warnings about building and sustaining your local club, running tournaments, cultivating volunteer and sponsor support.

I've been a part of three clubs:

One in a small town that definitely punched above its weight, four tournaments a year, intra-club competitions, strong course maintenance and upkeep activity. Strong intergenerational participation and leadership with plenty of municipal relationships.

The second was a small club in a huge urban metroplex that basically served as a way for the old heads to hang out, win some friendly cash off each other, maybe run an unsanctioned tourney for themselves and a few hangers on every year or so. Deep community but pretty insular. Most local tournaments were run by DG companies as opposed to clubs.

Third was a club in a small city with multiple leagues, quarterly tournaments, a few old old traditions and maybe some grudges too. Huge participation, especially post COVID, old guard and newcomers figuring each other out, plenty of drama for better worse. Almost combative relationship to city authorities but enough go along to get along.

I think it's great for different clubs to have different goals, but I'm particularly curious how to create the first model and how to keep the third model functional and thriving amidst some of the change over the past couple of years.

I'll start:
Use registration money to serve lunch instead of building out the players pack at tournaments. We all know what discs we like and have more than enough towels and chalk bags. Lunch builds community and saves me money. Extra points for post tourney beer sponsor.

Handicap leagues allow progress over to time to be witnessed more clearly and allow lesser players to compete with everyone else.

 

[BillFleming]

I think it all starts with finding out who the club members will be. You can want club #1, but if the people who will make up the club don't care about tournaments, etc. it won't happen. You can't force club members to have interest in anything but playing. I know a club where the president does everything, he sets up tournaments - but can't get a single member to help as spotters or volunteer for anything. Everyone wants to play. He can get some help setting up baskets on temporary courses, but that's about it. For work parties, a couple members might show up.

I know of another club where the league round fees were $5, players were asking for a bigger payout, so the fee was increased to $7 and people quit showing up due to the increased cost.

So before grandiose plans are made with a club, you need to find out who the members are going to be and what they are looking for / willing to do. Clubs are only as strong as their members.

 

[ballgolfconvert]

Inspired by the post-Covid boom sustainability thread, I'm curious to hear advice, tips, and warnings about building and sustaining your local club, running tournaments, cultivating volunteer and sponsor support.

I've been a part of three clubs:

One in a small town that definitely punched above its weight, four tournaments a year, intra-club competitions, strong course maintenance and upkeep activity. Strong intergenerational participation and leadership with plenty of municipal relationships.

The second was a small club in a huge urban metroplex that basically served as a way for the old heads to hang out, win some friendly cash off each other, maybe run an unsanctioned tourney for themselves and a few hangers on every year or so. Deep community but pretty insular. Most local tournaments were run by DG companies as opposed to clubs.

Third was a club in a small city with multiple leagues, quarterly tournaments, a few old old traditions and maybe some grudges too. Huge participation, especially post COVID, old guard and newcomers figuring each other out, plenty of drama for better worse. Almost combative relationship to city authorities but enough go along to get along.

I think it's great for different clubs to have different goals, but I'm particularly curious how to create the first model and how to keep the third model functional and thriving amidst some of the change over the past couple of years.

I'll start:
Use registration money to serve lunch instead of building out the players pack at tournaments. We all know what discs we like and have more than enough towels and chalk bags. Lunch builds community and saves me money. Extra points for post tourney beer sponsor.

Handicap leagues allow progress over to time to be witnessed more clearly and allow lesser players to compete with everyone else.

Around here the club takes at least 40% of each entry and does not serve lunch. I am afraid if they started serving lunch, there wouldn't be any money left for prizes. I refuse to serve on the board because i think this attitude is very piggish and i don't want to be part of it or have to argue it out repeatedly in board meetings. It has also made me hesitant to donate money to the club, because I feel they take enough and where it all goes I have no idea. The club keeps it all very secretive. the club also always has a slow drip to fill tournaments vs the other clubs in our metro area, so I am clearly not alone.

 

[DavidSauls]

I'm no longer actively involved in clubs -- live too far away, and too occupied -- but one of the best things I saw clubs do was go beyond competitions and course maintenance. At various times the club I was part of organized summer parties, Christmas parties, and group day-trips to other towns for casual play. This involved people who weren't into competition but still wanted to be in the club (and in the case of the parties, family members as well).

 

[Broken Shoulder]

I think it all starts with finding out who the club members will be. You can want club #1, but if the people who will make up the club don't care about tournaments, etc. it won't happen. You can't force club members to have interest in anything but playing. I know a club where the president does everything, he sets up tournaments - but can't get a single member to help as spotters or volunteer for anything. Everyone wants to play. He can get some help setting up baskets on temporary courses, but that's about it. For work parties, a couple members might show up.

I know of another club where the league round fees were $5, players were asking for a bigger payout, so the fee was increased to $7 and people quit showing up due to the increased cost.

So before grandiose plans are made with a club, you need to find out who the members are going to be and what they are looking for / willing to do. Clubs are only as strong as their members.

Great insights, Bill.

 

[da Crippler]

Our local "club" is a beer snob clique disguised as a disc golf club. Five years after we got a brand new Eric McCabe designed course and they have yet to run a sanctioned event. It's like pulling teeth to get them to do any maintenance but they'll scream bloody murder if any non-member touches a twig. There's a movement afoot to form another club, but we've lost five years waiting for these people to do the right thing and a lot of players have stopped playing because they're disgusted with the situation. Be very careful who you pick to represent yourselves and your course. You may be stuck with a negative entity that you can't get rid of.

 

[Shallows]

Our local "club" is a beer snob clique disguised as a disc golf club. Five years after we got a brand new Eric McCabe designed course and they have yet to run a sanctioned event. It's like pulling teeth to get them to do any maintenance but they'll scream bloody murder if any non-member touches a twig. There's a movement afoot to form another club, but we've lost five years waiting for these people to do the right thing and a lot of players have stopped playing because they're disgusted with the situation. Be very careful who you pick to represent yourselves and your course. You may be stuck with a negative entity that you can't get rid of.

I feel your's is frustratingly not a unique situation. What are you finding really works in forming another club? What are some obstacles you've overcome and how?

 

[nothinbuttree]

This is somewhat related I suppose, but the reason I have shied away from tournaments is the time involved--I have seen many small, 2 round tournaments that want to take up your entire weekend. 1 round SA, 1 round SU. From travel time on 2 different days, player meeting, to waiting for the shotgun start, to post tourney awards, etc, you can end up with a 10-12 hour time commitment for 2 rounds of DG at local courses. Sorry, but that ain't happening for me.

2 round tournaments need to be done in one day, IMHO. At a C tier or non-sanctioned level anyway.

I bring up tourneys since that is a natural way to introduce folks to the local club. Keep events simple. If there is a local DG store, seems their involvement can be nothing but helpful. They should naturally want to be involved, as more people playing means more business for them in theory.

 

[jupiterboy]

I suspect there are common factions within most leagues. Probably takes a core leadership that rises above, keeps the factions satisfied but refuses to align with any, and keeps the community needs at the top. That style of leadership is pretty rare, but you want new people to feel welcome when there are strong tendencies in groups to chase new people away. Power is strange.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

Let me first say we have a great club here, great people that have been essentially doing it for 3 decades.. In that time it has changed a little. The biggest thing is the improvement amongst us as players... this has unfortunately created a bit of a rift, it is now more competitive and "less fun". First thing I used to do after Sunday dubs 18 holes was sleep it off with a nap around 2pm. Often there was a bottle or two of fireball probably 15+ joints and anyone could win. Sometimes the ace pot would carry over for 10weeks.

Now we keep stats up to 3rd, ctps and aces on a points system and there's a 1 and possibly 2 stroke handicap depending on the random team. (When they first brought in the handy I got nailed as the highest winning percentage player which was a stat anomaly since I wasn't playing much except when they showed up at my house, I was already spotting them a stroke ). Now it's 27 holes, done by 1 and playing in smaller groups. The people that didn't improve as much long for the bygone days. They don't want to pay $7 with low odds of cashing.

We used to do more with hosting but trying to get money for the times we made lunch etc was difficult and we stopped, I tried to get them to kick me $20 for 3 cans of raid one year when I nuked all the Hornets nests. Needless to say my enthusiasm has waned

I'm not saying our club is broken, it just hasn't really risen to meet new challenges and it's " old" leadership. Some have speculated that I should get in there but I don't have the time to get out most Sundays let alone volunteer more. I need to retire first haha.

I guess the point is that if you are forming a club, set out with a manifesto of some sort outlining goals etc and some sort of voting system for the big issues. Stagnation is a problem.

 

[Moose33]

We don't have a formal club with dues and whatnot, but we have a good group of about 30-40 guys that will show up and keep the local scene moving.

We have 4 courses that we cover and I think these are the basic ingredients that have made this work;

1 really passionate retired guy. He was the main force behind installation of 3 of the 4 courses we use and since he has a ton of time available he was able to begin running several tournaments basically as his "job" in retirement.

4-5 guys who are all PDGA officials and run leagues/co TD tournaments and provide events to regularly to make sure people always have something to play.

1-2 people who will post everything on social media and raise awareness beyond the hardcore community.

10-20 who will show up and play rain or shine. If you have an event/league tag round they will be there. Seems like no big deal but these guys are essential to having events keep getting numbers.

 

[jenb]

In my experience a lot of the clubs are formed by the people who work to get a course installed and pool funds to pay for the installation, then use money raised to pay for the city to mow it and replace baskets as needed. I'm not at at all surprised if they feel like they own it and don't welcome young players coming in and trying to take over.

 

[Shallows]

In my experience a lot of the clubs are formed by the people who work to get a course installed and pool funds to pay for the installation, then use money raised to pay for the city to mow it and replace baskets as needed. I'm not at at all surprised if they feel like they own it and don't welcome young players coming in and trying to take over.

Agreed.

Some clubs are flat out not interested in growing. But if they are, what are good ways for founders to welcome new people? How do we incorporates new players to the traditions/rituals of the club in a non hostile way?

 

[Moose33]

Agreed.

Some clubs are flat out not interested in growing. But if they are, what are good ways for founders to welcome new people? How do we incorporates new players to the traditions/rituals of the club in a non hostile way?

Leagues with incorporated social events tend to work well. We have done some league night/cookouts at Etowah that have been great to make people feel more comfortable.

 

[jenb]

Agreed.

Some clubs are flat out not interested in growing. But if they are, what are good ways for founders to welcome new people? How do we incorporates new players to the traditions/rituals of the club in a non hostile way?

I think the biggest blowups I've seen involved younger members wanting to make changes to the course that won't fly because the older members designed it the way they like it (or the way parks and rec let them at the time), and/or because the relationship with parks and rec is very tenuous (soured relationship and/or new guys in charge that are hostile to the course even existing). The new members can't be made to understand they shouldn't rock the boat and they resort to running a campaign to get the club members to vote out the club establishment. Stuff like that. There's a lot of risk involved in rolling out the red carpet, and people who've been burned before aren't likely to do it. These issues also arise in other types of clubs that use city property, like RC aircraft clubs that have a club field they maintain. Experience teaches them to be wary.

I'd say if you want to run a club, do the work of getting a new course installed and maintained so you'll know where the lines are. You might find the old guys we're doing the best anyone could do under the circumstances.

 

[ru4por]

Clubs have many different meanings, roles and membership. Most courses in this area are park owned, controlled and run. Club input ranges from simple permission to waivers to request for work from the park. to impossible. So course management, design, maintenance and purchasing is mostly outside club function.

We have for profit and non profit clubs in this area. They have different philosophy and missions. It seems like we have a couple tiers of clubs here. Clubs that run both tournaments and leagues. Clubs that run leagues. There are handfuls of clubs running only a league or two. Those range from social mob golf, stick/disc, sanctioned, online flex, singles, dubs, traveling, big money, big swag, inexpensive..... The second tier is clubs that run sanctioned/unsanctioned tournaments and run leagues. Some charge membership fees, some cater to pro players, some focus on sanctioning..... it seems to have worked out to a solid blend of opportunity, for the local players.

Better clubs? Strong, honest leadership. A mission and vision that is focused on service to the disc golf community. Interaction, discussions and decisions being made with input of many clubs. Success, IMO is about providing opportunity to players. Not just pro players, not just league players, not just the 5 days a week guys. It has to be about new players, families, casuals. Club strength is ALL about resources. Getting people to volunteer their time is the magic path. Volunteer, meaning free help, without reward or personal agenda. Burnout is common and real. Getting **** on by tournament and league players is common. Making everyone happy is impossible. I think you just have to try to sell the idea that our sport is built upon volunteers, if the game, on any local level, is to continue to grow and succeed, people need to get involved. Sell the value and reward the help. Food, beer and swag is about all we can do. It is a shame that disc golf companies don't do more to assist in this plight.

 

[dreadlock86]

In my experience a lot of the clubs are formed by the people who work to get a course installed and pool funds to pay for the installation, then use money raised to pay for the city to mow it and replace baskets as needed. I'm not at at all surprised if they feel like they own it and don't welcome young players coming in and trying to take over.

I think the biggest blowups I've seen involved younger members wanting to make changes to the course that won't fly because the older members designed it the way they like it (or the way parks and rec let them at the time), and/or because the relationship with parks and rec is very tenuous (soured relationship and/or new guys in charge that are hostile to the course even existing). The new members can't be made to understand they shouldn't rock the boat and they resort to running a campaign to get the club members to vote out the club establishment. Stuff like that. There's a lot of risk involved in rolling out the red carpet, and people who've been burned before aren't likely to do it. These issues also arise in other types of clubs that use city property, like RC aircraft clubs that have a club field they maintain. Experience teaches them to be wary.

I'd say if you want to run a club, do the work of getting a new course installed and maintained so you'll know where the lines are. You might find the old guys we're doing the best anyone could do under the circumstances.

very insightful input, thank you! :thmbup:

 

[da Crippler]

I feel your's is frustratingly not a unique situation. What are you finding really works in forming another club? What are some obstacles you've overcome and how?

I stopped doing anything at the course after I had the "club" president call the cops on me for "unauthorized course maintenance". The course is dead to me now.

 

[DavidSauls]

In my experience a lot of the clubs are formed by the people who work to get a course installed and pool funds to pay for the installation, then use money raised to pay for the city to mow it and replace baskets as needed. I'm not at at all surprised if they feel like they own it and don't welcome young players coming in and trying to take over.

My experience with one of those was that it was more of a clique than a club.

 

[biscoe]

My experience with one of those was that it was more of a clique than a club.

They all start as a clique. The translation from clique to club when the originals start to drop and new people in theory step in is the most difficult part of the entire process.