Disc Golf Pro Tour

[cjman]

I dislike the idea of starting each round with all scores at even. A LOT.

Why?

This format would be used in 1 of the 3,000+ events that take place each year.

 

[biscoe]

It's a fluky prop only suggested to make for more palatable video. Seems to be a theme among the new tours that disc golf as is needs to be altered for the sake of being more media friendly.

 

[Cgkdisc]

It's a fluky prop only suggested to make for more palatable video. Seems to be a theme among the new tours that disc golf as is needs to be altered for the sake of being more media friendly.

That's exactly the case. Raise your hand John and others if you attract lots of spectators for your events under the accumulating scores approach.

If one round/match/game or overtime is fluky, then I guess all of the huge spectator events must be producing hollow championships such as World Cup, March Madness, Super Bowl and Olympics. Every one of these incorporate "one and done" elements on the way to a title. Many casual sports fans only watch the final 2 minutes of close games including teams they don't care about due to the drama.

 

[biscoe]

That's exactly the case. Raise your hand John and others if you attract lots of spectators for your events under the accumulating scores approach.

If one round/match/game or overtime is fluky, then I guess all of the huge spectator events must be producing hollow championships such as World Cup, March Madness, Super Bowl and Olympics. Every one of these incorporate "one and done" elements on the way to a title. Many casual sports fans only watch the final 2 minutes of close games including teams they don't care about due to the drama.

Traditional golf with cumulative scoring seems to be doing just fine on the spectator side. Is disc golf simply so inherently dull to watch that it needs to be gimmicked up to draw spectators? That seems to be the theory.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Traditional golf with cumulative scoring seems to be doing just fine on the spectator side. Is disc golf simply so inherently dull to watch that it needs to be gimmicked up to draw spectators? That seems to be the theory.

If you read some previous posts, golf built its TV spectator base 4 holes at a time. They had onsite spectators before that likely because the events were held at country clubs so members came out and non-member locals got a rare visit to see the club.

Note, I'm not proposing any gimmicks in the game itself, just ramping up the pressure, drama and audience participation to generate more interest in both attending and watching.

 

[onemilemore]

Traditional golf with cumulative scoring seems to be doing just fine on the spectator side. Is disc golf simply so inherently dull to watch that it needs to be gimmicked up to draw spectators? That seems to be the theory.

I don't watch golf, but I tuned into the Masters a bit last week. My takeaway was that, on every putt, there was drama. There is not anything very comparable to that in disc golf, so something that might create a little more tension for viewers might increase visibility on the whole.

 

[Steve West]

I wondered how "win the card, make the cut" would affect each player's chance of making the cut. So, I ran a simulation based on the ratings of the top 128 MPO players at The Memorial.

This chart shows everyone's probability of making the cut.

The black dots are if the top 44 scores make the cut.
The Red dots are CK's method, for one particular random allocation.
The blue dots are the CM 1.6 B 2 method of allocating players to cards.

So, even this slightly watered down version of win the card, make the cut has a significant impact on each player's probability of making the cut. The chance of making the cut can be 10% better or worse than if just the top 44 players were selected.

I translated this into the equivalent adjustment in the player's rating. Using the "make the card make the cut" method affects the player's chances in the same way as randomly adding (or subtracting) an amount to the player's rating, where the amount added has a standard deviation of about 3.8 ratings points.

 

[Jay Dub]

Maybe I missed the explanation but how are the foursomes determined for the first round in the "win the card make the cut" system?

Ratings?

 

[Cgkdisc]

Is this just win the card to make the cut or also include the 20 best additional scores? I adjusted the total cut to 52 with 32 winning cards and the 20 best remaining scores. I'm thinking at least the top 10 rated players get in either by winning the card or top 20 scores.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Maybe I missed the explanation but how are the foursomes determined for the first round in the "win the card make the cut" system? Ratings?

Probably ratings for the top 32. But could be ranking within the series after maybe the first two events as a reward for playing.

 

[Halcón]

Is disc golf simply so inherently dull to watch that it needs to be gimmicked up to draw spectators? That seems to be the theory.

Absolutely.

 

[Steve West]

Is this just win the card to make the cut or also include the 20 best additional scores? I adjusted the total cut to 52 with 32 winning cards and the 20 best remaining scores. I'm thinking at least the top 10 rated players get in either by winning the card or top 20 scores.

This is winning or tied cards (typically 36 to 38 players get in this way), plus as many as needed to get 44. Upping it to 52 would shrink the difference between this and just taking the top 52.

 

[DGPT]

If you - or someone you know - is at Bowling Green Ams, they need to check this out!

A Disc Golf Pro Tour Wall of Boxes, presented by Paragon Disc Golf.
There are some sweet discs, apparel, and more in here.

 

[DGPT]

In this week's blog post, we go in depth into the Tour Championship.
http://www.discgolfprotour.com/news/2016-tour-championship

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The Pro Tour Championship is the culmination of a season long battle for supremacy. Between pride, the ring, and over $40k on the line, the Tour Championship is destined to be one of the most thrilling events our sport has ever seen. Let's take a tour of how the event will work and why it is setup like it is. Watch. And help us make the Tour Championship the single most watched event in disc golf history. Note: the following is for MPO. The women follow a similar path with the Top 12 making it into the Tour Championship.

Points - At each of the five Pro Tour events, players will earn Tour Points. There are three sure fire ways to earn enough points to get into the Tour Championship:

- Win a Pro Tour event
- Finish in the top 10 a couple times
- Finish in the top 50 at four or five events

Winning and top 10 finishes are heavily weighted to ensure top finishers are in the Tour Championship. The other sure fire way to get in is to compete in all of the events and do reasonably well. In addition to rewarding players that can get in the top 10, we also wanted to encourage players to attend all or most of the events.

The Pro Tour Points System is well designed and will do exactly that. Additionally, after each event, the Pro Tour points will be instantly updated based so fans (and players) will know exactly where they stand and what they need to do to ensure they are in the Top 48.

---

Exemptions - The Pro Tour's final event, the Green Mountain Championships presented by Discraft, sold out 15 minutes after general registration opened. With the event being sold out, the only way to get in is by earning a Pro Tour Exemption. Exemptions will be given to players that, after the Ledgestone Open, are:
In the top 24 in Pro Tour Points or
​In the top 48 in Pro Tour Points AND have competed in 3 or more Pro Tour events

We look forward to an exciting finish to the inaugural Pro Tour season. With the best players in the world not only competing for the GMC title, but also vying to be in the Top 48.

---

Tour Championship Quarterfinals - The Top 8 player in Tour Points will receive a by to the semifinals, leaving the players in 9th through 48th in points to play a one round qualifier to get into the semis. Of these 40 players, eight will be sitting on the Semi Chairs to make the cut to the next round. As players finish the round, they will be invited to sit and watch their competitors navigate the course. As we (and they) watch the scores roll in, their spots in the semis will be secured, or lost.

---

Tour Championship Semifinals - In the Semifinals, the players are seeded based on Pro Tour Points.
8:00 MPO Card 1 - 1st, 8th, 9th, 16th
8:40 MPO Card 2 - 2nd, 7th, 10th, 15th
9:20 MPO Card 3 - 3rd, 6th, 11th, 14th
10:00 MPO Card 4 - 4th, 5th, 12th, 13th
The plan is to provide live video coverage of two cards at a time and to be able to cover at least the final nine holes of each card. The winner of each card, along with one wildcard (best score that did not win their card), will advance to the finals. As happened in the quarters, the semis will invite the winner of each card and the wildcard to sit in the Finals Chairs, where we (and they) will be able to watch the other cards play their round, potentially knocking the wildcard off the podium.

---

Tour Championship Finals - One round, five players. Winner takes home $10,000. Every else gets $2,000. ​While most other pro events have (correctly) gone to a relatively flat payout - which makes sense so players can stay on tour and earn a living - the Tour Championship Finals takes it to the opposite extreme. Why?

The goal of the Tour Championship Finals is to create the most anticipated single round of disc golf in history. Everyone playing in the finals is guaranteed a minimum payday of $2,000. There is no reason to look behind you and play safe to secure 2nd or 3rd. We want them playing aggressive and gunning for first. Get ready to watch!

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Just for fun, let's look at other sports' premier events:

NFL Superbowl - 1 game
MLB World Series - best of seven
NBA Finals - best of seven
Tennis Majors - best of five sets
Ball golf - four events with cuts between events down to 30 players in final event.
MLS Cup - 1 game (although the semi and quarter finals are a home and away aggregate)
MLF Cup - 3 rounds, whittling the anglers from 30 to 12 to the final round with just 6
NASCAR - Four elimination rounds, but everyone gets to race
While that does not tell us much except to say that every sport seems to have their own system that works for them. Additionally, many of these systems have been adjusted over time to create a better spectacle and/or a more fair competition. We look forward to putting on the greatest show the sport has ever seen - and then learning from it, improving it, and doing it again. And again ...

Welcome to the Modern Age of Disc Golf. Welcome to the Pro Tour.

 

[DGPT]

Does Payout Matter? This is the blog post of the week. We also made it a stand alone thread. Going forward, if people like the ideas presented in our blogs as separate threads (so more people see them and interact with them), we will keep doing it.

Does Payout Matter thread.

Or read the blog on the Pro Tour website.

 

[lyleoross]

Does Payout matter, only if you place tenth and want to eat for the month....

 

[onemilemore]

DGPT stats revealed and looking pretty tasty. :hfive:

http://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2016/05/20/disc-golf-pro-tour-unveils-instant-stats-platform/

 

[Jenga54]

Loving the DGPT! Had my family out to the Majestic and we brought another family as well. The kids had a blast playing the games and (my 3 daughters) got to see the FPO ladies out there competing! It was awesome to follow all the cards, see all these top pros in person, and follow some lead cards! And what a finish!

I wanted to come back to this thread to give a huge thanks for the Majestic! Also,

Are we going to see any more of the Putt-Truss? I sure hope so! I want to see some interesting putting wouldn't want players to think a course is too soft

 

[brutalbrutus]

Sorry if this has been discussed somewhere on here already but:

IDLEWILD baby! Definitely not gonna be a boring hyzer fest there....

 

[Jenga54]

Yeah it sucks we lost the Blue Ribbon Pines stop in Minnesota. I was there to watch.