Hey hey ho ho round ratings have got to GO!

[ru4por]

Feeling a bit of a shifting attitude toward Paul lately.

Perhaps.....though, mine is the same. I don't care much what a pro player has to say. They have a financial vested interest in their opinions. They don't really stand for the good of the entire game. Paul has been fairly consistent in speaking to those things that can benefit him and his McBrodie brand. Not that this is a bad thing, just needs to be seen for what it is.

Volunteers, TD's and players, are now and have been the backbone of the sport. This will be true for the foreseeable future. I think their voices should be heard most clearly.

Ratings are a simple tool for tournament play.

 

[Jugular]

Feeling a bit of a shifting attitude toward Paul lately.

"What have you done for me lately?!"

 

[txmxer]

This is disc golf today.

Volunteers, TD's and players, are now and have been the backbone of the sport. This will be true for the foreseeable future. I think their voices should be heard most clearly.

 

[Billyray]

Not a personal attack at all.

I feel very strongly that a very small green fee (I pay $110 annually, total, for 5 courses) should be considered by many more parks departments. Some of the appeal of disc golf is the 'free' to play aspect - but I think the sport also needs additional, local investment beyond what taxes pay for. This will also help the volunteer pools that always seem to be only a few of the same people that will do extra course maintenance - the parks department would have a significantly larger budget to allocate funds for work and improvement using the model we have here. All of the money that is raised for daily/annual fees is put back into the courses. The improvements I've seen locally in the 4 years I've been here have been dramatic and very much appreciated.

Guess living in Illinois is better than I thought. I couldn't imagine paying to play outside a disc golf road trip to a destination course. I can drive 2 hours any direction and hit free amazimg courses (Peoria, Joliet, Rockford, Round Lake).

 

[adamgservo]

Personally I really like the rating system. As was previously mentioned, the most attractive benefit is to normalize the scores from different courses.

What do I look at before I play a course that I haven't played before?
For my skill level, I had a good round if I shoot around 900. So I check out the recent tournament data for the course. Assuming I can find a layout that closely resembles the standard non-tournament layout, I can easily find what score is a 900. That is far more useful than saying "I want to shoot better than par". It also helps with decision making during a round. If 900 = +5 to par, then I immediately know there are going to be many holes where I will benefit by being conservative off the tee. If 900 = -2 to par, then I can expect to be running nearly every hole.

 

[Rastnav]

Personally I really like the rating system. As was previously mentioned, the most attractive benefit is to normalize the scores from different courses.

What do I look at before I play a course that I haven't played before?
For my skill level, I had a good round if I shoot around 900. So I check out the recent tournament data for the course. Assuming I can find a layout that closely resembles the standard non-tournament layout, I can easily find what score is a 900. That is far more useful than saying "I want to shoot better than par". It also helps with decision making during a round. If 900 = +5 to par, then I immediately know there are going to be many holes where I will benefit by being conservative off the tee. If 900 = -2 to par, then I can expect to be running nearly every hole.

How do you deal with the possibility that the tournament wasn't played on the same layout as the regular course? That seems to be fairly common, I think?

 

[adamgservo]

How do you deal with the possibility that the tournament wasn't played on the same layout as the regular course? That seems to be fairly common, I think?

Right. You definitely have to pay attention to the layout. If you go to find your course on PDGA.com, and then click the Layouts tab, you can see the number of holes, par, and distance for the layout used in each round of the tournament. If those match the current layout of the course, then you can closely rely on the ratings for that tournament.

Of course there are other factors like pin placement and OB used only for the tournament. But those are generally fine tune changes to the rating. If you are looking at course adjustments like shooting 800 - 850 - 900 - 950 - 1000 etc, then it should be okay to use the past tournament data. Best bet is to find at least 2 tournaments and take the average. On courses I have looked at, the tournament-to-tournament ratings are pretty close. I suppose if there was terrible weather or really strong wind, you might see meaningful deviations. Neither of those are usually factor in here in South Carolina where I am.

 

[VictorB]

Guess living in Illinois is better than I thought. I couldn't imagine paying to play outside a disc golf road trip to a destination course. I can drive 2 hours any direction and hit free amazimg courses (Peoria, Joliet, Rockford, Round Lake).

it's a "buy once cry once" and then enjoy a set of some of the best golf courses that southern Wisconsin has to offer for a year.

It's an absolute no brainer.

 

[txmxer]

it's a "buy once cry once" and then enjoy a set of some of the best golf courses that southern Wisconsin has to offer for a year.

It's an absolute no brainer.

Not to be critical, but I find it hard to imagine that $110 for 5 courses goes very far. How many people are contributing to that?

 

[Cgkdisc]

Not to be critical, but I find it hard to imagine that $110 for 5 courses goes very far. How many people are contributing to that?

Those are county courses, so publicly funded.

 

[VictorB]

Not to be critical, but I find it hard to imagine that $110 for 5 courses goes very far. How many people are contributing to that?

40 for the 2 city courses, 50 for the 2 county courses, 20 for another (which is an amazing 27 hole course with 2 tees on every hole, and stays open all year except the thaw season)

You'd be surprised. There's hundreds (if not low thousands) of people who by annual passes. And even more for daily fees.

If a course rakes in an extra 20k per season, you bet you're going to get a good return on the investment. The city courses all have 2 pads and 2 baskets and are very well groomed. The county courses have 2 pads and 3 basket positions, and are incredibly well taken care of. Lots of extra maintenance and upkeep done each year. We also got a winter-only course installed, and it now has elevated tees and turf pads.

The extra baskets as well as the winter course have all been installed since I moved here.

 

[txmxer]

40 for the 2 city courses, 50 for the 2 county courses, 20 for another (which is an amazing 27 hole course with 2 tees on every hole, and stays open all year except the thaw season)

You'd be surprised. There's hundreds (if not low thousands) of people who by annual passes. And even more for daily fees.

If a course rakes in an extra 20k per season, you bet you're going to get a good return on the investment. The city courses all have 2 pads and 2 baskets and are very well groomed. The county courses have 2 pads and 3 basket positions, and are incredibly well taken care of. Lots of extra maintenance and upkeep done each year. We also got a winter-only course installed, and it now has elevated tees and turf pads.

The extra baskets as well as the winter course have all been installed since I moved here.

Of course funding helps.

 

[VictorB]

Not to be critical, but I find it hard to imagine that $110 for 5 courses goes very far. How many people are contributing to that?

Of course funding helps.

so which is it?

 

[txmxer]

so which is it?

You told me they pull in 20k per course per season. That's much more than I expected. I would have thought maybe a few 100 members for 20k total. That won't pay for upkeep on 5 courses.

100k Is substantial imo especially if it is supplementing city/county funds.

 

[wolfhaley]

40 for the 2 city courses, 50 for the 2 county courses, 20 for another (which is an amazing 27 hole course with 2 tees on every hole, and stays open all year except the thaw season)

You'd be surprised. There's hundreds (if not low thousands) of people who by annual passes. And even more for daily fees.

If a course rakes in an extra 20k per season, you bet you're going to get a good return on the investment. The city courses all have 2 pads and 2 baskets and are very well groomed. The county courses have 2 pads and 3 basket positions, and are incredibly well taken care of. Lots of extra maintenance and upkeep done each year. We also got a winter-only course installed, and it now has elevated tees and turf pads.

The extra baskets as well as the winter course have all been installed since I moved here.

Which is the 27 hole course? I know about the 2 city and 2 county ones.

And they're all excellent btw. Snd when did they get 2 baskets? I didn't know that. That's awesome.

 

[VictorB]

Which is the 27 hole course? I know about the 2 city and 2 county ones.

And they're all excellent btw. Snd when did they get 2 baskets? I didn't know that. That's awesome.

Bird's Ruins in Marshall. About 25 minutes from my house, it's a blast to play there in the winter. Summertime is a beast though, rough is almost OB as it's so tall you might lose one.

City got 2 sets of baskets installed last year. Such an amazing upgrade for Hiestand and Elver. Now you get 4 18 hole configurations to play (more if you mix tees and baskets)

 

[wolfhaley]

Bird's Ruins in Marshall. About 25 minutes from my house, it's a blast to play there in the winter. Summertime is a beast though, rough is almost OB as it's so tall you might lose one.

City got 2 sets of baskets installed last year. Such an amazing upgrade for Hiestand and Elver. Now you get 4 18 hole configurations to play (more if you mix tees and baskets)

Gotcha. Last I played Birds Ruins it was free. Well you could donate and I always did. Love that course. There's just something about it. I liked the new 9 holes a lot. Only played them once.

 

[Billyray]

it's a "buy once cry once" and then enjoy a set of some of the best golf courses that southern Wisconsin has to offer for a year.

It's an absolute no brainer.

I buy nothing and get the best courses Northern Illinois has to offer. Anna Page (3 courses, multiple baskets and pads), The Canyons (27 holes, multiple baskets and pads), The Oaks (27 holes, multiple baskets and pads), Fairfield Park (24 total holes, 2 sets of pads, multiple baskets). That doesn't even include Peoria which hosted 2019 worlds.

I get why you pay it, id pay it if that was my only option. Im fortunate to live in a great disc golfing area for free high quality courses.

 

[VictorB]

I buy nothing and get the best courses Northern Illinois has to offer. Anna Page (3 courses, multiple baskets and pads), The Canyons (27 holes, multiple baskets and pads), The Oaks (27 holes, multiple baskets and pads), Fairfield Park (24 total holes, 2 sets of pads, multiple baskets). That doesn't even include Peoria which hosted 2019 worlds.

I get why you pay it, id pay it if that was my only option. Im fortunate to live in a great disc golfing area for free high quality courses.

I get what you're saying but those are all a few hours from each other, if you're reaching to as far as Peoria.

The courses I'm talking about paying for are all within 25 minutes of my house. And hosted 2016 Am Worlds. Heck if I wanted to drive 2 hours I'd go to Rollin Ridge, Silver Creek, AP, or the Canyons...and pay green fees for most of those also.

But now I've strayed too far off topic.

 

[roggenb3]

If a course rakes in an extra 20k per season, you bet you're going to get a good return on the investment.

Call me cynical, but I don't think we do get a great ROI (for the city, not the county). I absolutely appreciate the new baskets, and other improvements (the new wall at Hstand, the 2 new holes at Elver, etc).

But for all the many thousands of dollars we pay them for what 6 years now?, and they still can't mow Elver regularly (or well), they can't empty trash cans often enough. They haven't fixed any of the broken tee pads, or the ones constantly covered in sand/mud. Those are the kind of things I expected with pay to play. There should be benches on every hole. I should see rangers all the time, but I almost never do. Have not been checked once at Elver this year. I get checked like every other time I am at Token.

These kind of things the county is exponentially better at than the city.