Paige Pierce #29190

[BillFleming]

So, is she more interested in elevating women's disc golf, or her own brand?

This ^^^^

At the 2019 Memorial, I talked to her after the tournament...one thing I discussed with her (and other female players) was:

Why haven't you put out videos on how to throw?
Her answer was basically, there are already how to videos out there.
I responded, yes, but the majority are from men. Who do the young female disc golfers, starting out, look up to? You are their role model....not Paul McBeth, etc. They (young female disc golfers) want to see other females. You need to put out videos....if you do a search on disc golf backhand....a lot of videos come up, but they are mostly men. And when you finally get to a female's video it's yours (Paige's) and it is only on how to get 40 feet more distance.

She said to watch and there would be stuff coming out.

Guess what? Still very little Paige Pierce videos on how to throw, etc. If you want to grow the sport for females, you need to 'cater' to them. They want to see videos starring their role models/heroes....the people they can hope/strive to be like. Right now, if you want to learn anything....watch the videos put out by the men.

 

[autocrosscrx]

How many people are on a disc golf course during a week day while school still in session that are not part of the tournament?

5? 10?

I wish it was like that where I lived.

I went out at 8 AM last Friday. I had to wait on 7 or 8 holes and by the time I got to 17, it was more than a 15 minute wait each hole. No prayer at multiple shots as there were 3 or 4 groups on my heels. By the time I was done, there were 50+ people on course.

 

[klodkrawler05]

How many people are on a disc golf course during a week day while school still in session that are not part of the tournament?

5? 10?

Vanessa Vandyken posted on her instagram story at 7:30am on Tuesday and the parking lot was absolutely overflowed/packed with cars, maybe they do it different in Cali?

 

[Cgkdisc]

Vanessa Vandyken posted on her Instagram story at 7:30am on Tuesday and the parking lot was absolutely overflowed/packed with cars, maybe they do it different in Cali?

Still a fair amount of schooling and "working" at home in that area? Covid certainly boosted early weekday play around here last year.

 

[ru4por]

I am guessing a fair amount of locals are out there just because of all the pro women practicing.

As a fan, I want to watch a major played on three different courses. It adds variety, which I find better watching. Sponsorship dollars come from my views.

I get that the disc golf life is challenging. It is a lot of hours, it is hard work, downtime to get stuff done is difficult to find and they still have to find time for everything else in life......kind of like a job, huh?

It kind of sounds like PP is making it about PDGA vs DGPT. Scheduling is her beef and forcing players to choose between PDGA majors and DGPT events is not what is best for the game.

 

[VictorB]

I always like multiple courses at an event. I the difference between playing the same layout multiple times versus different courses for an event to be an evaluation of either 'who can dial their shots in the best' versus 'who is good enough to be world class without a ton of practice'

I think there are positives about both, but for events like Majors I think there's a lot of value added to the reputation of the events by adding an increased amount of non-random variables (ie multiple different holes to look at vs trying to throw the exact same shot every round)

 

[Countchunkula]

This ^^^^

At the 2019 Memorial, I talked to her after the tournament...one thing I discussed with her (and other female players) was:

Why haven't you put out videos on how to throw?
Her answer was basically, there are already how to videos out there.
I responded, yes, but the majority are from men. Who do the young female disc golfers, starting out, look up to? You are their role model....not Paul McBeth, etc. They (young female disc golfers) want to see other females. You need to put out videos....if you do a search on disc golf backhand....a lot of videos come up, but they are mostly men. And when you finally get to a female's video it's yours (Paige's) and it is only on how to get 40 feet more distance.

She said to watch and there would be stuff coming out.

Guess what? Still very little Paige Pierce videos on how to throw, etc. If you want to grow the sport for females, you need to 'cater' to them. They want to see videos starring their role models/heroes....the people they can hope/strive to be like. Right now, if you want to learn anything....watch the videos put out by the men.

While I'm sure well intentioned, I'm not sure how a dude telling women what women want/need is supposed to go over. Sounds like the humored you and probably chuckled about the encounter after.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Still a fair amount of schooling and "working" at home in that area? Covid certainly boosted early weekday play around here last year.

Happy to report that here in The Land That Produced Chuck the courses still don't fill until after 5pm on a typical day.

 

[ChrisWoj]

I failed to read your whole post Chuck.

 

[Cgkdisc]

If only your Bushnell could make your throw. Then maybe it would really be something... illegal. I've been using a Bushnell rangefinder for course design since Uli was one. I still believe it's a necessary tool for course design and good for players on these longer courses. Hey, Bushnell, how about a course designer sponsorship?

 

[biscoe]

If only your Bushnell could make your throw. Then maybe it would really be something... illegal. I've been using a Bushnell rangefinder for course design since Uli was one. I still believe it's a necessary tool for course design and good for players on these longer courses. Hey, Bushnell, how about a course designer sponsorship?

I use a rangefinder all the time as well but prefer one that costs about half what the Bushnell's do. I would prefer they be illegal for play but it ain't the end of the world.

 

[Big Nasty]

I use a rangefinder all the time as well but prefer one that costs about half what the Bushnell's do. I would prefer they be illegal for play but it ain't the end of the world.

Can you elaborate to why you feel this way? I'm genuinely curious about this side of the argument.

 

[Arisugawa]

Can you elaborate to why you feel this way? I'm genuinely curious about this side of the argument.

I can give a reason for my disliking them, which may not be the same as biscoe's reason.

At Ledgestone in 2020, Bushnell was giving rangefinders to some of the players in the FPO field, apparently because of their social media presence or perhaps likelihood of being on lead and feature cards.

I can't fault Bushnell for doing this - they are trying to move product after all and part of doing that is making their product visible.

But as I understand it, the rangefinders were given for free (this could be a misunderstanding but that is how it appeared) to a few of the players who are arguably going to use them the most and also would get the most benefit from them. These should be the players who ought to be purchasing them to get an advantage, not being given that advantage for me.

It was a case of the rich getting richer - some of the top players being gifted a tool that is going to benefit them in competition while others would need to pay Bushnell or a similar company to get the same advantage.

Again, I could be misunderstanding what occurred. That is how it appeared. And it has soured me on how rangefinders have become more and more prevalent in the game since then. I cannot help but think of the mid-tier or lower-tier players who weren't given a similar tool who were already fighting an uphill battle, and will now have to pay to try and level the playing field.

 

[BillFleming]

While I'm sure well intentioned, I'm not sure how a dude telling women what women want/need is supposed to go over. Sounds like the humored you and probably chuckled about the encounter after.

Could well be true.....but the point remains the same....she doesn't seem to care much about providing females new to the sport any guidance.

The men are much more involved in growing the sport.

I have seen other females work on growing the sport....we have a couple of them doing clinics in Arizona.

 

[ChrisWoj]

While I'm sure well intentioned, I'm not sure how a dude telling women what women want/need is supposed to go over. Sounds like the humored you and probably chuckled about the encounter after.

While you might be right about the perception given the source, this is the sort of representation that women like Sarah Hokom have spoken about in the past. We need women front and center as role models to make disc golf a truly inclusive place. In direct line with your own point - that means that clearly we as men can't make this a completely inclusive sport. A media sphere that is dominated completely by men teaching the sport does not provide the image of inclusivity that leads to actual inclusivity. That doesn't mean Paige NEEDS to be a role model herself in the way Bill is pushing her to be one. She can do it in any number of ways (or not at all! She's allowed her own prerogatives). But we DO need women who are experts on the game out there pushing lessons on how to play the game to build a sport with true inclusion.

 

[ru4por]

While you might be right about the perception given the source, this is the sort of representation that women like Sarah Hokom have spoken about in the past. We need women front and center as role models to make disc golf a truly inclusive place. In direct line with your own point - that means that clearly we as men can't make this a completely inclusive sport. A media sphere that is dominated completely by men teaching the sport does not provide the image of inclusivity that leads to actual inclusivity. That doesn't mean Paige NEEDS to be a role model herself in the way Bill is pushing her to be one. She can do it in any number of ways (or not at all! She's allowed her own prerogatives). But we DO need women who are experts on the game out there pushing lessons on how to play the game to build a sport with true inclusion.

It is not PP responsibility to be a role model. Of course, Discraft might disagree. Her job is to beat a field of FPO players each week. I have no problem with her deciding to not play a role model on YouTube, if that is what she chooses. I am not comfortable with her use of we and us as she presents her perceived issues with the current state of this major.

 

[BuiltTooLong]

It is important to try to keep growing the number of women in our sport but I feel like we are nearing the point we need to focus more on growing the volunteer and TD base. My fear based on the bevy of social media complaints about the USWDGC is that it overshadows the actual event and the people that have worked so hard for this to come together.

With the Covid DG boom, I think there will continue to be an influx of new players whether there is a conscious effort to "grow the sport" or not. With tournaments filling within minutes, its clear that we need to grow the volunteer and TD base quickly. To do that, we need to prop them up and incentivize these roles, instead of denigrating them when things don't perfectly cater to the elite players' needs.

 

[VictorB]

"I am not a role model. I'm not paid to be a role model. I'm paid to throw discs really far on the golf course. Parents should be role models... Just because I throw 500' and win world championships doesn't mean I should raise your kid."

- Paige Pierce, probably

 

[wproct]

I'm really trying to understand the conversation about PP not doing enough for women in instructional videos etc.:doh: MPO pros don't make videos titled "now this is just for you guys". Paige does plenty to promote women participating in the sport. The increased media coverage of live FPO events offers lots of opportunity to see the styles and approach of many top FPO players.

 

[ChrisWoj]

- Paige Pierce, probably

What would be the equivalent nickname for Pierce to "The round mound of rebound"?