Casual players on course during tournament.

[Hector Chain]

If a public course is closed by permit, I think that part should be emphasized. The first thing the interloper will say is, "You can't close the course! It's a public park!"

If you can respond, "It's like a block party.You can get a permit to shut down the block. We got a permit to shut down traffic on this course for the day."

They will still be annoyed that they drove to a course that is closed, but it usually stops the "I have a right to be here!" argument.

 

[ohtobediscing]

Back Bay Battle III at Hiller Park, 2 weeks ago. As lunch break was ending and players were heading to the tees, 6 or 7 gang golfers arrived, disc and shirt in hand, and to their credit, approached the gazebo to inquire what the crowd was about. The TD talked to them and told them the course was reserved for the tourney, and was packed at 5 per hole, and suggested several of the nearest courses as an alternative. Other than looking disappointed, they went on their way.

BUT,
1. Some of them were from out of town, and specifically came to play this course.
2. Other than a bootleg course 8 miles away, the next good course were 25 miles distant.
3. They had looked up the course description on DGCR---and, where once upcoming tourneys were listed, the last two [including the MS state championship, fer chri' sakes] had NOT been mentioned.
4. On the nice, big course info board, there was also no notice of the course being closed that day.

Meanwhile, I get in a few 3-5 day minitours a year where I might play 7-12 courses, and I search the web to check for events synchronous to my time on those. To see nothing listed and then to arrive to a course [that I might not get to again for years, if ever] closed for a tourney would be a big bummer indeed.

 

[runningDoc]

my local park is also an off leash dog park who's walking/biking/horse/trails run through much of the DG course.

the TD always reserves the whole park for the large tournament in the summer, but you can only imagine how many clueless dog walkers (often professional dog walkers with more than 5 dogs with them) will just push through thinking that they still have the right to use the park.

they always do put up large signs everywhere (even the non official entrances to the park) that says Dog Park, Trails, and Lawns closed for Disc Golf Tournament but people will persist regardless.

for me its wicked easy to deal with casual DG'ers... try dealing with affluent CT upper crust people who have to walk their poodles and will mention "My friend so-and-so is on the Park's Board!/I pay taxes that fund this park!" 10 seconds into the awkward conversation.

 

[simpletwist]

This is another perfect example for growth of private courses.

 

[sisyphus]

Seen this from both sides, but obviously more often encounter the casuals at a tourney I'm playing. Be polite, chat with them about why there's a crowd. Suggest alternative courses in the area. But if the course isn't 'locked down' for the day, and they want to stick around and play in the mix of a tourney pace, be extra nice: you might be meeting them for several holes if there's just no chance to let them play through. And I always figure that's an opportunity to let them see how much fun tourney play can be. :thmbup:

Once stopped by an out of town course on the way back from a traveling league round on a Sunday and found the local folks having a fundraiser event. Fortunately, we arrived as they were breaking for lunch, I happened to know the TD, and he invited us to enjoy their course between their rounds. It turned out to be ideal.

As I'm trying to get out to every single course in a hundred mile radius of home, it would be frustrating to stumble upon an under-promoted event, so I try to Golden Rule it: I'll post every event I hear about in my area, just in case it might help a like minded DGCR road-tripper. Besides, TimG does have an achievement on here for listing events, you know (and I'm an achievement whore).

Final thought: there's no excuse for any disc golfer throwing on others. If a tourney or casual player starts doing that intentionally during an event, the TD needs to know it's happening, and we need to be courageous enough to peacefully try to put a stop to that behavior. You'll never completely rid the world of jerks, but some impulsiveness can be 'educated' down to a reasonable level using kindness and modeling proper behavior. (Or, at least, I like to think so).

 

[curveball4]

We reserve the courses for our tournies & put up signs but we still usually have a few randoms that play anyways. Usually it's not an issue, we let them do their thing as long as they are respectful of the people in the tourney.

 

[Grungedude42]

Before I ever played a tourney, I traveled to Cinci to play at Mt. Airy with some friends. Apparently we arrived just as the round was wrapping up, and got stuck behind a large group playing at tourney speed (glacial). Luckily, it was a shotgun start, so we only had to deal with them a handful of holes before they finished, and then it was smooth sailing.
Be kind to casuals.

 

[scarpfish]

It bears mentioning that in some locales, you really can't shut down/reserve the disc golf course for the day (or its functionally impractical) to do so because in many parks the course is so intertwined with other amenities (unlike say a baseball diamond, tennis court or picnic shelter) that its impossible to tell where its boundaries are. Due to this, the powers that be may not consider it as something you can reserve.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Good point Scarp.

Bottom line: like any other interaction between humans, the issue is that courtesy and consideration go both ways. When either party fails to be considerate, things can get unsavory. How people choose to handle the situation is more important than the actual premise of the situation.

 

[DiscinOhio]

Reviving this thread with a question…

Today at a C-Tier tournament, there was a new casual player (not a part of the event) starting at #1 with only one disc (a 13/14-speed driver). We let him play through at first, but he was turned away by the group in front of us.

Everyone in our group agreed to offer him a spot in our group for fun since we only had three players due to a DNF, compared to the four in most groups.

He joined, we gave him a couple of more suitable discs, and let him play with us for about half of the round.

Just wondering if there are any rules against a non-registered casual player joining a group in a sanctioned event. It didn't hold anyone up and obviously he wasn't competing for money or prizes.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

While it's certainly unconventional, as far as I know, letting a player not registered in the event join your group during a sanctioned event, in and of itself, doesn't violate any rules.

Curious as to what Krupicka and a few others have to say about it.

 

[DiscinOhio]

While it's certainly unconventional, as far as I know, letting a player not registered in the event join your group during a sanctioned event, in and of itself, doesn't violate any rules.

Curious as to what Krupicka and a few others have to say about it.

It would be a pretty rare circumstance for sure.

 

[Jimb]

We had a small tourney today at Central and a dad and his two girls showed up perfectly as the morning round finished. They played 9 and were off the course before the afternoon session started. It was awesome to see. They could have played in-between groups but I don't think that it would have been comfortable for them.

 

[DavidSauls]

There used to be a rule against it, but I can't find it now so perhaps it's gone away.

 

[roblee]

That was a friendly gesture that circumstances allowed.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I posted DiscinOhio's question in the rules sub-forum to see if we could solicit input from those better versed on the rulebook and competition manual than I.

https://www.dgcoursereview.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3818643#post3818643

 

[DiscinOhio]

That was a friendly gesture that circumstances allowed.

For sure. He was a super chill guy around my age (early 20s). His first shot kind of reminded me of Happy Gilmour. He just walked up and slinged it forehand about 300 feet. He's got a bright future in the sport if he sticks with it!

 

[MikeK]

While it seems intuitive that a casual player should not be allowed to play with a tournament group, there isn't a specific rule disallowing it. I can only find this specific rule from the Competition Manual defining who is allowed to be part of a group:

CM.305.G:

"PDGA Majors and Elite Series events, the group consists of the players themselves, each player's individual caddie, any active Tournament staff such as leaderboard attendants, Tournament Officials, etc. and any credentialed media ONLY. No other people may be with the playing group. All others (including players who have already finished their round) are considered spectators and must remain in designated spectator areas away from the playing group."

So, it appears that it is at the Tournament Director's discretion whether to allow this at A-tier events and below, provided the addition of the casual player to the group does not violate rule CM.302, Pace of Play.