Struggles from a Tournament Director

[NPCTour]

Are there any tournament directors out there having second thoughts about making their events B-Tiers or A-Tiers due to the cost?

I am slowly getting frustrated with the cost of events to sanction at the higher tiers. I was planning on hosting an A-Tier this upcoming year 2014 until I looked into it. $2000 added cash minimum to pro purse, $100 sanction fee, $4 per player fee! Seriously, the higher the tier to more fees?

I do support the PDGA, but have my little issues. Something has got to change people.

Thoughts?

 

[moorent]

Honestly, I think added cash minimum for A-tiers should be higher.

 

[krupicka]

A-tiers also tend to have higher entry fees so (other than the added cash) the percentage of these fees compared to the entry fee is about a wash (or lower). What the higher fees are getting you is a larger range of exclusivity from other PDGA events and potentially a higher draw of higher caliber players. Each TD needs to determine if that is worth it to them for the price.

 

[grodney]

Why does anyone host an A-Tier? (Or even B-Tier?) Unless you're making a lot of money off the tourney (for yourself/club or for charity), why do it?

Is it the homeboy/home-course homerism? Is the need to "show off" your hometown course(s) really that strong? So strong you would spend dozens (hundreds) of hours and tons of energy, and then GIVE money to out-of-towners (with less-than-stellar reputations) to come into your town and play for each others' money (plus yours)?

I don't get it. Never have. Probably never will. But if you can explain, please do.

 

[The Hammer]

I solve the problem by not sanctioning. People seem to have more fun at non-sanctioned events.

 

[Rob Martin]

I solve the problem by not sanctioning. People seem to have more fun at non-sanctioned events.

I personally won't play non-sanctioned events because of the BS. What would be 925 rated players playing REC. People smoking dope during the round. Player packs that amount to a cup for a keg and payouts to the top 20%. No thanks.

Don't get me wrong - I like beer - been brewing my own for 23 years. But for $35 I expect more than 'free Bud heavy'.

 

[The Hammer]

I personally won't play non-sanctioned events because of the BS. What would be 925 rated players playing REC. People smoking dope during the round. Player packs that amount to a cup for a keg and payouts to the top 20%. No thanks.

The entitlement of disc golfers really ruins the fun for a lot of people. Gimme, gimme, gimme!

That same sense of entitlement is half the reason disc golf is spinning it's tires in trying to get big. TD's are too consumed with trying to come up with more money, and higher payouts, rather than trying to create unique, and quality events.

 

[bradharris]

I personally won't play non-sanctioned events because of the BS. What would be 925 rated players playing REC. People smoking dope during the round. Player packs that amount to a cup for a keg and payouts to the top 20%. No thanks.

Don't get me wrong - I like beer - been brewing my own for 23 years. But for $35 I expect more than 'free Bud heavy'.

Non-sanctioned events, much like sanctioned ones, can vary drastically from event-to-event.

I play tons of non-sanctioned events, some are awesome, others are duds. It's up to the TD to create a "product" that is enjoyable for the players. Some of New England's most popular events are unsanctioned. Those TDs could even probably charge way more than they do now and still fill in days, hours, even minutes in some cases.

 

[Matthew boals]

We, The Hamilton Disc Golf Union (ThHDGU.com), hosted our first C-tier Event this year. We will be hosting another one plus a B-tier in 2014. We will be hosting the 2016 Deaf DG Championships and need to get the "bugs worked out" before we host them. By hosting Big PDGA events it shows the Parks dept. that DG is worth the cost of putting more courses in.

 

[Horsman]

I solve the problem by not sanctioning. People seem to have more fun at non-sanctioned events.

Yea, Id rather play a sanctioned event over a non sanctioned one. There is less bs to deal with in a sanctioned event and it is run a lot more professionally.

People play in the correct division, the drug usage during theround is drasticially cut, and the ammount of cheating is cut down.

 

[MikePinchico]

When I ran a B-tier in March we were given 1000$ added cash for payouts from the city. Then when I go to plug in all of the numbers into the TD report I was shocked. It took 200+$ out of the added cash to send to the PDGA. What did the PDGA do to deserve that money we worked so hard to get? I wanted 100% of that cash to go to payouts but unfortunately that was not the case.
It is further difficult to swallow when it seems that the PDGA cares more about the east coast than the west coast (it shows when the NT and majors are planned). I will still run my PDGA events but I'll keep them to C tiers.

 

[DavidSauls]

Why does anyone host an A-Tier? (Or even B-Tier?) Unless you're making a lot of money off the tourney (for yourself/club or for charity), why do it?

Is it the homeboy/home-course homerism? Is the need to "show off" your hometown course(s) really that strong? So strong you would spend dozens (hundreds) of hours and tons of energy, and then GIVE money to out-of-towners (with less-than-stellar reputations) to come into your town and play for each others' money (plus yours)?

I don't get it. Never have. Probably never will. But if you can explain, please do.

The first question is, Why does anyone host a tournament, period?

Once you figure that out, the reasons for making it a higher tier are to make it a bigger event. Sure, you can add a lot of cash to a C-tier, or even a non-sanctioned event, but raising the tier tends to bring more people. At A-tier levels, it may bring more top-level players as well.

My answer to the first question is that it's a lot like throwing a party. Why does anyone throw a party? Why not just attend parties at other people's homes? But once we've decided to throw a party, we want as many people to come as possible. The more, the merrier.

Though I admit, sometimes my answer to the first question is, "I have no idea".

 

[The Hammer]

Yea, Id rather play a sanctioned event over a non sanctioned one. There is less bs to deal with in a sanctioned event and it is run a lot more professionally.

People play in the correct division, the drug usage during theround is drasticially cut, and the ammount of cheating is cut down.

These are some reasons that I understand. The payout/player pack issue will always irk my, though. Nothing irritates me more that golfers demanding that they deserve a players pack, added cash, free lunch, etc, etc, etc, all for their $30. I personally believe it's one of the biggest reasons why TD's finally quit.

 

[Horsman]

These are some reasons that I understand. The payout/player pack issue will always irk my, though. Nothing irritates me more that golfers demanding that they deserve a players pack, added cash, free lunch, etc, etc, etc, all for their $30. I personally believe it's one of the biggest reasons why TD's finally quit.

Yea I guess I dont deal with that since I dont play AM anymore but when I have helped run events we really never had an issue with any of that. People he in WI for the most part understand that if they get a players pack then payouts will be worse but we run things a little bit different than others do when we run tournaments. We dont take a profit from the event of the top. We make our profit in sales and funy money payout and thats it so what it comes down to is that players get a better players pack, more payout and then inturn look at us in a more postitive way. We have a pretty good reputation in WI and pretty much everywhere we go. We know that its not about making money.

 

[Rob Martin]

OK the Hammer - forget about the payouts.

As a non-sanctioned TD - explain how you would take care of the issue of people playing in non-appropriate divisions? How would you handle those that view tournaments as just another casual Saturday round at the course doing whatever they wish vs. the ones that actually want to compete competitively and have a somewhat expectation that others should to.

The first 2 of my very quick 3 points still remain valid, regardless of

the entitlement of disc golfers really ruins the fun for a lot of people.

mentality.

 

[Rob Martin]

Yea, Id rather play a sanctioned event over a non sanctioned one. There is less bs to deal with in a sanctioned event and it is run a lot more professionally.

People play in the correct division, the drug usage during theround is drasticially cut, and the ammount of cheating is cut down.

yes *birdie button*

 

[The Hammer]

OK the Hammer - forget about the payouts.

As a non-sanctioned TD - explain how you would take care of the issue of people playing in non-appropriate divisions? How would you handle those that view tournaments as just another casual Saturday round at the course doing whatever they wish vs. the ones that actually want to compete competitively and have a somewhat expectation that others should to.

The first 2 of my very quick 3 points still remain valid, regardless of mentality.

I sympathize with the professionalism aspect. Non-sanctioned events usually aren't the most competitive. Some people prefer that. Others don't, which I get.

Regarding the divisions; only offer pro and AM. No payout for the AM's. The no pay-out discourages bagging.

 

[MikePinchico]

OK the Hammer - forget about the payouts.

As a non-sanctioned TD - explain how you would take care of the issue of people playing in non-appropriate divisions? How would you handle those that view tournaments as just another casual Saturday round at the course doing whatever they wish vs. the ones that actually want to compete competitively and have a somewhat expectation that others should to.

The first 2 of my very quick 3 points still remain valid, regardless of mentality.

In our unsanctioned series (Shasta Series) we have a handicap system: 0-4.9 is pro, 5-9.9 is advanced, 10+ is AMs. It's not perfect (you need three events played for a true handicap) but it works.

 

[Smigles]

few points :

1 : You pay your registration fee for the TD. For the work he has to set up the tournament, all the paperwork, all the material and preparation, for keeping the course maintained in playable conditions, for the rigth to start in the event. You are not in any way entitled to anything except to play the tournament. If you dont think that is enugh, you can come back on some other day and play the course on your own.

2 : sanctioned vs non sanctioned : I enjoy the more relaxed atmosphere at non sanctioned tournaments, but of course sanctioned events are more competitive. To each their own i guess, you just got to be aware of what you get into before signing up.

3 : Why b- or a-tier ? I guess to attract better players. That's what did it for us, anyway. We held the 10th edition of our tournament as a B tier for the first time, and it attracted some of the best players in europe, for example the euro tour winner and the current open and masters european champions.

 

[Harrishabitat]

The entitlement of disc golfers really ruins the fun for a lot of people. Gimme, gimme, gimme!

That same sense of entitlement is half the reason disc golf is spinning it's tires in trying to get big. TD's are too consumed with trying to come up with more money, and higher payouts, rather than trying to create unique, and quality events.

Amen!!!! :clap: